Bible Memory

Lately, I have been wanting to "challenge" (for lack of a better word) Ethan's brain. I have discovered that the more new things I am teaching him, the more calm & socially engaging he has been. Almost like if I exercise his brain, his mind is worn out. This seems to be causing him to behave better & have less meltdowns....and even occasionally napping! Corey & I were talking last night about how much Ethan has been talking & interacting with us this past week.....and I think me trying to "stump his brain" has really played a big part in it.

So, a couple of days ago, I thought I would start teaching him some scriptures from the Bible. It started at lunch one day, and I asked Ethan if he wanted to do a new prayer instead of our standard, "God is great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our food. Amen." His eyes got really wide & he jumped up, "YES!" So, I told him John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that 

whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!

He was so excited. "Again, again?" he kept saying to me. We did this over & over again during our meal, and he began repeating it with me. But the next morning, he was saying it all on his own.....and asking for another new prayer. He has now memorized 3 Bible verses! I wrote them out & hung them by our dining table, so he could pick which one to do for our prayer.........and he picks all of them......in order, of course.  :0)

Ethan's Bible Verses

Deuteronomy 6:5

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your might.

 John 3:16 

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that 

whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

Art Without Boundaries

All kids amaze me....I guess that's the teacher in me. But kids with special needs astound me. I am constantly hearing stories of these "underdogs" overcoming their challenges & triumphing in victorious ways. Living with Ethan, I am privileged to see him overcoming these odds on a daily basis. And occasionally, my husband will come home from work with "a Mason story".....

Now to be COMPLETELY honest, when my husband talks about work, I have a very difficult time being a good listener. He is an engineer, and I often find myself being lost in the details of his stories. BUT, when he says that he has a story about his friend's son, Mason, he has my full attention. I LOVE Mason stories. You see, Mason has autism as well. He is elementary school age, so we are often going to this family for support & information. And, although I have never met Mason, I have come to hold him dear to my heart. He is such a sweet & fun kiddo. In fact, several months ago, my husband set up a fundraiser in order to buy Ethan AND Mason each an iPad2....and both boys LOVE their iPads.

Well, Mason was recently featured in his local newspaper for his amazing art skills! He participates in a program called Art Without Boundaries. This program "uses everyday pleasures such as singing, movement, painting and story telling in a unique combination to stimulate dramatic changes in the brain. Although our goal is to provide a rewarding experience, documented testimonies show significant improvement in some clients in verbal skills, mobility, combativeness, spatial acuity and understanding instructions."

And, recently, one of Mason's paintings was wanted by someone from Colorado!!! To read the entire story & to learn more about Art Without Boundaries, please visit the local paper's article. What a great program.....what a great painting.......and what a GREAT KID! WAY TO GO MASON!!!!!!

Mason & his first "sold" painting. (Money given for the paintings is donated to the program.)

This was emailed to me yesterday. It's Mason's latest work of art. What a talented kiddo!!!

A Thirst for Knowledge

So......I'm kind of wigging out right now......

Last week, I bought addition and subtraction flash cards in order to start teaching these to Ethan. Yes, I realize that Ethan is only 3 years old, but he is already counting to 100.....even doing it by fives and tens. He is flying through any of the preschool math workbook that we have, and lately he has been wanting to do more & more math. So....I bought these flash cards.

Ethan adding manipulatives....and loving it!

Well, the teacher in me gets out all of my teaching stuff......the specific addition flash cards (the easiest ones....the plus ones) and my manipulatives (tangible items for Ethan to count....I used my tangram shape pieces.) I was so excited! And so is Ethan. As I'm getting stuff out & ready, he is grabbing for things & moving things....he was ready to play!

Then we begin. I show him the first flash card.....1+1=__. I say the words, "One plus one equals".....

I haven't even begun to do anything else....to show him the concept of adding, to use my shape pieces to demonstrate adding, NOTHING......and this child says, "TWO". ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? After I was able to recover from shock, I moved on to the next card....1+2=__......he knew that one too. He knew all of them, and they went up to 1+12=__. WHERE DID HE LEARN THEM?????

