Camp Bridge is over but the fun(ny) memories live on

Alex had another fun summer that included swimming lessons, bike camp, baseball games, beach days, extended school year, surfing, music therapy and his favorite - Camp Bridge!

This year we signed him up for 2 weeks at Camp Bridge (in August) and he was so excited and ready to go each day to camp.  The weather during week 1 was great and they swam every day - he came home exhausted, a good thing.

Halfway through the week he reported to us that he learned how to kill a snake at Camp Bridge.  He went into gory detail about how you kill a snake.  My husband and I were a bit horrified by this fact, but something told me he was 'telling tales out of school'.  When I asked the director she confirmed that they did not kill a snake, in fact they hadn't even seen snakes this year.  Last year, however, they did see a snake on their nature walk which I remember him talking about.

Week 2 began with colder weather and some rain. However, the sunny part was that Miss Beth, one of the directors who runs the camp, was back this week. He loves Miss Beth and had missed her from the previous week (she was away in Disney).  When he saw Miss Beth, the first thing he asked her was "How was Disney?" and he was actually conversational with her.   I love to hear when he makes improvement in this area!

One day when I picked him up, she told me that he had taken out the trash for them - without being asked. He just did it.  They were impressed! Alex loves to help, and one of his "jobs" at home is taking out the trash, so when they told me about this I wasn't real shocked.

On one of the cooler days, they took a trip to a local farm which he really enjoyed. He did not, however, like the way that the pigs smelled. STINKY City!






The highlight for me was this "report" that I got from Miss Beth on the last day of Camp.

He is very literal. He asked if if he could get rid of a wet chair with soda on it at lunch time and I said yes then he threw it over the railing into the woods. The counselors looked at me to see why I didn't yell at him and I laughed and said I told him to get rid of it and that's what he did. Haha!

This is priceless to me.  I can totally see him picking up the chair and tossing it over the railing of the pavilion and into the woods.  While I am sure that is not quite what she had in mind by "getting rid of it" - I am so glad they "get" why he did what he did.   And, yes - I'm still laughing about it!

What a great way to end summer - with a smile on our face!

Related Links: 
Camp Week - A visit from the Therapy Dogs
Camp Bridge - Taking Autism To Camp

He's ready for a wedding or a party, Who's inviting?

So a few weeks ago, I shared how the first week at music/movement therapy class went - or rather didn't.. It was tough to see Alex meltdown and struggle over the environment. He has come so far over the years that maybe I have taken a lot for granted. Maybe I needed that wake-up call/smack in my face to remind me that after all, my son is autistic and has sensory issues. So many of his sensory hurdles have been put behind us, so I hated seeing him have a hard time.

 This is video from the first week - doing the YMCA song and you can see him doing it, but "shhushing"  at the kids around him to be quiet.

The next week, before class I made a point of going to YouTube and we looked up videos of the YMCA, how to do the macarena, and how to do the cha-cha slide.  I let him watch them over and over again.  He loves YouTube and I purposefully limit his exposure to it because 1) he could get into stuff he shouldn't on there and 2) he will watch the same movie over and over and over again.. We call that "You Tube Stimming" and I know that I'm not alone in this...many of the autistic kids I know like to do this.   So I purposefully encouraged YouTube stimming on videos that had to do with learning these 'party/wedding dances'.

Here's what happened that second week when they did the YMCA song.  Watch around the 1 minute mark for a remarkable Alex!

What a big difference, huh?  Instead of the child who was telling others to be quiet. He was the loudest one.  Ok, so we need to work on that a bit.

He also enjoyed learning the Electric Slide, with the help of one of the moms. And his favorite, they did Eenie Meenie (a Justin Bieber song). 

Week 3  showed even more improvement and he is now doing all of the above dances plus the Cha-Cha Slide and the Macarena, independently.

This week will be out last session, Week 4 - and  I know he'll be sad for "music class" to end.  What a fun time. And another sensory hurdle has been jumped!  

Surfing in Seaside with POAC & Sharks

Alex & his boogie board

Alex loves the ocean and looks forward each summer to the various surfing events that take place hosted by organizations like POAC, Best Day Foundation, Brick Recreation, and Surfers Healing.   His favorite one year after year is the POAC surf in Seaside Park.  There's been sharks lately in Seaside (and all over the Jersey Shore beaches) but we went anyways.

