WEEK 13 - SON-RISE DAY 19 - Pretend n PLay

R was diagnosed with Autism 2 years backs. And recently got diagnosed with Apraxia . R is now 4 years old. We started SON-RISE program with R couple of weeks backs. SON-RISE is a Play-therapy program that I am volunteering for . The Play-Therapy is associated with son-rise.org to treat his symptoms related to Autism.When I refer to Stimming , it is the repetitive behavior R does while lost in his world



Besides all other challenges the biggest challenge for R is finding his voice, He just says Baah for everything.




Yesterday I went to R's house to run  play-therapy. R was stimming by crawling on kitchen floor on his back, with his legs bended . I tried several times to make him come down to play-room, but he was enjoying his stimming a lot. Even the pistachios did not worked. Finally R's mom brought the cookie and that made him come down to the playroom.

R is now into "eat" pretend and play game.

We played for about 30 minutes with Pretend & play vegetable cutter. I gave him the vegetable , He will give it back to me to pretendthat I am eating. In between I asked him to pretend that he is eating also. Then I will ask him to cut them and he will cut them using his plastic play knife on cutting board. R even pointed me to all the vegetables when I asked him which one is Tomato,Green Pepper and others :)

R seemed to be done playing with it, So I asked him lets put all of them back in the box. He gave me the cardboard box and now asked me to pretend that I was eating that also. So I laughed and tickled him, Telling "You are being cute silly, we dont eat cardboard, he gave me this smile". He helped me to put all vegetables back in the box, But by the time we were suppose to put cutting board back in, He got up and ran away to dribble beach ball.

God, he has gotten so good at dribbling the ball, He can look somewhere else and dribble it non-stop without missing it. ....His way of Stimming !!

In between he played with me by passing the Beach ball.

R enjoyed another game yesterday, We both sat down on beachball and bounced . He was laughing, I tried to make him look at me. But majority of the time, he was looking away from me. Though he was following my instructions. He wont let me hold his hands or legs. But in between , I was able to hold his hands and we both bounced.

Overall it was a good interactive session. I had so much fun with him, He seemed happier because his mom is back :)

WEEK 12 - SON-RISE DAY 18 - Creativity and Motivation required !!

R was diagnosed with Autism 2 years backs. And recently got diagnosed with Apraxia . R is now 4 years old. We started SON-RISE program with R couple of weeks backs. SON-RISE is a Play-therapy program that I am volunteering for . The Play-Therapy is associated with son-rise.org to treat his symptoms related to Autism.When I refer to Stimming , it is the repetitive behavior R does while lost in his world



Besides all other challenges the biggest challenge for R is finding his voice, He just says Baah for everything.

R's mom has been out for ta week to get training from son-rise.org to get more information on running these play-therapies with R. So I volunteered to go for an extra day on Thursday to fill in a spot.

R was playing in the basement with his dad. I took him inside the playroom.

R played with the ball, but now instead of spinning the ball he has gotten more into dribbling the ball. He did passed the ball couple of times to me also.

R played with flash-cards. He again got the flash car with house on it and pointed me to stairs and windows on the house.After that he threw the flash-card box away from us and all the flash cards were on the floor.

R also played with the truck again and gave me one of his truck. He was took my hands and made some baah sounds, trying to tell me as how should I move the truck on the wall . So we played with toy trucks by driving them across the perimeter of the room on the walls.

In between R was stimming by sitting down on the crash mat and rubbing his toes. R found another stimming method where he will lie on his back, with his legs bended and slide back and forth all across the room.

In between he will pull corner of his T-shirt from  the chest, I did the same. In my case I will make some noise also while doing that, R seemed to like that noise and if I won't do it, He will point at me, by taking his hand and pulling my T-shirt very gently with a smile.

I had conversation with R's dad and He gave me a very good suggestion. The suggestion came out of a conversation that he had earlier in day with R's mom on phone, she refreshed his memory . He told me  "We should try to reduce R's stimming time by coming up with something motivating just before he looses his interest in the game he is playing with us. This way he won't get time for stimming. But this requires great creativity which captures R's interests and motivates him also"

WEEK 12 - SON-RISE DAY 17 - Rohan seems to be missing his mummy

R was diagnosed with Autism 2 years backs. And recently got diagnosed with Apraxia . R is now 4 years old. We started SON-RISE program with R couple of weeks backs. SON-RISE is a Play-therapy program that I am volunteering for . The Play-Therapy is associated with son-rise.org to treat his symptoms related to Autism.When I refer to Stimming , it is the repetitive behavior R does while lost in his world


Besides all other challenges the biggest challenge for R is finding his voice, He just says Baah for everything.