I immediately emailed his preschool teacher. She still hasn't gotten back to me, so I'm anxious to hear from her. He may have learned these math facts at preschool. But this is EXACTLY what happened when I decided to start working with him on his letters.....he already knew most of them! I can remember being at my sister's house, and she pulls out a board game to play with Ethan. He was about 22 months old....just shy of being 2 years. She thought he would like to play it because it was all about letters, and we knew how much he loved letters. I told her, though, that we had only been working with uppercase letters, and the board game was lowercase letters....so he wouldn't know them. UM......HE KNEW ALL OF THEM!?!? How this child soaks up academia is UNBELIEVABLE! I had no idea that he knew his lowercase letters, but he got all of them right when my sister asked him what the letters were......unreal.

So, now I'm wondering where he learned his addition facts?! Probably school, I'm guessing, but I'm still blown away! Well, curiosity set in, so I moved on to the plus twos....to see if he knew those. He didn't...so I was able to use my math manipulatives & demonstrate adding....and he was totally getting it....and squealing with joy over this "game"......he LOVED it. He kept asking for more & more.....we probably played for about 30 minutes. Then, for lack of more flashcards, I got out another math workbook, and he was absorbed. He didn't want to write the answers, so that was my job, but he often read the directions & was so giddy doing math worksheets. Then, once we finished the math section, I scrambled again to find something...so we played one of his favorite board games BINGO BEARS. Everyone has a bingo-type card, and you spin a spinner. This spinner will tell you either a color, number or size bear to pick from the pile. We play the first one to fill their card is the winner. After he played this game with every bingo card, he was finally ready to play cars....without me. This session was 1.5 hours.

I am amazed at how my child's brain is super thirsty for knowledge. My husband and I are reminded of that movie SHORT CIRCUIT where the robot says, "Input, more input".......that's similar to Ethan. He loves to learn!

I tried to take a few videos, but it was difficult with my limitation of only having 2 hands.....so....here is what little I was able to get.....

 

*****UPDATE!!***** I spoke with Ethan's teachers today, and they told me that they haven't done addition facts with the 3 year olds. They HAVE been working on greatest vs. least, and other math concepts, but not addition facts. I am truly amazed at what Ethan absorbs....what a kid!

Coloring & Sorting Pasta

Thanks to Play At Home Mom blog, I have been SUPER inspired lately. I LOVE their sensory play ideas, and Ethan & I are putting them to good use! Last week we decided to expand on our rice box & color our rice/pasta. We bought pasta with different shapes, sizes, and textures....this will stimulate his sense of touch. Then, we bought lots of kool-aid packets to dye our pasta....stimulating his sense of sight.

Believe your eyes! Ethan is "cooking" with me in the kitchen! No blender this time. Ethan picked the pasta & then what color he wanted it to be. He opened, poured, stirred, and cleaned up...a lot of fun!

Here is all of our pasta laying out to dry. I think next time we will use food coloring because the smell of all of the different types of kool-aid were a bit strong for Ethan's sensitive nose....and me too!

After a day of drying, we were ready to play! Sorting.....a favorite activity of Ethan's....it helps to calm him & organize his system. He really enjoyed this! And the total cost of what we used was $2.80!!!!! (The blue didn't turn out, but I'm gonna try it again.)

Here is all of our colored pasta in bags....ready to be used again!

pLaY aT hOmE mOm!!!!

I am always on the look out for ways to incorporate sensory play into our typical play activities. Part of Ethan's autism diagnosis included Sensory Processing Disorder. Simply put, his ability to take in & process anything related to the 5 senses is underdeveloped. His body can't take it. So, when he hears loud noises, it LITERALLY is painful.

However, through sensory play (activities that tap into the 5 senses), Ethan will be able to strengthen his system, and be able to process sounds, smells, sights, touches, and tastes better. Through occupational therapy, we have been able to figure out what Ethan really responds well to, and ultimately what will help him.

But sensory related items can get quite expensive. So, I often make trips to the dollar stores or drug stores, scanning for items that can be used in unique ways to create sensory play. We have a rice box, bubbles, lite brite, and many squishy toys...similar to stress balls. And then, my sister sent me a link to something called "Busy Boxes" from a blog. She thought it seemed similar to what we were already doing with Ethan's rice box (like a sand box), but maybe could expand upon it. The minute that I visited PLAY AT HOME MOM, I was hooked.

This entire blog is dedicated to creating sensory play out of everyday items.....and inexpensively. So....with all that being said......I am proud to announce my next project......and it's a big one.

