Creative Calm-Down Space

Passing along a resource to you: Teepees!

These were a hit in Michigan with some autism moms and teachers. One mom bought one for her son's elementary classroom as a calm-down place, a place to escape sensory overload.

Linda and Ken Tillman
TeePees2@aol.com
302.588.2644
$129 for the small one
$149 for the big one

No, I do not benefit if you purchase a teepee. I am merely passing along an idea that I have seen work for other families

More sensory friendly ideas:
http://notnewtoautism.blogspot.com/2012/07/lycra-hammock.html
http://notnewtoautism.blogspot.com/2009/07/mini-trampoline-disguised-as-ottoman.html
http://notnewtoautism.blogspot.com/2009/09/homemade-weighted-vest.html

Scouting

I would like for my kid with ASD to join us for sibling performances and sporting events. The last 'first' was a disaster. We failed to preview an event without her and we walked into a a sensory nightmare. We didn't anticipate our son's football game being so chaotic and noisy. The private school brings speakers and music to blast ('blast' is an understatement) at the football game, and finding an area safe from the noise assault proved difficult when my child was dysregulated by the people and the noise.

I attended my first ever winter guard show this weekend. I was able to preview it without my sensory-sensitive kid. I am not sure my sensory-sensitive kid will be able to tolerate the crowd and the noise. The music that accompanies the guard routines is extremely loud. The gym is stuffy and crowded with people. I'm not sure ear plugs or noise canceling headphones are enough to combat the sensory overload of a winter guard competition. At least, this time, I was able to scout the situation before attempting to take the girl along to a show.

Tween Bling by Smart Mom Jewelry

Chewing on clothing. Chewing on hair. Chewing on pencils and erasers. What's a mom to do with a tween or teen who chews on her stuff?

I was recently introduced to one really neat solution:
My girl goes through periods of time where she seems to crave the sensory input of chewing. I had to wonder, are these cool Tween Blings appropriate for young ladies on the autism spectrum? I e-mailed the company to ask; they say "Yes!" and sent me samples to try. This one is my favorite:

Made for mothers of teething babies, these necklaces are designed from food-safe silicone to be sanitary and safe teething jewelry for moms to wear for babies to chew. Smart Mom Jewelry took the idea a step further with designs that appeal to tweens and teens for the chewers out there.

The necklaces come in a couple of shapes, and quite a few colors and patterns.

The solid patterns pictured below are lightly scented. Now, let me tell you, I am sensitive to scents and avoid most anything scented. So, I was skeptical that I'd like a scented necklace. I was suprised (pleasantly) when they arrived. They are so lightly scented that when I removed them from their packages, I thought, "that scent will never last". We've had them over a month, and the scent is still as gentle today as the day we opened them. When I wear one of them, I find myself thinking of Pixie Stix a lot. They are so lightly scented that sometimes I don't smell them at all, and then I get a whiff of fruity-something that smells exactly like the Pixie Stix that I remember from childhood. And then I realize it is coming from my necklace. (I want to try the vanilla bean scented pendant.) Almost without fail, someone comments on one of the necklaces when I wear one. I have taken them off for someone to hold, feel, squeeze. (Yes, I need to throw them in the dishwasher! Good thing they're dishwasher safe.)

When I was wearing the pink swirly doughnut shaped pendant, one woman gushed over it and asked what kind of stone it is. She was surprised to feel it and see for herself what it is made from. She was also surprised to see how lightweight it is; the pendants look much heavier than they are.

The cord is soft with almost a silky feel, and I can tell you from experience that I have had to undo some knots that Li'l Bit put in them, and I was able to untangle the knots easily. That's a plus.

The cords snap together simply and have the safety feature of a breakaway clasp:

We have really enjoyed wearing these necklaces. We haven't chewed on them much, but I see how they would be attractive to a chewer. (If Li'l Bit goes through another chewing period, I'm ready for her.) For me, the fidgeter, they give my hands something to do when I'm in a meeting or waiting. The heart shaped pendant is easier for me to bend and squeeze than the doughnut shaped pendants.