R's mother went for a week to get training from son-rise.org. Today in the session it felt like he was stimming more, maybe his way of missing his mom.

But we still had our moments, the fun and interactive parts.

R has gotten really good at dribbling the ball, With this speed and control over the ball he amazes me every time.

At some point when he himself asked me to get the flash cards. he handed me over the flash - card with Peas on it. I pretended to eat them and he was giggling when I was doing that. In between when I stopped doing that he will try to do that also.

R took out another flash card with picture of a house on it. He was making Baah sounds trying to show me something by pointing his fingers at windows,doors and stairs. After that he was stimming with the card by putting and sliding the card under his nose,eyes. I did the same with him.

R was into his new stimming today. R will lie on his back, with his legs bended and slide back and forth all across the room. In between I will be making some noises and he gave me a quick look. For once when I stopped making those noises he looked at me , pointing to me like telling me to make the sound again.

R did passed the big beachball couple of times to me.

After that he was into playing with the trucks. Infact he handed me over a truck also to play with him.

This was towards the end of session. I asked R to hand me each toy to put it back. He handed me each toy to put it back.

Something interesting happened, once we came out of the son-rise room. R loves to play with his sister's doll house. He likes to open and close the doors in the house. The interesting part - "R pointed me at windows,doors of the door house. And when I made the connection they looked same as on the flashcards !! "

Our biggest challenge besides all other challenges is to help R to find his voice !! 

WEEK 11 - SON-RISE DAY 16 - Handed me Flash Cards !!

R was diagnosed with Autism 2 years backs. And recently got diagnosed with Apraxia . R is now 4 years old. We started SON-RISE program with R couple of weeks backs. SON-RISE is a Play-therapy program that I am volunteering for . The Play-Therapy is associated with son-rise.org to treat his symptoms related to Autism.When I refer to Stimming , it is the repetitive behavior R does while lost in his world



Garage Sale is over. We raised enough money to buy R a nice toy.  I have not been participating in R's play-therapy session that actively, as my son Y keeps on getting this cough,cold and congestion due to bad environmental allergies. Ah, pook kids- cannot even say anything !!

Yesterday I went over to play with R, even though we only spent 45 minutes in the playroom.

R was on his swing. I asked him lets go to play in the playroom. I helped him to get out of the swing.

R played with Beachball and Trucks. His favorite games. R has gotten very good at dribbling. For next session I was thinking to remove the Beachball and Trucks. I wanna see what will he be interested next to play with !!

R asked me to take the stuff from shelf with just Baah sounds. We are still trying to figure out what will help him to make more sounds.

In middle he will come to me so I will give him High compression hugs and tell him "I love you sooooo much" !!

At some point I was able to draw his attention towards the flash card box. He sat down next to me. R started handing me over one card at a time. R will flip the card , starte at the picture, then flip it to look at the description. I did the same, He looked at me. At that time I took the opportunity to read him what was written on the flash cards. I was able to read him only one flash card. R handed me over about 8 flashcards, then he just walked away to play with his trucks

And after that we left the room.
 
Dear R ,  I am waiting for that day when you will start reading those cards to me :)

WEEK 10 - SON-RISE DAY 15 - Short and Sweet :)

R was diagnosed with Autism 2 years backs. And recently got diagnosed with Apraxia . R is now 4 years old. We started SON-RISE program with R couple of weeks backs. SON-RISE is a Play-therapy program that I am volunteering for . The Play-Therapy is associated with son-rise.org to treat his symptoms related to Autism.When I refer to Stimming , it is the repetitive behavior R does while lost in his world


"Please Support FUNDRAISING EVENT for R - Garage Sale in USA/NJ/Manalapan/Grande at Battleground - JUNE 9th .More information coming soon, If interested leave me a comment !! It is a community Garage sale. Sales from our Garage sale will go towards R's therapies. We will have huge banner in our driveway, so you won't miss it !! "


This week was crazy with lots of things on my plate. But got all of them accomplished one by one .

I went over to R's place to give some stuff for R. R has graduation day in school, so went over to give some Gluten-Free cookie/cakes. R's mom was trying to feed his sister A. So I took R for a short session in the son-rise room.

The best part of whole session, R seems to be more motivated in asking for games from the shelf to play. Even though he points and gives Baah sounds.


Towards the end of session I asked R Helped me to put toys back on shelf yesterday for first time. "I asked him to hand me over a specific toy by saying the name and he did with smile". Even though when he was handing me over Beach Ball, he was trying to spin it towards me.

Thinking how much fun  its gonna be if you can tell me how you feel

WEEK 10 - SON-RISE DAY 14 - Questions in my mind !!

