Dylan's Summer Program

Dylan likes to make himself a fort in the corner of his room. He opens his dresser door, and surrounds himself by a chair and all of his favorite toys. He even has his favorite pillow and blanket.

It is such a wonderful feeling to see him doing something age appropriate.

I can't seem to get rid of the rash on his face. He chews on clothing. During the day, we can do things to prevent it, but it mostly happens at night. I've tried all manner of creams and even Burt's Bees chapstick, but applying products to it makes him lick his face, which makes it worse. If anyone has suggestions, I am all ears. He also has the red dot on his nose that is something altogether different. We have tried antiviral cream from the homeopath and it had no effect.

Still pretty cute I think. Rash and all.  Anyhoo, this was suppose to be a post about the summer program...

Dylan is doing great! This year, we have set up his program to mimick parts of kindergarten so he will (hopefully) have an easier time in the fall.

First off, three times per week he goes "out" for therapy. We take him somewhere unfamiliar and do some of his learning activities so he is better able to focus in new environments. In kindergarten they change rooms frequently.  Going from classroom to gym to computers to lunch, etc.  We wanted to do something to prepare him for that. So far he is doing okay. He is still nervous and clingy when we first arrive, but no meltdowns. I have seen a gradual improvement in how quickly he is able to adapt and overcome fear, so this is a great sign.  His success rate is far lower during these outings, but we are really just trying to overcome the fear factor right now.

At home, his therapy activities have been broken into "centers" since that's how it is in kinder. Rather than keeping him at a table for most of it, we now move him around the house.  In the photo above, you can see the yellow card, indicating that this is the "classroom library".  His teacher was kind enough to get me copies of the exact cards she uses in class and we have created our own little centers to practice.  Here is his schedule:

His first therapist arrives at 10am, then a lunch break at 1pm and then a second one arrives at 1:30. Each of the categories shown on the schedule represents a "center" placed around our home. Within each one there are many different learning activities and I have created a checklist so the girls can keep track of which ones have been practiced and be sure they cover all of them equally:

This is an example from the "shapes center".  His biggest struggle is with the computer.  He hates it.  Not enough sensory.  Plus in school he is required to wear headphones while on the computer so we are trying to get him use to those.  So far, losing battle.  But we'll see.

Everything is going well.  I am blessed to have dedicated and compassionate helpers who love him and put forth a great effort to see him succeed!  However, I will be so very happy when the summer is over and our autism budget will be quite smaller.  I have forgotten what it is like to have a few bucks in the bank and I can't wait to see it happen again.  But for now we are managing so I am very happy for that. ;)