Another Reason To Love #SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance)

I've been a fan of So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) from the very beginning. I'm not much of a dancer, but in another life I like to think that I once was or that I will be.

One of the things I admire about the dancers is their tenacity. I mean you hear their stories, some of them auditioning year after year just hoping to make it through another round. It's inspiring for me. It reminds me, that we all have dreams. And if you have a dream, you do not stop no matter how many times you hear the word 'no.'

Last night while watching SYTYCD, The Boy said, "I wish I could dance." I asked him if he wanted to dance with Mommy and he said.

So last night, I danced with The Boy. Because when he makes that kind of request without any kind of prompting - I fulfill it. 

Was The Boy scripting?  Who knows. Who cares.  I'll take those 5 wonderful words and run with it.

I'm sorry to say The Boy fell asleep and missed one of the most beautiful performances I've ever seen on SYTYCD. Dancers Sebastian Grubb and Joel Brown, of the Axis Dance Company, perform an excerpt of Sebastian Grubb’s The Narrowing set to music by the fabulous Joan Jeanrenaud and PC Muñoz. I had never heard of the Axis Dance Company but Sebastian and Joel’s performance was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  

The Axis Dance Company believes “everyone can dance.”  They even have a program for kids. I won’t go on about why the Axis Dance Company is so amazing...go on and see for yourself.
 

Christmas Came Early #WordlessWednesday

Okay, maybe just a few words... 

The Boy has been bugging us the last few weeks for this toy. The Husband and I tend to spoil The Boy.  But this time, I was going to stand my ground.  This time, The Boy was going to wait until Christmas.  The Husband ordered it on line so that we would be sure to have come Christmas. 

But The Boy kept asking. 

And asking. 

And asking.

And we would say, "Not today." 

Then the other day, we finally said, "No, you have to wait until Christmas."

And do you know what The Boy did?  

He changed his calendar. And announced it was Christmas. (I didn't know he knew what date Christmas was on.) 

So I am sure you know what we did.

(hanging head down in shame...)  

IQs, Autism & iPads

In the last four years, The Boy has been evaluated several times.  By neuropsychologists, Board Certified Behavior Analysts, developmental pediatricians, special education teachers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and physical therapists. 

All the evaluations reveal the same thing about The Boy's cognitive ability.  His IQ is inconclusive.  In his last evaluation, the doctor wrote:

"Full scale IQ was in the extremely low range, however due to significant variability in performance this cannot be considered a valid representation of overall cognitive functioning."

Does autism impact his ability to test?  Is it the ADHD component?  Is it both?  I don't know. 

What I do know is that The Boy is way brighter than any test score reveals. 

And you know what else I know?  The Boy is just as sneaky and mischievous as any other typical 6 year old boy.  Maybe even more so.  Especially when it comes to the iPad.

The Boy is a wiz with the iPad.  He plays games, colors and complete puzzles.  He goes on Netflix.  He adjusts the brightness and the volume independantly.  He goes on YouTube - he types in what he wants to watch.  And like most kids on the spectrum, he watches the same thing - over and over and over and over again.  

Stuff like this...

And this...

All harmless stuff.  Annoying to listen to after 1000 times.  But hey, whatever makes The Boy happy right?

And then The Boy discovered The Family Guy.  (hanging head in shame) In particular this episode:

And when The Boy would watch it, I'd make him turn it off and/or take away the iPad.  But then The Boy started scripting lines from The Family Guy.  Which secretly made me giggle the first time I heard it but "horse sperm" isn't exactly the kind of thing I want my kid to say out in public.

So we did what any other decent parent would do.  We deleted YouTube from The Boy's iPAd.  (Yes, he has his own iPad - we got tired of sharing.)

And you know what that little stinker did?  He found that exact episode on NetFlix.  So that got removed too.

HAHA - we showed you!  Or so we thought.

The other morning I found The Boy quietly sitting on the sofa.  He had my iPad in his lap and my earbuds in his ears.  Now, I don't keep my earbuds connected to the iPad - so he had to find them.

And you want to know what he was watching?

The Family Guy.

Foiled again by a 6 year old.

So much for a "low range IQ." 

Post it Note Tuesday: Notes from the Notebook

Yesterday I came home after a long day of work.  I was hesitant in picking up The Boy's communication notebook, afraid of reading what the teacher had to write about The Boy's day.  While I was hoping The Boy had a good day, I honestly wasn't expecting it.   

Shame on me. 

As I read the note from The Boy's teacher, I couldn't help but tear up a little.  

This morning, I wrote back to the teacher.  

I think this is a major turning point for all of us.  I hope the teacher goes with it.  Somehow, I have a feeling she will.    

When Spontaneous Speech Kicks In

When The Boy was first diagnosed, he had absolutely no language.  So now that he has speech, I always stop to listen to what The Boy has to say.  I never ask him to be quiet and I never tell him to stop talking.  And now as his spontaneous speeh is slowly emerging, I get a kick out of some of the things he says.  This is a recent conversation we had over dinner.  

(He's referring to the delivery man, sometimes if the bell rings -
he'll jump up and say "Chinese Rice is here!") 

 

How do your kids make you laugh? 

Interesting article: Increasing Expressive Skills for Verbal Children with Autism

The Literal Thinker

I know that individuals with autism are literal thinkers, I honestly haven't given it much thought when it comes to The Boy.  Over the weekend, I caught the first glimpse on how he interprets language. 

Since The Boy is doing so well with the iPad, we figured it's a good time to start introducing Wii games.  We asked our friends from across the hall to lend us Babysitting Mama.  Since we've been trying to have a baby, I figured this game would be helpful. 


We put the game on and the menu screen came on.  The Boy read 'Babysitting Mama.'  He started to smiled.  "Press play!  Press Play!" He was excited!  
 The Boy pushed me down on the sofa and placed the baby in my lap.  I was confused.  And then it hit me! 


Baby sitting [on] mama.  Duh...