a good day, a bad day, and a party

A doctor in this area has arranged for special screenings of new movies at a local theater for special needs kids and their families. The sound isn't quite as loud and the lights aren't quite as dim as in a regular showing, and no one minds if your kid runs up and down the aisles or talks loudly, etc. Saturday they were showing Chicken Little.

Now, on Saturdays we usually go to the library. And, like so many things with autistic kids, the more times we do it on a Saturday, the more Henry thinks that's ALWAYS WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO ON A SATURDAY. So, Saturday morning, when I asked if he would like to go see Chicken Little, he said "you want to get that movie from the library." I replied that it wasn't available at the library yet- you can only see it in the movie theater, and he got all agitated and said "you don't want to see it in the movie theater! You want to go to the library." OK, so I thought that was the end of that. Then, about 2 hours later and around the time we would have needed to leave, he comes over out of the blue and says "you want to see Chicken Little in the movie theater." I guess he had to warm up to the idea for awhile before he would agree to it. So we hustled around and got dressed and ran out the door and headed to the movie.

We went to one of these (Shrek 2) about a year ago and left after the previews and credits. But this trip was much more successful, and we stayed for the whole thing.

Henry was really a lot better behaved than many of the kids, but he did shout out inappropriately a couple times, at exciting moments, so it was nice to be in an environment that was friendly to such behavior. We stood up in the aisle at the end and danced together and that is going to be one of my favorite memories for awhile!

We also went to the library later that day (of course), but we were lazy and drove instead of walking.

Sunday Henry seemed really agitated and was being really difficult with regard to his little brother. He doesn't physically hurt him or anything, but he shouts at Tommy whenever Tommy comes near anything of Henry's, and refuses to share, etc. I mentioned this to Henry's teacher yesterday and she is going to help me come up with some tools to use at home to help with his behavior. She said she'd be happy to write a social story for us. At school Henry has a social story about "using gentle hands with his friends" because he often scratches or pinches. If he uses gentle hands all day, his name stays on the smiley face. If his name stays on the smiley face all day, he gets to pick a reward from the reward box. I have resisted these kinds of reinforcers at home, frankly because it sounds like a lot of work and structure that it might be difficult to follow on the weekends, etc. But it may help on the "bad" days when we find ourselves constantly saying "you need to be nice to your brother."

It breaks my heart because Tommy is going through such a sweet phase right now: he is always picking up one of Henry's books or toys and bringing it to him, saying "book, bubba." On a good day Henry says "thanks Tommy" and takes it from him nicely. But on a bad day he screams and tears it out of Tommy's hands, or else pushes it away. Tommy has also recently started saying "sorry" without any prompting. He'll bump my arm and then throw his arms around me and say "sorry mommy, sorry." So I don't want Tommy to "unlearn" these good habits he's learning because his brother has still not learned them.

Yesterday Henry's class had a "fall party". We made some crafts involving pumpkins and turkeys, ate apples and cookies,etc. I was blown away when Henry sat down and made a hand print turkey- he didn't flinch when we painted his hand, and in the past those kinds of sensory things would really flip him out. It was fun to go and see his classroom. I really have to hand it to his teachers- there are only 5 kids in the class, but their ability levels are SO different. It must be such a challenge to balance 5 different class plans! One child with very good verbal skills came over to me and said "are you Henry's mom? What's your name?" And answered some questions that I asked him. But there were a couple children that I didn't hear speak at all, and one little girl kept trying to eat things that she shouldn't... Those teachers are very special people! We are definitely thankful for them this season!