Disneyland - Part II

This is the second part of the Mikey / Disneyland blog.

When lunch time came, Mikey went to lunch. That is remarkable - during the trip we took to Sea World several months back, he screamed through most of lunch, because he didn't want to stop doing what he was doing. As I've said, he's made some significant progress following directions.

We went to the Mexican restaurant in Adventureland for this because, of the things we offered him for lunch, he wanted tacos. I ended up getting him a kid's meal, because that was the only place we could get plain chicken tacos. He ended up eating all his taco - which had lovely white meat chicken in a generous portion for a kid's meal - then he ate most of my beans with some extra chips we'd bought, and then he ate about 1/3 of Evie's very large burrito. And THEN he actually waited while we finished and went to the bathroom and washed his hands. Now, for an NT 12-year-old this would all be expected behavior; it is Major Progress for Mikey.

Star Tours

After Space Mountain, we went on Star Tours. We told Mikey it was a space ride, and then had to add, "but not in the dark" and other things to convince him it was not like Space Mountain. [Star Tours gives you a Star Wars type adventure. there is a lot of motion and it simulates "going in" to the Death Star. However, it does not have the twists and turns and roller coaster action of Space Mountain.]

To get into the ride, we went in a "back" door that took us right to the ride. The regular route is through what is almost a separate adventure, where R2D2 and C3PO are the hosts. All the attractions at Disneyland have some of this; it is entertaining and distracting when you are waiting in a long line. Star Tours is especially fun and clever. I have been occasionally disappointed if I go through it "too fast." At any rate, Evie observed that one of the disadvantages of the "special assistance" pass is that you miss all of this.

The "pilot" of the ride is an animated robot. Mikey loved the robot! At one point during the ride, the craft enters a frozen crystalized area and the craft smashes through it - it sounds like breaking glass. This was Mikey's favorite part of the ride, after the robot pilot.

Splash Mountain

After Star Tours, we took Yet Aother Train Ride so we could see the dinosaur diorama. We got off in New Orleans Square, and were going to go to the Haunted House, but it was closed (all the rides get closed every couple of years for rennovations and repair. Normally they are all open during the summer unless something is really off, or are undergoing major renovations that take multiple months.) So we went on to the other thrill ride in the area: Splash Mountain.

Splash Mountain is a log ride. You sit down in a faux log, fairly close to the bottom; there is a back support for each person. There is no seat belt; there are side hand rails. Most of the ride is fairly calm and only a little bumpy. They've moved a lot of the animatronics from the old "America Sings" ride into the attraction and have added some things to it. There are one or two short drops. When you are more than halfway through the ride, you go "over" a falls and take a quick, steep plunge. Mikey had been on two similar rides when we were at Knott's and they were his favorites; he loved this one too.

In terms of lines, we went through the FastPass line. There was a small wait - about 10 minutes - to get on the ride. Mikey was antsy but managed.

When we got off the ride, we saw the Winnie the Pooh ride. It is very gentle and takes you through a dream sequence with lots of honey. The wait was only about 2 minutes so we went through the regular line. He appeared to enjoy the ride - he likes Pooh - but when we finished it, he said, "May I have scary ride please."

Indiana Jones

In that vicinity are two rides that probably met Mikey's criterion. Aunt Evie asked him, "Do you want to ride a scary train or a scary jeep?"

Mikey said, "Scary jeep please" so we went to Indiana Jones. I have to say here that things could have been handled a bit better with the special assistance pass. They sent us through the FastPass line - folks with wheelchairs went "up" the exit. We ended up spending at least 30 minutes in this line. We worked with Mikey; played hand games with him; had him do jumping jack when there were areas that would accommodate it. We asked a couple of folks and they insisted we stay in the (not so) Fast Pass line.

When we got to the front, Evie asked if Mikey could drive the jeep, which they did do.

Now, these jeeps have several rows of four seat-belted seats across. The cool thing about the ride is that there are several embedded adventures - that is, there are options on the tracks as to which way you go, so you'd have to ride several times to go on all possible adventures.

The jeeps are on tracks. The ride is fast, jerky and has several spots where the jeep headlights go out and it is totally dark. Mikey did say, "all done" a couple of times during the ride. But overall, he liked it. If you ask him if he wants to go on Space Mountain again, he always says, "No"; but with Indiana Jones / jeep, sometimes he says, "Yes" and other times, "No."