R was diagnosed with Autism 2 years backs. And recently got diagnosed with Apraxia . R is now 4 years old. We started SON-RISE program with R couple of weeks backs. SON-RISE is a Play-therapy program that I am volunteering for . The Play-Therapy is associated with son-rise.org to treat his symptoms related to Autism.When I refer to Stimming , it is the repetitive behavior R does while lost in his world


"Please Support FUNDRAISING EVENT for R - Garage Sale in USA/NJ/Manalapan/Grande at Battleground - JUNE 9th .More information coming soon, If interested leave me a comment !! It is a community Garage sale. Sales from our Garage sale will go towards R's therapies. We will have huge banner in our driveway, so you won't miss it !! "



This morning I was not in the mood to write at all, Something just made me think whole night and this morning. I wrote things on my blog but then erased them. My thoughts are going back and forth . I am not talking about just an autistic child but any child - My mind was just full of basic questions .

I realized dealing with kids is just whole another science, has anyone ever Mastered this Art ?

Keeping yourself calm in situations which has no handbook !! Finding answers to questions like How OR  Are we suppose to respond and rock a  2 year old when they just wanna cry and get up in middle of night ?  Are we adults not suppose to eat and take care of our health because we are just so busy with kids? Are we suppose to take frustrations out on some other member of the family because we are just so exhausted in ourselves ? Are we suppose to still give a child its vitamins even though we know they will throw up ?

I did had my play-therapy session with R. Even though session lasted for an hour but it was interactive.

First Interaction happened when R asked me to get him Ball, Hula Ring,truck  from the shelves. Even though he just used his Baah sounds to get them.

Second interaction happened while we played with the beach ball, which he loves a lot. He tried to dribble and bounce it back and forth from the crash mat to the wall in the same order as I did. Even though in between he was playing by himself also.

Another interaction lasted couple of minutes but at least a start. I got some flash cards and ask him to give me  Pear,Door,Tacos and Sale & Pepper ones. R picked the correct ones till Tacos, handed it over in my hands. After that he was not interested anymore. But I felt very happy that he did played flashcards with me even though it was for couple of minutes !!

After that he asked me to put every game back on its spot on the shelf by giving me the object and telling me All-Done using sign language. He also tried to say Baaa

R asked me to open the door , I told him Magic words. But he still wanted to go outside. I praised him and that still did not made him stay.So I went to the rule "When nothing is working just do nothing and stay calm", So I went to a corner in the room across R and sat down quietly making some funny noises with my mouth. I felt R was looking at me non-stop when I made those noises. I am not sure was he stimming or really looking at me. But then I heard him trying to make same noises. Then he came to me and was trying to put his hands on my mouth.

I have to say R you are full of surprises and I still have to understand you. At the same time I love you, A and Y so much.....trying my best to get best for all of you kids !!

WEEK 9 - SON-RISE DAY 13 - R made 2 Potato Heads !!

R was diagnosed with Autism 2 years backs. And recently got diagnosed with Apraxia . R is now 4 years old. We started SON-RISE program with R couple of weeks backs. SON-RISE is a Play-therapy program that I am volunteering for . The Play-Therapy is associated with son-rise.org to treat his symptoms related to Autism.When I refer to Stimming , it is the repetitive behavior R does while lost in his world


First it was my allergies and after that R got severe congestion,cold and cough. We had to take R to ER, where they gave him steroid injection. R's doctor put him on antibiotics, steroids for him to get better. Finally R is doing better, though still little cough and congestion.

R has been just making various Baah sounds, but that's about it. In the son-rise playroom also he asked me to get him all different toys by pointing and making Baah sounds for them.

Yesterday's session I felt R was tired but at the same point I will have to give Kudos to R for making 2 potato heads with me.

We both sat down, R took all the parts out from the Potato Head jar. I started handing him over the parts and told him where they will go. He started putting them together. In between somewhere twice or so he got lost in his thoughts, so I waited for him  to give me eye contact. And finally we finished 2 potato heads. I made Mr Potato head touch its nose with Mrs potato head. R saw me doing it and he did the same.


Our second interaction was bouncing the Beach ball back and forth from the wall while we are standing on the crash mat.

Source:Google Images

Our last interaction was dribbling the Beach ball.

All other times R was just stimming in the mirror or on crash mat. I joined with him and he gave me couple of eye contacts during that time. I had to give him High compression hugs to calm him down when he came towards me couple of times. Every time I gave R hug I told him from my heart "I love you sooooo much", It just felt so good !!


"Please Support FUNDRAISING EVENT for R - Garage Sale in USA/NJ/Manalapan - JUNE 9th" More information coming soon, If interested leave me a comment "