The kids were excited so off we went to the beach. This was a milestone in and of itself since I went with just me and the kids and no second adult.  I couldn't have done that in previous years but this year I've actually braved the beach many a time with just me, myself, and I.

So we loaded up the Wonder Wheeler Beach Cart, packed his BZ BodyBoard, and off we went to Seaside.  The kids had a blast playing in the water and Alex even let me uses his boogie board - wow, now I know why he loves it so much. He had a late surf time of 4pm and by that point the waves were pretty intense. Alex was ready to go catch some waves and he got matched up with his Surfer - I think his name was Sean.

I hoped to get some good pictures but after taking 2 pictures of him with his bodyboard my camera battery died, which meant I could only use my android phone to take pictures.  I was able to capture a few moments but the picture quality isn't that great.  Regardless of pictures, he had a blast and caught some pretty big waves!  He kept getting flipped off of the board and swallowed more salt water than he could care to. I am so glad I had him in swimming lessons this summer, because his swiming skills were certainly put to the test.

Read about more of our Surfing Adventures with Autism here

Jim Dowd's Shoot for the Stars Foundation donates $10,000 to Brick Stars

Jim Dowd's Shoot for the Stars Foundation chose the Brick Stars as their recipient this year for the proceeds from the annual Ocean vs Monmouth All-Star high school game.  The game took place on August 8, 2010 at the Red Bank Armory.  Several of the Brick Stars special needs hockey players were at the game and were given a chance to go out on the ice to play a 5 minute game.  The kids were joined on the ice by NHL hockey superstar, James vanReimsdyk of the Flyers as well as Jim Dowd.

Belle and the Jersey Devil Mascot

Related Links:

Jim Dowd's Shoot for the Stars Foundation
Brick Special Needs Ice Hockey League
Overcoming vision challenges

Amblyopia on Ice

Autism on Ice

Alina DePalma, Isabelle Wurmser & James vanReimsdyk

Belle gets onto the ice for the Brick Stars mini-game

Jump Start Get Moving Family Fitness for Wii Review & Giveaway

 It has been miserably hot this summer, though I've been trying to keep the kids outdoors and active as much as possible. They've been riding bikes, swimming, and going to the beach - but when the temperature presses towards 100 degrees with high levels of humidity - the only place we can be is indoors in the comfortable a/c.  We've taken trips to the library and borrowed DVD's and we popped popcorn and watched Wallace and Gromit discs over and over.  When I felt like the kids were being a bit too sedentary, I encouraged them to play the Wii. One of my Alex's most favorite pastimes is playing the Wii. - especially the Wii Sports games along with the Wii Fit.  A few months ago we added a new fitness game to our game inventory - from Knowledge Adventure/ Jump Start called Jumpstart Get Moving Family Fitness Wii.   This is their latest game which is fitness based and a twist of Wii Fit/Wii Sports Resort with a Jump Start look and feel.

My kids have really been enjoying Jumpstart Get Moving Family Fitness Wii because the fitness activities take place in Jump Start world "worlds" and you can customize your own Jumpee to play the game instead of using the Wii Mii Characters.  I found that where some of the Wii games are a bit too hard for my 5 year old, this game isn't as hard for her. For my son who is a fan of Jump Start world and the Wii Fit this was a really nice hybrid of the 2 genres for him. The game came out mid June and is rated E for everyone with "comic mischief". Its priced at $29.99 but I wouldn't be surprised to see this drop to a $20 game at some point.  The game is definitely worth it for the price - it doesn't replace the Wii Fit or Wii Sports, but its something different for the kids to play that also keeps them moving.

Giveaway Info:   

To win your very own copy of Jumpstart Get Moving Family Fitness Wii  for your family, please leave a comment and share your favorite pastime that gets your kids moving. You must be in the US to enter and over 18, and you must provide a way for me to contact you to let you know you have won (email address).  

The giveaway closes on August 15th (2010) at midnight. 1 copy of Jumpstart Get Moving Family Fitness Wii will be given away and shipped directly to the winner from the company.

Related Links: 

Educational Games for the Wii? Jump Start Pet Rescue is a must  

Kids and Parents love Jump Start World

I'm a believer in Wii Therapy

Consider the Nintendo Wii for Kids with Autism





Disclaimer: I was provided a promotional copy of the Jump Start Get Moving Family Fitness game to try out for free in exchange for my honest review. 

