A good week
Well, every day of pre-school and early intervention this past week was really good, how about that?
I did parent duty on Thursday at pre-school and several of the little kids wanted to know about Zoë. One boy came up and said, "Why does Zoë scream all the time?" and I said, "Because she has autism." He said, "Autism. Hmm," and went away, which was fine.
The little girls were more interested, and wanted to know more about what autism is and why Zoë doesn't understand that it's not nice to do things (like take people's toys away from them) and why she sometimes screams or cries a lot. They were actually very sweet, and I was happy to talk to them about it. A bit later when I was holding Zoë's communication card for "pack away time" (i.e., time to put away all the toys), several little girls wanted to know what it was and what it was for, and so I showed them, and just told them that Zoë understands the picture but not always words, so we show her pictures.
I was also pleased to see that there's a little girl at pre-school who seems very interested in being Zoë's friend. The little girl's name is Emma (I don't think I'm violating anyone's privacy by revealing that, heh) and she's very sweet and gentle and patient with Zoë.
Monday is a state holiday, so there won't be pre-school until Wednesday morning, which will be a bit of a break for everyone, I think, although of course we have early intervention on Tuesday (and Miranda has pre-school that day, since she's in the three-year-old classes). Let's hope that Zoë has a good rest and has another really good week. Totally aside from it being good for her (because she learns more when she's cooperative), it makes me feel much better when she's doing well.
Another really good day
Zoë had an excellent day at Early Intervention yesterday, and she had a really good day today at pre-school, as well. I did have a bit of a struggle convincing her to eat breakfast, but she ended up eating and it was fine.
I'm sincerely hoping that she's turned some sort of corner with regard to school, for her well being and my sanity. I do know that I'm always in a much better mood when she's having a good day.
New bed!
Zoë has a new bed, and it's terribly exciting. It's a bunk bed, and she's on the top, how cool is that? She's even got new sheets and a colorful new doona (comforter).
She was somewhat concerned as we were cleaning her room and we took her old bed out. When the new bed came in, though, it was in pieces, and she was very excited to "help" put it together (I have mentioned that she LOVES building things, haven't I?).
The first night she went to bed and didn't want to go to sleep until Miranda came to bed (hey, two beds, two girls, Miranda's got to go to bed, too, right?). Miranda wasn't so sure about the whole thing, and didn't want to stay in bed. Eventually we put her in after she fell asleep on my lap in the family room, and Zoe went to sleep then.
Tonight, three nights later, Zoë went to bed and played very quietly for about an hour and when I took Miranda to bed (she fell asleep on my lap again), Zoë said, "Good night," and I tucked her in and turned the light off, and she went to sleep.
This, I want to tell you, is a big deal. We've always had trouble getting that kid to sleep and having her sleep through the night. Now we're finally getting a comfortable bedtime routine that she seems to like and enjoy and understand, and which she's willing to do. WHEW. And YAY.
Stars and eating
We've started a system of stars for good behavior. She gets a star for going to bed, for picking up toys, and for each time she eats a meal properly, sitting down at the table. She's figured out what the stars are for, and that after a certain number of them she gets a special treat, and it seems to be doing the trick.
She's finally started to eat regularly, although she's still a very picky eater. She's eating breakfast (which has been a real problem) and lately, even if she's not that hungry, she'll sit down nicely at the table with us and have a drink or just sit politely!
And guess what? When she eats regularly, miracle of miracles, she's in a better mood, her overall behavior is improved, and she gets more stars, and it's a nicely self-reinforcing cycle.
I've really been at my wit's end about what to do with her behavior, and it's just such a huge relief to see real signs of improvement.
Not so good again
Zoë had a bad day again at preschool. Very uncooperative, apparently. She was in fine form this morning, sprang out of bed at about seven-thirty, ate breakfast, got herself dressed. She seemed very happy to go to school...
The teacher is convinced it's because Zoë doesn't sleep enough, and I'd love to get the kid into bed earlier, but short of physically restraining her, I have no idea how to do that. She gets up early in the mornings, we maintain a bedtime routine for her, we've tried a number of different things to get her to go to bed, but nothing works. Sleep problems are very common in autistic children, unfortunately. Zoë fits right into that pattern.
Personally, though, I think she just had a bad day. She went to early intervention yesterday and we had a disagreement there (she didn't want to have snack time and made a very big deal about it), and she was cranky all the rest of the day, and I think it may just have carried over. She doesn't appear at all tired to me.
Really, I'm starting to feel quite annoyed by some of this. I'm getting tired of the implication that I'm not aware that she should go to bed earlier than she does or that she should eat a more varied diet. I do agree that we need to keep trying things to get her eating and sleeping more, but I absolutely refuse to accept that Zoë's misbehavior is somehow all my fault...
I'd better stop writing. I'm quite irritated and I need to stop.
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