Right after we went next door to the Jungle Cruise, which is a boat ride through major rivers of the world. It is one of the oldest and most campy rides in Disneyland; there are all kinds of animatronic beasts and some head hunters to content with along the way. All the while the boat driver provides a verbal commentary riddled with puns. Mikey really liked the animals.

Finding Nemo

We did several other things, but I'll cover only one other ride here. The submarine ride was revamped a few years back with a Nemo theme. (The old ride was way overdue for an overhall.) They have done a wonderful job on it! Mikey wasn't quite sure what to make of it - you go down inside and sit facing out of a port hole. Once we got underway and told him a couple of times, "Look out the window!" he got the idea and was engaged.

I had been on the ride before, and spent most of my time watching him. It was a wonder! Several times, he started to laugh and clap his hands. There are a couple of places in the ride where something is intended to startle you; Mikey jumped back and clapped and screamed and laughed. He had so much fun, he was fun to watch.

Winding up

Both Evie and I were astonished at how long Mikey stayed engaged AND behaved. In many similar scenarios, he has gotten over-stimulated to the point where he was barely controllable and we've had to leave early. We were at Disneyland from around 10 am to almost 7 pm. Now, as I've mentioned here and in some other blogs, Mikey has made progress; but I also have to give lots of kudos to the Disney folk for all they did.

The last thing we did was have dinner. We did not know it would be the last thing we were going to do. Mikey said he wanted a hot dog. As it turns out, there is only one place that actually has hot dogs, and it's in Toon Town. So we got Mikey his hot dog. After dinner, we started back out and were debating what to do when Mikey said, "Home, please." He had come to the end of the day. We were pretty tired too - as you may have detected, other than those rides we sat on and the two meals we had, there was no "rest" time for us that day - and were not at all unhappy to accommodate this last request.

We walked out of the park, tired but totally stoked at what a terrific day it had been, and how much fun it was. This was the first time we'd taken Mikey some place fun where we acdtually got to enjoy some of it - the other times, it had been all work in taking care of him, managing him, coralling him, etc. We went away very happy we'd gone, and definitely plan to return.

A fun Saturday

Today was a fun day. Southern California is having a heat wave and we ate lunch outside, and cooked burgers on the grill for dinner. We ate inside - we are also a desert, in spite of what you see in terms of terraforming. So it cools off a lot in the evening after sundown.

We took the boys to a large park in Huntington Beach, where there is also a large dog park. Aunt Evie and Foxy were at the dog park. We did take the boys in for a few minutes, but decided that this wasn't a good idea. Basically, in the dog park, dogs are off-leash but kids should be on-leash (totally controlled by a parent/guardian); in the play park, the dogs must be on-leash and the kids off-leash. Neither scenario allows play between the two species.

So Aunt Evie came over later in the day and joined us for BBQ. Foxy even partook - Mikey asked for two hot dogs and only ate one (they are "all beef").

Mikey and Dinosaurs

If you saw Part I of the Disney post, you saw that Mikey was smitten with the dinosaur diorama. He brought all his plastic dinosaurs over, and set them up - staged them - to recreate the scenes as they appeared there. He even added a few scenes of his own! They were spread across the yard, with huge separations between (18" to a couple of feet). Don't think I mentioned in the Disney blog, but Mikey knows the names of the dinosaurs, even the ones that Aunt Evie and I did not know.

David and Math

David is having issues with math. Some things that play into this: He's not interested. He doesn't see the use or value. Some of it is fairly abstract. He tries to hurry through it instead of thinking through it.

One of the things we are working on involves subtracting one area from another. Example: A person has a rectangular pool with a length of 10' and a width of 6' and wants to build a 1' cement path around it. How many square feet are in the path?

Well, today I decided to be as graphic as possible. I had him draw a representation of an 8 yard by 6 yard area, using 1" to represent 1 yard (reinforcing some earlier concepts as well). Then I drew the lines to show each "square yard." Then I had David number the squares, 1 to 8, 9 to 16 ... 41 to 48. Then we discussed how 6 x 8 = 48.

Then I drew heavy lines 1 yard inside, and asked him what the dimensions were of the inner rectangle. "What is the length?"
"7 yards. No, 6 yards!"
"What is the width?"
"4 yards."
"So, how many square feet are in the inner rectangle? What is 4 x 6?"
"24"
"24 what?"
"24 yards"
"What kind of yards?"
"Square yards!"

