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.

David and the "Important .5"

David is being home-schooled. He is learning math from an on-line program called, "ALEKS." It's a pretty decent program with a lot of interactive / response code built. For example, if he fails to get a problem right, he will have to practice the problems associated with the concept more times; if he gets it quickly, he will only be required to do 2 exercises. There is an "Explain" option that explains the concept and walks through how to solve the problem.

The issue with David is that he learns the steps and does not always get the "concept." This is where Grandma comes in.

On this particular day, the program wanted David to calculate the surface area of a prism. He wanted to jump right in.

"David, how many sides does this figure have?"
"I don't know," was the immediate, frustrated response.
"Well, let's figure it out."
"One, two, three ..." he started counting, "... four, five, six, seven, eight, nine ..."
"David, don't count the edges [at least, I think that's what he *might* have been doing], count the sides. What shape is the back?"
"A square." [It was a rectangle but he knew that.]
"What shape are the sides?"
"Triangle." Etc.
"So, how many sides are there?"
"Five."
"So to get the area, we add up ..."
"The sides."

Ready to start the problem. He uses the calculator way too much for my liking.

Open paren. '9' '*' '5'
"David, HOW MUCH is 9*5?"
A glance. A momentary lull. "45!" he announced. Backspace, backspace, backspace ... "45" gets typed.

Perhaps I should have let that one go. As he started entering information about the five sides, he had to stop and figure out which sides he's already done. Had he left the "9 * 5" it might have been more obvious.

As he got to the triangular sides, he announced, "... and the .5, that's important."
"What?"
"The .5. You have to use it."
"Why?
"I don't know."
"OK, David, do you remember we talked about this before ... [drawing paper] Suppose we had a triangle with 3", 4" and 5" sides. If we complete a square using the two shorter sides, what is the area of the square?"

(3" * 4") = 12"

"And if we cut it in half with a diagonal line, that forms the traingle. See? That's where the .5 comes from."

Had to repeat it a couple of times, and may have to again. But he gets it. Score one for David (and for Grandma) today.

Harnessing Mikey

This is a follow up to "Mikey Escapes."

A while ago, we bought a harness for a large child. It looks pretty much like the fancier rigs that get used with dogs - the ones that go around the body, not the neck. We hadn't used it. However, my daughter (boys' aunt) and I are planning to take Mikey to a local amusement park in a couple of weeks, and I decided it was time to make sure he *would* wear it.

It took a while to get it on him, and - let's just say I plan to RTFM before putting it back on him.

"Mikey, do you want to go for a walk?"
"Yes."
"OK, you have to wear this harness."

He was very cooperative.

"Do you wear a harness at school?"
"Yes." (I'm not really sure he does - he goes to a special school for autistic kids. They do go on field trips.)

When it was on - still didn't quite feel right, but it was on - we went out the front door. He was actually very cooperative; and, unlike other times on walks when he's get too far ahead, now he simply slowed down when the lead "tugged" on him.

"Right," he said, indicating he wanted to go down the sidewalk.
"Right."
"Left."
"Mikey, what does the light show?"

We were at a street corner. Mikey doesn't "get" lights.

"Push the button, Mikey."
"Left!"
"Yes, Mikey, but first we go to the right to push the button so we can walk."

We did. He is very bright - the next light we came to, when asked to push the button, he did. I am hopefull this will eventually sink in.

"What do you see? Stop? Walk?"

Getting similar attention at a non-stoplight street corner, or by a parking lot driveway, is nearly impossible. But -- as we approached one parking lot driveway, and a car was coming, he did stop and wait. This is a major advance - he doesn't stop if a car is in the distance, but he was apparently aware of them close by.

"Right."
"Straight."
"Mikey, do you want to go to the park?"
"Yes." Quick turn of the head. "Thackerberry Farms!"

Thackerberry Farms is a strawberry stand. It's MILES away - like 3-5 miles.

"OK, Mikey, let's go home. Grandpa will take you to Thackerberry Farms to get strawberries."
"Straight!"
"No, Mikey, let's go back to Grandma's ..."
"Straight! STRAIGHT!"

Tantrum.
Pulling.
Attempt to run - harness is a good thing, and holds up against the struggle.
Drop to the ground.
Screaming.
Tries to get harness off. (Will he resists wearing it again?)
Pounds his head on the ground.
More screaming.
Rolls.
(Quiet voice here, continuously) "Mikey, we are going back to Grandma's house." (Repeat)

OKay, kids, today's lesson is ... the same one we always learn. Or refine: Set expectations with Mikey.

Later in the day, he wanted to go for a walk again. He agreed to the harness.

Grandpa says, "OK, Mikey, we are going to take a walk AROUND THE BLOCK."

Everything goes well and cooperatively. I have high hopes for the amusement park; and yes, we'll try this harness thing again next week in preparation.