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  • Home
  • #1 Red Flags & Checklist
  • #2 Diagnosis, Denial, Doctors
  • #3 Prioritize Concerns
  • #3A Motor & Communication
  • #3B Cognition What to do While You Wait
    • #3C Social & Daily Living Skills
  • #4 Programs, Therapies & Interventions; LIST of
  • #4A More Programs, Therapies, & Interventions; INTRODUCTION
    • #4B Programs, Therapies & Interventions; ABA,DIR, OT, PECS
    • #4B Programs, Therapies, & Interventions, Conti. (5-8):DRI, SPD, ST, TEAACH, & CBT
    • #4C More CAMs Creative Therapy: Art, Music, Dance, & Theatre
    • #4C More Programs, Therapies; Meds, Diet, Bio Therapy
  • #4C CAMs Complementary & Alternative Medicine
    • #4C CAMs Cont. Animal Assisted Therapy
    • #4C Last of CAMs Cont. 6. - 12.
  • #5 Know Your Child: INTRODUCTION
  • #5A Know Your Child: GETTING STARTED
  • #5B Know Your Child: TEMPERAMENT
  • #5C Know Your Child KNOW AUTISM
    • #5D Know Your Child: RESOURCES & INSURANCE >
      • #5E Know Your Child: LAW & AUTISM
  • GALLERY of Extended Review Books in Categories
  • BLOG: AMAZING ADVENTURES Extended Book Reviews
  • BLOG: DIAGNOSIS, DOCTORS, & DENIAL Extended Book Reviews
  • BLOG: SAVVY SOLUTIONS Extended Book Reviews
  • BLOG: SCHOOL ON THE SHORT BUS Extended Book Reviews
  • BLOG: #2 What to do While You Wait: Diagnosis, Denial & Doctors
  • BLOG: #3 What to do While You Wait: Try New Things
  • BLOG: #4 What to do While You Wait: Programs, Therapies, & Interventions
  • BLOG: #5 What to do While You Wait: Know Your Child
  • About
  • Contact
  • Rules for David
  • A Friend Like Henry
  • No You Don't
  • Twirling Naked
  • Survival Guide
  • A Spot on the Wall
  • Child's Journey Out of Autism
  • Paula's Journal
  • How Can I Talk
  • 101 & 1,001 Tips - Ken Siri
  • Hello, My Name is Max
  • What Color is Monday?
  • Spinning in Circles
  • Miracles Are Made
  • Secondhand Autism
  • I Wish I Were
  • 3500: An Autistic Boy's
  • Ido in Autismland
  • The Journey to Normal
  • All I Can Handle
  • He's Not Autistic, But...
  • The Horse Boy
  • Building in Circles
  • Autism Goes to School
  • I Am In Here
  • The Aspie Parent
  • Seeing Ezra: A Mother's Story
  • Autism: Turning on the Light
  • Autism: Why I Love Kids
  • Autism: Triplet Twist
  • All Because of Henry
  • Someone I'm With Has Autism
  • Making Peace with Autism
  • The ABC's of Autism Acceptance
  • The Long Ride Home
  • Autism by Hand
  • Knowing Autism
  • Autism Belongs
  • A Real Boy
  • A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
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NEW BLOG POSTING

with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker

#3 PRIORITIZE CONCERNS

11/29/2020

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​#3 - What to do While You Wait with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker

           Preceded by:
                    #1 What to do While You Wait... Red Flags  &   
                         Parental Concerns CHECKLIST
                    #2 What to do While You Wait... Diagnosis &
                         Denial & Doctors WHAT TO DO NEXT…
                         FOLLOWING DIAGNOSIS


< My Thoughts >       "While You Wait..."

Parents often must wait days, weeks, and even months for assessments or doctor appointments. During this stressful time, it's good to feel that you are actively helping your child. This can become an important time of clarifying what bothers you the most about your child's behavior, development, or other concerns. Video tape what you are seeing and how your child acts throughout the day/night. 'Seeing is believing' for someone new to your child.

Prioritize your child's 'needs' and your 'wants'. Try new things... like teaching your child age appropriate 'developmental skills' that are non-invasive. See what works and what doesn't. Eventually, you will have to choose from available programs, therapies, and services that will be offered. Some are quite expensive, so understand your child well enough to figure out what will probably work and what absolutely won't. You can only know this by trying some things on your own.

HOW TO FIND THE INTERVENTION OUTCOME YOU ARE LOOKING FOR…
 
Before looking for a program…  prioritize your child’s
​‘needs’ and  prioritize your ‘wants’.

 
In other words…
 
What is the most frightening or destructive thing that is going on right now in your child’s world?
 
Recent studies show the following things worry parents the most…
 
Lack of… 
  • gross motor skills
  • speech/language communication
  • cognition
  • social/personal awareness
  • daily living skills

#3 - PRIORITIZE CONCERNS - with < My Thoughts > by Sara Luker
 
What do you worry about the most? What is the most dangerous and/or destructive thing or things your child does? Think about how to keep your child and family 'safe' as the 1st possible priority.
          