Organicville ketchup, a new found love

My son will someday turn into a bottle of ketchup. The kid puts ketchup on everything.  His favorite forever has been Heinz. I became aware of the amount of sugar and also HFCS in many ketchups a while ago so I sought out some healthier brands. I figured when we ate out at restaurants it was one thing, but at least the ketchup in our house could be healthier.  We settled on a Nature's Promise (Stop N Shop) brand, and alternated buying it between the big gigantic bottles of Heinz (that my son can go through in 2 weeks).  I recently was turned on to the Organicville brand of condiments.  These were not only gluten free, but also organic, dairy free and most didn't contain sugar - instead the ketchup is sweetened with Agave Nectar.  I was even happier to find that while more expensive than brands such as Heinz, it wasn't so expensive that I couldn't justify buying it frequently.   Even better, this line of condiments is now being carried at my trusty Stop N Shop (my second home, it would seem).

So, when my son received a bottle of ketchup and also dairy free ranch dressing to try out - we were both excited to try it.  Alex didn't care for the dairy free ranch dressing, but that's fine with me. I've been loving it on salads and as a dip for fresh vegetables.  The Organicville ketchup, on the other hand - he LOVES.  Unlike many of the other "healthy" ketchups, he took to Organicville right away. 

If you haven't liked other organic ketchups, definitely try Organicville.
1. It is the right color
2. It tastes great
3. It smells good and not overly strong.
4. The consistency is comparable to Heinz - not too runny nor too thick.
5. It is gluten free, dairy free, has no HFCS, no sugar added, and its organic! 

My ketchup loving and picky kid gives this one, a thumbs up.


For more info: http://www.organicvillefoods.com/

Disclaimer: I was provided Organicville Ketchup and Ranch Dressing to sample in exchange for my honest opinion as posted here at The Bon Bon Gazette. 

You put your right hand in, you take your left hand out...

Today was "one of those days".  First, it marked the last day of ESY for Alex. He gets a whole week of vacation now before he starts camp for 2 weeks and then goes back to school.  Talk about a very short summer vacation!   Alex came home happy and presented a really cool Pirate craft and some of the projects they had been working on this summer at "school".  ESY didn't seem very academically focused, but Alex enjoyed it.

So, I had signed Alex up for a music therapy/enrichment program through POAC.  We did this program 2 years ago, but Alex was in the "younger" session because well - he was younger.  Now, they have the kids broken out  ages 3 to 12 where they do music activities and then ages 12 to 21 where the program is focused on getting the kids up and moving and learning the wedding dances  (like the chicken dance, etc).  Even though Alex isn't 12, for a variety of reasons he is in that session.  It seemed like a more appropriate fit, or so I thought.  I'm now not so sure.  There are a few kids in there that are his age and some of his peers, I think probably moreso than the younger session.  But, I digress.

On the way there Alex asked if he could get a slurpee. Since it is disgustingly hot out, I decided that sounded good so we stopped and got one.  What happened next I could have never planned.  I hit a speed bump and the straw went up his nose.   The bloody nose was outrageous and a big mess.  He was in the back seat crying about being a "bloodboy".  It was that bad.   I asked if he'd rather just go home but he said he wanted to "go to POAC".   I'm glad he looks forward to these activities.  This is a free program that is being possible from funding through the Graeme Preston Foundation for Life.  

Alex recognized the music teacher right away, he is awesome. He liked that there was music playing and he started dancing and announced "We need a Disco Ball". This gave us all a chuckle as we told him the ceiling fan would have to suffice.   They started out with the hokey pokey and Alex knew this one and got right into it.   After that it went down from there.  He got particularly upset with the Macarena because it seemed that all the other kids knew how to do it but he didn't. I told him to watch the girl next to him and do what she was doing but he struggled.  With the Cha-Cha slide, he followed along a bit but he started to get enraged.  Occasionally he had an outburst and would yell that people needed to be quiet.  The meltdown wound up and then up some more.  He cried.  I felt lousy.  I hate seeing him this way. I know it was out of his frustration and trying to cope with the sensory stuff, and the nosebleed beforehand didn't help any.

So next week we try again. 