Currently, all of our play stuff is upstairs in our living room.....and it is starting to become more & more difficult to maintain it all. So, my husband & I have decided to turn most of our basement into a SENSORY-BASED PLAYROOM!!!!! I'm so excited!!!! We have a bathroom & a kitchenette downstairs as well, so it will be easy for us to spend most of our day in this new area. I'm so excited!!!!! (A big shout out to my wonderful husband who literally said to me, "Do whatever you need to do for Ethan." I LOVE YOU!!!!)

It's going to be slow in the making, but I will be sure to keep you updated every step of the way! WOO-HOO!!!!!

But, in the meantime, I will continue to strive to be a Sensory based Play at Home Mom. Here are a few activities that we have done from the PLAY AT HOME MOM blog.

Decorating our Sticky Window. My nephew really liked this too! Can you see how Ethan has put a dot (googly eye) above the popsicle sticks? He is mimicking what my nephew did. My nephew called that an "eye-sicle"! HAHA!

Sticky Window materials...and Ethan's drink.

Balloon Bath

Glow Stick Bath

He never wants to stop playing to go take a bath, but now he RUNS down the hall to take a Glow Stick bath!

A Mom Cartoon

OK....so this has absolutely NOTHING to do with learning about autism......but about being a mom. It comes to us from NickMom's blog if you would like to see more funny illustrations like this one. I thought it was histerical, so I had to post it......hope you enjoy it!!!

What You Can Get Done in 30 Minutes WITHOUT Your Kids, Compared to With Your Kids

Dear Family

Dear Family,

I just want to take the time & thank all of you.

Becoming a mother was a huge adjustment although it was a welcomed one. Becoming a stay-at-home mom was a huge adjustment although that too was a welcomed one. Becoming a mother of a child with autism has definitely been the biggest adjustment of them all.....maybe because that wasn't part of my "plan". And I wouldn't be able to do it without all of you. So, thank you for your support, for your prayers, and for your love as Corey & I are trying to parent....not only our first child.....but a child with autism.

Mostly, though, I want to thank you for how much you have supported Ethan. I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ethan would not have made the progress he has made without each & every one of you. Currently, there is no cure for autism......only a treatment plan.....and that is intervention. And since we were able to have Ethan diagnosed so early, Ethan has a high chance of overcoming his autism-related challenges through Early Intervention. And this is why I am so diligent in helping Ethan right NOW. It increases his chance for success in the future. And I am so grateful to all of you because I am not alone in encouraging & supporting Ethan. You help Ethan in ways you don't even realize.

First, you help Ethan by treating him like any other 3 year old boy. You talk to him, you play with him, you joke with him, you tickle him, you put him on the big trampoline with your kids. You get excited with him, you laugh with him, you read with him, you play games with him, you try & teach him how to hold a baseball bat. You take him to car events, you watch NASCAR with him, you give him high-fives & fist-bumps. You cry when he says a line in the Christmas play at church, you work in church ministry that gives him & others with special needs a voice, you pray for him, you hug him, you kiss on him. You love him.

Second, you help Ethan by learning about autism. I know many of you read this blog. And I KNOW you don't do it because I am an amazing writer....that's not the case at all. You do it to understand Ethan, so you can help him & understand him better.....so you can have a stronger relationship with him. And that is HUGE. You ask questions....and I love that. You have talked with some of your older kids about what autism means & answered THEIR questions. You have gone to conferences, read books, watched TV interviews....all about autism.

Third, you tell others about Ethan. One of the promises of God that I cling to is in the Bible....John 9:1-3. It's the story of Jesus & his followers coming across a blind man. Here is what it says.....

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, 

“but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

When you tell others of Ethan....whether it is to inform others of him or to ask others about ways to help him, I believe that you are telling others of the WORKS OF GOD.  I see God working in Ethan's life so mightily that it is overwhelming at times. The grace he has shown us, the mercy......the love & strength......it is truly amazing. And when you talk about Ethan to others, you are talking about what God is doing.....a miracle. Now, you may not use these words, but that is what you are doing......telling someone of a miracle in the making.

So, dear family, thank you for all of this & more. My little family of three is so lucky to have such a large family...most of who lives in the same town as us. We are so fortunate to have family that is supportive, interested, and loving. Thank you for what you have done & continue to do for Ethan. He is a VERY lucky little boy!......and so am I. 

I love you.

Jessica