Prioritize your child's 'needs' and your 'wants'. Try new things such as teaching your child age appropriate 'developmental skills' that are non-invasive. See what works and what doesn't. Eventually, you will have to choose from available programs, therapies, and services that will be offered. Some are quite expensive, so understand your child well enough to figure out what will probably work and what absolutely won't. You can only know this by trying some things on your own. 
 
< My Thoughts >       "…works and what doesn't…”
 
Children with autism are individual in their personalities, interests, and learning styles. In the same way ‘autism’ itself presents in an individual way. Getting to know your child and getting to know your child’s autism may be easier to approach as a ‘dual’ understanding.
 
Bowler, et al. (2015) tells us that those with autism have different degrees of difficulties with memory and need to be cued to recall or recognize steps in a task or function. In the ‘discussion’ of the results, it was suggested that future support should be a result of spending time understanding and unpacking the complexity of the task.
 
They went on to say that the difference between ‘supported’ tasks and ‘unsupported’ learning tasks is revealed in this study. Participants found that seeing things in a specific order as with an organizational chart or by being given auditory cues helped them become more effective. Having support improved recognition of the order of events.
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< My Thoughts >       "…organizational chart…”
Some children with autism have a ‘visual’ learning preference, some have ‘auditory’, ‘kinesthetic’, and ‘verbal’ preferences. Those with visual (see) and kinesthetic (touch) can benefit from a chart similar to the one shown here.

Consider how to prioritize your child’s ‘needs’ and prioritize your ‘wants’ before you make a decision about moving forward with a 'program'. Is it something everyone involved can live with?
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AUTISM & COVID-19

11/17/2020

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#Autism & #COVID19

Autism & COVID-19; www.sarasautismsite.com. Pederson (2020) reports from the Lance Psychiatry Journal that persons on the autism spectrum are at higher risk for COVID-19 complications. The reasons are several, first they tend to have immune disorders and other co morbidities; plus their routines are severely disrupted. Added to that, patients may have communication and expression difficulties which prevent them from comprehending the extremeness of the situation.

If providers are needed, parents and caregivers must keep calm, facilitating communication and managing out-of-the-box thinking, such as using TelaDoc to connect with clinicians. Or, asking to wait in the car and texting you when the doctor is ready to see you; doing any Check-In online. Also, asking to allow the parent and caregiver to accompany the autistic person throughout the visit process.

< My Thoughts >        “,,,allow the parent and caregiver…”

Connecting with new routines, strange environments, persons in masks and gowns, can bring on expected undesirable behavioral responses. Even some behaviors you’ve never seen before. Try to keep a ‘bag of tricks’ handy – communication devices- Apps, iPad, tablets, music with earphones, weighted vest or lap pad, sensory (sight, sound, touch, smell & taste) toys, and/or a favorite cold drink. And of course, any meds needed so as not to miss a dosage if you are detained in the office or in travel. Many times we have scheduled early appointments, only to find ourselves traveling home in heavy 5pm traffic, in spite of our careful planning; due to doctor overbooking, sending us somewhere for tests, or just playing the ‘waiting’ game. When Sonny sees the ‘Toy Story’ lunchbox, this signals several things – we might be going to the park for lunch; we have plenty of goodies to last us; we are out for the long haul. This mindset helps him stay calm until it’s obvious that we are not having fun! More reason to have his favorite Vid, App, or familiar whatever on a never-ending loop.

This is the perfect storm of challenges for parents and caregivers, clinicians, and nearby observers who are convinced they are seeing a ‘very spoiled child’. Maybe it’s time to advertise “Autism Onboard.”

REFERENCE

Pedersen, T. (2020). Meeting the Needs of Autistic Individuals During COVID-19; Retrieved online from – psychcentral.com/
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    Author


    My purposes are 'educational' in nature.  My hope is that this is a place for 'First Responders' and the 'Battle Worn' alike to find information, take solace, and to help one another, in the name of Autism.  My commitment is to deliver hope, insight, and a realm of possibilities to all who enter this site. 

    ​Disclaimer: Just to let you know that I, Sara Luker, have put forth my best efforts to create the extended book reviews presented here on this website. I have permission from the authors to publish these Extended Book Reviews. This is just a sharing of stories of those who have gone on before you.

    My input as noted by <My Thoughts> are just that... my reflections as a parent, educator, and author. The ideas or considerations presented are given only as hopefully helpful to the viewers relating to the topic or subject.

    Any REFERENCES to websites, professional journals, and/or printed material, including eBooks, are solely for educational purposes. I have no involvement in sponsorship or financial interests in these sources.

    ​Please, understand also that all health matters ALWAYS require professional medical decisions, diagnosis, and treatment by highly qualified and licensed individuals.
    ​
    Regards,
    Sara Luker

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