In the meantime, I actually am going to encourage YouTube this week and find a few videos that are appropriate that have these dances in them so he can watch and become a bit more familiar.

I also think maybe on our week off, we'll be spending some time as a family doing the Danceland: Fun Songs & Activities to Improve Sensory Skills and 28 Instant Songames: Fun Filled Activities for Kids 3-8  CDs a few times with both kids and trying to get Alex back on track. This is supposed to be fun for him. And I saw at one point he was having fun but then it went all downhill from there...

Any other ideas?

On Life Skills, Chores & Helping hands

I blogged over at Jersey Moms Blog about Chores or Child Labor?  and my kids love of helping out when I do the grocery shopping. They are huge fans of the self-checkout and the new "Scan-It" system that they have put in at our local Stop & Shop.  Going shopping with the kids is a breeze and they scan all my groceries either at check-out or with Scan-It.  Its really taught them quite a bit about prices and reading ingredients. Plus they are all about the re-usable grocery bags which is a help since half the time, I'd bring them in and forget to put them back in the car.  While shopping yesterday Alex asked yesterday for a particular brand of applesauce and also if we could buy corn. When we got home he helped me shuck the corn and get it ready for dinner.  He also prepped the fresh peas the other day from their pods - a "chore" that I personally find very tedious and boring. He had a blast.

Alex has made huge gains this past year in the Life Skills department. It all started when his teacher sent home a checklist and asked the kids to do things like set the table, take out the trash, or make their beds.   He took to taking out the trash with gusto.  It is one of the few things that when I ask him to do, he'll easily tear himself away from my laptop or a video game and go find his shoes and take the trash out.   He also likes to do some laundry related tasks like folding towels and also matching socks. 

I'm currently reading the book Autism Life Skills: From Communication and Safety to Self-Esteem and More - 10 Essential Abilities Every Child Needs and Deserves to Learn by Chantal Sicile Kira and I highly recommend it to parents of kids on the autism spectrum.  Especially as Alex gets older (he is approaching 10) I've become even more aware of all the things that he'll need to know how to do in order to live independently.  It took him a long time to be able to get dressed independently (and he still often puts shirts and pants on backwards or picks clothing that is not seasonally appropriate) and to self initiate his bed time.  We take things one day at a time here, but I can say quite confidently that I am very hopeful for him and the direction he is headed.

Related post:
Learning Life Skills at School

Fun at the POAC Blueclaws game

On July 31st,  there was a POAC fundraiser event and we got to purchase tickets to the Blueclaws game for a great member price. Since Alex had so much fun at the SEPTA BlueClaws night, we decided to make it a family and friends night out - and 10 of us went to the game.  The fact that Alex likes to go to the stadium is reason to celebrate in itself.

Going into the stadium itself has become an accomplishment for Alex since there was a time when he wouldn't even go into the stadium parking lot or make it from the car into the stadium.  "Its dangerous", he'd yell and flop on the ground. For a kid with sensory issues this is a no brainer - it is too much. The stadium is a scary place with loud noises, crowds of people, outbursts of clapping and applause, yelling, hooting & hollaring, plus the dreaded "loudspeaker/announcer".  Alex hates announcements that come over a PA system.   So, it is a bit of a shocker to us how he has come to love going to a ball game. It seems that everything that he once hated is all in one place and happening tenfold.  Go figure.  I can't figure it out.  But - I'm enjoying that he likes to go because it makes for a fun night out.

So, the Blueclaws lost this particular game. But we still had one helluva time with our closest friends and a set of grandparents.  The kids overloaded on sugar and junk food and they crashed to sleep on the way home.  As ever, some of the favorite moments of the night included  the eyeball race and the pork roll, egg & cheese race that take place in the middle of innings.  But, by far - the highlight of the night was when Alex got to go onto the field and participate in one of these between inning entertainments... this particular event was the Hoagie Toss that was sponsored by WaWa.  He got to throw a rubber sandwich (a dog toy, he called it) and compete to win prizes. He got a T-shirt and a reusable water bottle (that he loves).

I still can't believe that my son, Mr. Sensory Kid,  was out there on the field at a Blueclaws game.

Pictures to prove it:

 

Fun Times at the Lakewood Blueclaws POAC event 7/31/2010

Alex got to participate in the Wawa Hoagie Toss and go out onto the field!