I wondered if the silicone would feel fuzzy or sticky after some use. So far, so good. They still feel as smooth and clean as the day we got them (a little over a month ago). I'm impressed.

For the sensory kid, I really like the fact that they are an attractive accessory as opposed to necklaces I've seen made from sterilized aquarium tubing that scream "special needs" in a school or clinical setting. They're easier to keep up with and cleaner/neater than therapy putty, too, for squeezing, pinching, bending.

This is another item thatLi'l Bit likes to take off with and play with alone; I have had to keep an eye on them and her, and keep them out of her possession until we are going somewhere that she needs her fidget pendant. (In addition to squeezing and bending them and an rare nibble, she likes to remove hers from her neck and twirl it around her finger. When I try to do that, I usually wind up accidentally flinging mine across the room. They bounce when that happens. Not sure how my kid is able to twirl hers without sending it into orbit, but she's quite good at it.)

I showed the necklaces to an OT friend of mine who works with kids on the autism spectrum. She loved them and asked me for the web site; I wore one to a group of moms of special needs kids and they oooed and ahhed over my necklace. And I suspect that my sister will get one of mine when she sees them; she has a newborn (named after yours truly).

One of my friends said that she'd like to order some necklaces for church nursery staff. Babies always try to chew on the workers' necklaces. I would have loved a pendant with my firstborn. I held her all the time. (Twins the second time around were a bit more challenging for me; I couldn't hold them or wear them all the time, especially with a toddler, too.)

Teething Bling and Tween Bling range in price from $10 to just over $20; pendant and bangle sets are available for $34 and under.

Safety risks: Bottom line - use at your own risk. Ya know, I am not concerned about my middle schooler (who is NT) wearing one without my direct supervision. My daughter w/ asd is a different story. She doesn't get one of them unless we're together. I don't recommend that you leave your child unattended with a necklace, even with the safety precautions of the safe materials and breakaway clasps. If you have a heavy chewer (like mine used to be), your child might be able to bit through them (mine bit through other types of chewies when she was little), so you'd want to be right with the child and directly supervise them with a pendant. Use your own judgement about what you know about your own child. You are responsible for doing your homework and assessing and assuming risks for your situation.

Smart Mom Jewelry sent me four necklaces for review purposes. I am not paid for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

English for Life®-The Madsen Method®, a TOS Crew Review

"The Madsen Method is an evidence-based, non-consumable, four-part, cross-grade, do-it-yourself, fully scripted, complete, step-by-step, integrated, basic language arts program, founded on explicit phonics, taught via neurological response instruction." from page Intro 3 of The Madsen Method Part One, Sections 1-3.

# # #

Reviewing homeschool resources with a child on the autism spectrum has been an incredible journey, a roller coaster of ups and downs.

My first year of reviewing in 2008 began not long after I withdrew my daughter from public school, and, interestingly, we received many, many products that allowed me to feel successful with her. I learned that she can indeed learn and that there are products that can scaffold the teaching process for me, while at the same time, scaffold the learning process for my girl.

This year of reviewing, my second, ending this month, has been drastically different. At times, depressingly different. The products I've gotten this year have had a different theme for me. Instead of spotlighting areas of success, I'm learning where, exactly, the gaps in learning and development are, and what are my girl's splinter skills, in terms of communication and academics. Instead if feeling successful, I've spent a lot of this review year facing exactly how far behind we are. Sometimes, that information, while necessary, is difficult for me to face.

The English for Life®-The Madsen Method® is one of the resources that quickly illuminated some gaps. I am deeply indebted to Joe and Sharon Madsen for that.