Then I took scissors and cut out the inner rectangle. "So, David, if the inner rectangle were the yard and the outer rectangle is the outside of the path, how many square yards are there in the path? What do you get when you take 24 square yards from 48 square yards?"

Pause. "24 yards ... square?"

"Why don't you count them?" I said. So he did. It helped ... some.

We had to repeat a lot of it for a similar example with a round pool and a path. On that one, he added the areas of the two circles together. He did correctly calculate the areas of the two circles, which was an improvement, because on circle problems sometimes we give him radius and sometimes diameter, and he has to pay close attention to do the right thing. I drew circles, and started to cut out the middle. "What do you do with the areas of the two circles?"
"Multiply? Divide?"
"David, what am I doing with the inner circle?"
"Cutting it."
... and several other things before I said, "I am taking it ... away."
At which point, David said, "Subtracting!"
At least, he seemed sure in the moment.

What I am learning is that it takes lots of reinforcement. David appears to learn something during a lesson, and then he forgets, or forgets to concentrate. BUT ... we are making forward progress!!

Looney Tunes

David has become fascinated with Looney Tunes characters. On the way back from the park today, I heard the boys saying something back and forth to each other (which is not common). Eventually we figured out that they were doing a Looney Tunes "thing": One of them was saying, "Duck Season" and the other was saying "Rabbit Season." From time to time, they reversed this. (This is from a Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck argument where bugs tricked Daffy into saying, "Duck Season" whereupon he was immediately shot.)

Disneyland - A Mikey Adventure

Some of you may have seen my earlier blog about Mikey's trip to Knott's Berry Farm. Although he had some fun, we decided they did not accommodate special needs in any significant way that would make us want to return.

Last Friday, we went to Disneyland. What an enormous difference! This is a park and a company that truly accommodates all kinds of special needs and diversity.

My husband and I are annual passholders (yup, that's one way to release my inner child; although it does not need a lot of coaxing). I went to City Hall and asked about accommodations for autistic kids a while back, and they said that they would issue a "guest assistance pass" that would allow us to skip or shorten most lines. They added, "But the child has to be with you." :-) Well, of course. The issue with special passes is that people look for ways to get them when they don't truly have a need.

So, on Friday, Aunt Evie and I took Mikey to Disneyland. As with Knott's I typed up a document that talked about how the trip would go:

Drive to the Disneyland and park

Walk to the tram

Wait in line

Ride to the entrance

Go through Security

Go through the gate (I bought the tickets online to avoid the ticket booth)

Go to City Hall for Mikey's special pass

Go on rides.

There were also a set of rules about behavior: no fussing; go to lunch when Grandma tells you; go to the bathroom when told; etc.

I have to say that we expected - nothing. The deal with Mikey especially is this: You never know how he is going to react to anything. We were totally prepared to blow the $138 admission fee (2 tickets; I had my pass) if it turned out that he was not able to deal with the crowds, rides, etc. I am most pleased to report that the day was a bigger success than I could have imagined.

We arrived somewhere around 10 am. The first thing we did was wait in line at City Hall for Mikey's pass. That was the longest wait we had all day. Naturally, he was antsy - as were most of the kids waiting in line for anything. Aunt Evie took Mikey to the fire station (attached to City Hall) and he climbed around the fire equipment while I waited. Then he came back, and the line was still long. Pluto and another Disney employee were receiving kids close by. Aunt Evie took Mikey over, and waited beside the line of kids. When it was Mikey's turn, the other Disney employee called out, "Here, Pluto; here boy! Come here! I want you to meet my good friend, Mikey!"

Pluto came over and gave Mikey a big hug, and Mikey gave him a hug and a kiss. What a wonderful way to start the day!

By this time we were getting close to the front of the line. Evie brought Mikey back and went in to sit on a bench. There are several benches there (I said the were accommodating, didn't I?) and he was OK. When it was our turn, the Disney employee asked how many were in our party, what the issue was (Mikey is pretty obvious once you try to talk to him), and she issued us a "guest assistance pass" and explained how to use it. "For most rides, you go through the exit and show the pass. If it's not obvious what to do, go to the entrance and ask the ride attendants. If you have any issues at all, ask for help. If the ride attendant doesn't know what to do, they can call here. If you are unhappy or unsatisfied in any way, come back here and we'll take care of it." Wow!

I'd also like to comment on - and compliment this Disney employee - on something else. When we take Mikey to a place like this, we prepare a name badge - we have several holders from conferences. Typically, I put an autism ribbon and "Mikey" on the front, and then some information and cell phone numbers on the back. She said that the park recommends we do not display the name as a security issue, because someone might use his name to lure him away. I thanked her and said that Mikey would not go with strangers, but was grateful they were so attentive and proactive.

