A New Day Care

Today James started a new day care, The Children’s Courtyard. To make a long story short, James is too old to attend Open Door Preschool, and there seems to be gap in Austin for special needs day care for five and six-year olds. We are on a waiting list for McBeth Center at Zilker Park; they take in children age 7 on up. (Later I might put up another post based on my day care search notes.)

Although the Children’s Courtyard is not a special needs school, they seemed more willing to work with him than other schools I called. During our visit last week they went over his school’s IEP and his recent clinical speech evaluation. The facilities were very nice, with many distinct activity rooms—reminded me of a daycare version of Chucky Cheese or Gatti Town. The playgrounds were nice, but James did seem more interested in the brightly colored play area for the younger kids. I mentioned to the “floor teacher” that they may need to lock it to keep him out.

The adult-to-child ratio is around 1-16 (1-20 the first week until they staff up), but they seem to pool resources, and I was told that all their workers either used to be early childhood teachers or at least have a teaching certificate. They use a zone system rather than a fixed schedule. James may not have done well here back when he was four, but I think we have progressed to the point to where he might be able to handle it. James is a lot more flexible than he used to be. This is after school care program anyway, and two or three hours of play time and socialization after school in this environment may be good for him. The day care plans to the more responsible or friendlier children to help him mainstream. I guess we’ll see how it goes. Here is an edited version of the notes I gave to the staff:

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Social
Playing alone: I’d like to see James play with other children as much as possible. Although looking at a detailed toy and rolling it around may be calming for him, it isn’t good. Any activity that is excessively repetitive and non-social should generally be discouraged. A few puzzles or games by himself on occasion is ok if he uses them appropriately, avoids excessive repetition, and is time-limited.

James tends to do well with older or more responsible children. He does make friends. On the other hand, he sometimes finds kids that he likes to annoy.

Teases other kids by calling them the wrong name. (Becomes a game.)

James likes babies. He has never tried to hit one and tries to be gentle around them, but he sometimes scares them by getting too close and making baby sounds at them.

“Baby sounds”: There were a lot of toddlers and infants at Open Door Preschool. I have noticed that recently James may occasionally make sounds in imitation of certain babies. Although this is a phase that will probably pass, I’ve been trying to discourage this because in public it makes his disability appear worse than it actually is. James needs to be around older children to model appropriate social behavior.

Starting some simple pretend play. For example, likes to line up chairs, make other kids sit in the seats, and pretend to drive the bus. Speech therapist's report gives more details on his play level.

Behavior
May throw tantrums. They aren’t as bad as they used to be and can usually be redirected, but if handled the wrong way or left to grow, they can lead to bigger tantrums (lying on the floor, kicking and screaming). The best way to handle a bad tantrum is to redirect or distract him, change the environment, talk him out of it, etc. He won’t punch and thrash with his hands during a tantrum but will kick with his legs, so keep people and objects away from them.

If another kid hits James, he might throw a tantrum, or he might hit the nearest thing (object or a bystander). Although he may hit back once as a reaction, James has never been in a fight.

May say “Hit” when he is upset, bored, or not getting his way. He usually does not hit anyone when he says this. Can usually redirect this by getting him to express what is bothering him (e.g., “I’m tired.”)

On occasion James has hit or pushed smaller children that seem annoyed by him, ignore him, or otherwise respond negatively to him. (It becomes a game.) If they hit him back or yell at him he usually backs off.

James has gone through a five-month period at school (between December 2004 and April 200 5) where his behavior was difficult to control. Lots of hitting, throwing, tantrums, and testing; however, this only occurred in the PPCD/EC classroom, and even on extremely bad days at school, he was consistently well-behaved in day care. He seems to have calmed down over the summer and did well in both Extended Schoolyear (ESY) at Galindo and day care at Open Door Preschool.

James will do the opposite of what you tell him if he is in a “giddy” negative-attention getting mood.

Has difficulty sharing certain items at times.

Loves using the computer but gets upset if he has to wait or if the computer locks up.

Sensory
Very picky eater. I will provide lunch but also encourage him to eat snacks provided by the daycare.

Obsesses over certain things, such as the color yellow, school buses, toy cars, and doors (tries to close them).

May not respond as well to verbal instruction in a loud environment. Unlike some other autistic children, doesn’t have a break-down or doesn’t seem to directly show signs of over stimulation, but ambient noise does influence his behavior.

James likes to be squeezed. He might squeeze other kids' hands or arms because it feels good. This is usually easily redirected by reminding him that other kids do not like to be squeezed. Have him do some climbing or even give him squeezes (bear hugs). Squeezing him between two bean bags also helps.

Speech
Although James can answer who, when, what, and where questions, on occasion may need prompting for yes/no questions (say “yes or no” or emphasize the “do” part).

If James does not know the answer to a “who,” “what,” or “where” question, he has trouble saying no. (He’ll guess instead.) You may have to ask him, “are you guessing, or do you know?”

James doesn’t yet ask or understand “why” questions. With some prompting he is beginning to make and understand certain simple “x because y” compound sentences.

James doesn’t yet ask or understand “how” questions. He does understand multi-step sequences.

James still has difficulty distinguishing from "me/I" and "you" and often interprets or states the concept backwards, even when relying on imitation or pattern sentences.

James can answer and understand some concrete “when” questions. He knows today, tomorrow, and tonight. He can read a calendar. He understands what a clock is for and can compare a digital clock against something like a store’s hours of operation sign, but doesn’t yet associate events during the day with specific clock times.

James can say certain things with full sentences, so if he is using a lot of fragmented language (especially with requests), ask him to talk using complete sentences. You can also model what he is trying to say with a more complete or more appropriate sentence, and ask him to repeat it. (He usually does not get frustrated with this.)

James understands a lot more than he can verbalize, and he has a good memory. When he was two or three he learned eight colors in a three day period, memorized the alphabet in a few weeks, and memorized all the answers to computer games and electronic toys. In school last year he memorized a wall with a couple dozen Spanish words. James is now sounding out street names on his own, understands a lot of street signs, and has memorized the make and model of most cars on the road, mostly on his own. He also likes to read simple things like Dr. Seuss books, phonics books, road signs, and labels.