So after all this preamble, here we go!

We walked up Main Street, with Mikey taking everything in. Going up Main Street you face Sleeping Beauty's Castle, which just recently reopened. So we walked into Fantasyland and went in. This attraction is not a ride; it is a walk through with dioramas and effects, along with an abbreviated story written out. You walk in and up the stairs and then down the stairs - recreating Sleeping Beauty's walk to the top room of the Castle where she slept until Prince Phillip woke her with his kiss. We made him stop and read then look at each diorama and effect - he was enthralled. As we emerged from the Castle, he said, "Again!"

"Mikey," I said, "We have many more things to see. We can come back later if you like."

One of the more terrific things that is starting to happen is that Mikey's understanding has improved and he is willing to negotiate. We did a lot of negotiation this day.

Next, we took him to Peter Pan. We went to the Exit, and showed our pass. THe ride attendant was more than gracious - she seemed to be, as did most everyone that day, trained to handle special needs. She asked us to wait while a couple of cars unloaded, then had us get into one of the cars. Off we His head was jerking back and forth to take it all in, and he was pointing to each thing and saying it's name. He exited the ride at the end with no fuss whatsoever.

So, off we went to our next adventure, Pinocchio. The line was not long so we made him wait in the regular line. We feel strongly that he needs opportunities to learn appropriate behavior. Again, he was totally engaged.

We rode many rides, and I forget the order - but soon after Pinocchio, we went on the train. Disneyland has a train that circles the park. During one segment, there is a n diorama of the Grand Canyon, followed by a primeval version of the Canyon that includes animated dinosaurs. Mikey was so engaged with this ride, he wanted to go again and again. During the course of the day, we "negotiated" going on the train 4-5 times. However, we are pleased to report that he was very good with statements like, "We're going on Space Mountain, then Star Tours, then train."

Pirates of the Carribean

There was actually a long line in the "guest assistance" line (which includes wheel chair access) to get on Pirates. Mikey was a bit antsy in line . The Disney folks were allowing about 1 wheelchair per boat - which makes sense; doing more than that would have really slowed down the line, and there were lots of folks in the regular line, too. However, at one point, they asked for all the folks who were not using wheel chair access, and put most of us in 1 boat.

Pirates is a water ride; no seat belts, but there are two "drops" that are somewhat exciting - especially the first one, since most folks are diverted into looking up at something when the drop starts. Mikey sat between us, singing along with the well-known, "Yo! Ho! Yo! Ho! A pirate's life for me" theme song that plays throughout the ride. Again, he pointed and said the names of things out loud.

Space Mountain

Space Mountain seats two people to a car. I let Evie take Mikey, and I waited for them. Space Mountain puts you in a "rocket" car. You are held in tightly. The ride moves fast, is "blackout" dark with stars, and has fast turns. This is the one ride Mikey did not like; Evie reported that, after the first fast turn, he said, "All Done!" and repeated it after every turn, and got anxious. However, he was very good. Somewhat dizzy coming off the ride, but very good nonetheless.

End of Part I. Stay tuned for the second part!!

Christmas Poetry

Mikey really embraced Christmas this year. He talked about Santa, and even went to the mall and sat on Santa's lap. He also uses software to write things out - at home he has software that inserts pictures of things, somewhat like you might remember from a "Highlights" story (check one out next time you're at the dentist if you don't remember).

Recently I found this - all spelling and punctuation (or lack thereof) is reproduced as I found it.

santa claus
soot is red
beard is white
reindeer sleigh
santa's roof
dear santa claus

It sounded like poetry to me!

I'm not sure why "soot is red." Mikey uses "red" as a universal noun for things including red, stop, unavailable, forbidden. Grandpa thinks maybe he typed "soot" for "suit."

An ordinary Saturday

Yesterday was cloudy and cool (by Southern California standards, that is). Rain was "imminent" and unpredictable, so we didn't plan to go anywhere at all - usually we go to a local park or a local amusement, like the zoo or aquarium, sometime during the day. The boys arrived; we had lunch.

As usual, Mikey helped Grandpa with "chores." Chores almost always include taking the dry cleaning to the laundry. The ladies in the store know Mikey and always give him a lollipop. Then Grandpa and Mikey usually have a least one other chore - get gas, get a few groceries, etc. - and they come home.

While they are gone, Grandma spends time with David on math. We spent a lot of time on math this week. David is in pre-algebra. We don't know why it's called, "pre-algebra" since there is a lot of algebra in it, and geometry, and probability. Lately, I have been giving David homework to do outside the ALEKS program, to reinforce concepts. The abstract concepts are hard for him. He has not been doing well - or at least, has not been demonstrating well. I am not sure if he is just being sloppy or if he really does not understand well enough to do the work. He seems OK with it when we do it together, and I remind him to watch the signs, or how to raise a power to another power. I do know that, unless he "gets" or remembers how to do these things, that later concepts are not going to be possible.

Computer Restriction

It is really hard to filter content on the Internet - I'm sure that is not news to anyone - so we have resorted to allowing no sites except those we approve. YouTube is not one of those sites. A simple query on "Barney" can lead to ... stuff about Barney, parodies of Barney and Totally Inappropriate Parodies of Barney ...

Of course, there is a lot of good and fun stuff there as well. Lately, Mikey has declared he wants to see "The Lion King" on Broadway. That would be the RIGHT Coast, and we live on the LEFT Coast. Mikey has never been on an airplane. He is generally a good traveler, but dealing with lines, Security, waiting, sitting when told, turning off the Game Boy, and Whatever General Weirdness Occurs are things we want to build up to.

YouTube does have some videos of parts of the performance. So, using "Grandma's computer" and with admonitions that he was not permitted to touch the screen [one of his stims is to touch things on the screen and recite their names], we watched some footage of the stage performance.

Mikey loved them, and asked to have them repeated several times. During the last repeat of “The Circle of Life,” he jumped up and said, “Dance.” He was actually imitating the dancers as they moved like the animals in their puppet-costumes! I got up and joined him. It was lovely!

Both boys did ask to “go somewhere” during the day. We explained that today was a day to stay at Grandma’s because the weather was bad. There were a few protests … Mikey demanded “Aquarium” several times … but there were no real tantrums or outbursts. All in all, a good, “ordinary” day.

Sharing and Taking Turns

Today we had an outing. On the way, the boys took their Nintendo DS's (there are two) with them. At one point, there was a slight - something - going on, with David saying something to Mikey about the game.

Now, David sometimes uses his ... influence ... with Mikey. So I started questioning, "David, did you take the DS that Mikey was using?"

"No! He took the one *I* was using!"

"Mikey," I said, "You can't take it from David when David is playing with it. Now, give it back to David."

He did - but not before first removing and switching the games! [Have I said before that he's smart? Just doesn't have much attention span or verbal communication skills.}

Grandma Update

There has been a large gap since the last post of 2008. I had minor surgery and the followed it by retiring from my job of 24 years at the University. I am now a "free woman" seeking some data warehouse consulting on a project basis. The holidays went well but were very busy.

I can't remember if I mentioned it in a prior post, but I am now tutoring David in math. He is in pre-algebra, and has passed the point where his Mom is able to handle the home schooling for this. He is using an online program, ALEKS (http://www.aleks.com) and definitely needs some supplemental help. So Tuesdays are our math day, and we supplement with homework and sometimes some work on Saturdays, when the boys are over (normally).

THAT word

About the time that we're ready to "retire" a toy or book, one of the boys starts playing with it. They are 12-1/2 now, and they haven't played with the letters/numbers on the fridge for a long time. I was about to retire the letters when ... Mikey started playing with them, again. He played for a while on the fridge, then went outside. A short while later, he took me by the hand to join him outside.

It had rained recently, and the ground was still damp. There, in the grass - in the mud, if you will, Mikey had spelled, "stuck." "Stuck in the mud" - that's pretty good (and pretty funny).

Then, he picked up the letters, took them to the patio table, and started an Electric Company-type word transformation set. Stuck --> Suck --> Fuck.

"Mikey," I said, calmly, "We do not use that work."

Obviously agitated, he picked up the "F." "No F!" he shouted, "F is bad!" As he removed and ran back to the fridge with the offending letter, he kept repeating the "no F" comment.

Now, I had not made a fuss about it, honestly. When we took the boys home that night, I told Mom the story. She said that Mikey's school - which is a small, private school for autistic kids - divided the kids into two groups: 1-6 and 7-12 graders. Mikey just moved to the latter group. She thinks he probably heard "that word" at school.

I suspect that, not only has he heard the word there - he has used it and been corrected.