I listened to several borrowed audio CDs on the drive to the Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati in April of 2009. One of them was a presentation by Sharon Madsen about English for Life®-The Madsen Method®. I knew then that Madsen Method was on the potential list of vendors for the fall Crew voyage and that I might possibly have a chance to review the program. When I heard her talking about the method our forefathers used, I have to admit, my first thought was with a scrunched-up nose kind of "old-fashioned". We've learned a lot since the time of our forefathers, I thought. Surely we have better methods, now.

(I was wrong. In fact, the more I see the approach our forefathers used, the more I want to learn from the materials we have from that time. In fact, sometimes I wish I had access to a one-room schoolhouse for my homeschooler, where she could interact with children of all ages and grades and work at her own level.)

Guide every student to connect his

FOUR NEUROLOGICAL LEARNING AVENUES:

He SPEAKS; He HEARS what he said; He DOES what he heard; He SEES what he did!

Crew members were asked to view video lectures prior to speaking with Joe Madsen as we made a decision to review this product. I wondered to myself, have we given my daughter enough opportunities for interaction and reciprocity to begin something like this? Developmentally, she's a lot like a four-year-old, although her words and vocabulary are much older than that. After talking on the phone with Mr. Madsen for nearly an hour about my daughter's challenges, I was ready to give English for Life®-The Madsen Method® a try. Mr. Madsen walked me through some sample lessons during our conversation, and he answered a lot of my questions about using the program with a child who has the attention challenges that we continue to remediate as part of an autism intervention. He told me it might not be easy in our situation.

He told me about his and Sharon Madsen's experiences using the program with special needs learners, with students who were considered unteachable. He sent me stories to read. He gave me hope. I'm inspired by the stories of children who not only were able to learn, but excel, when they were not expected to be able to learn. He encouraged me to believe in myself and my child. He believes in my child. That's important to me.

The Madsens offer quite a bit of "hand holding" for purchasers. Okay, most of you call that "support". For me, it's "hand holding". I like how they supply the teacher with all of the tools and are standing by to offer support, too.

At this point, I have to modify most of what we do together. We use a lot of hands-on learning, math and reading in while cooking and baking in the kitchen, writing to-do lists, etc. Sitting down at a table sends my daughter's anxiety sky high, and she begins to itch and scratch, and shriek, resist, and protest. Games on the floor and hands-on learning are better for us. Madsen Method is a sit down at the table activity.

So, we sat down with the first lesson - and I immediately encountered a problem. I saw a developmental gap. And modifying the lesson wasn't going to work in this case. We had some work to do before we could get to the part that I can modify.

I'm not sure I can accurately define the issue. Here's one attempt: We'd never defined terms with her. Mr. Madsen told me up front that we'd have to describe and define words and terms using language she'd understand. But I'd never done that before. I assumed she completely grasped meaning with use of words and terms.


Did you know it's possible for a child to use words and terms appropriately and in context and not fully grasp what they mean, that use of words can be a splinter skill with no foundation?

I didn't. And apparently the staff at the public school systems we left behind didn't know, either. Or if they did, they never explained that to me.

So, not understanding any of this stuff about definitions of words and terms, working knowledge of words and terms, I led us in the first lesson about the five mental muscles, trying to define them, describe them in terms she'd understand. My girl was an awesome student for this sit down at the table lesson (she usually balks because the table is too schoolish)! I wasn't sure I'd done a good job.

As we ended the lesson, and I looked ahead in the book, I realized that we'd not explicitly defined words and terms for her before. Overwhelmed. I felt over overwhelmed. How on earth would I teach her definitions in a way she'd understand without shutting her down? I decided at that moment to allow the two of us to spend several days on each lesson, so I could spotlight these definitions and terms over the period of several days, and wait to make sure she understood them before moving forward.

An aside: Before I give you the wrong impression, Madsen Method is not a program about definitions, although being able to define and explain new terms and concepts is necessary within the program. And it is that defining of concepts that seemed to be my hurdle.

In the next day or two, my entire plan changed. Why? My girl began to do something I'd never ever seen her do before, and she began this new something with intensity. She began to ask, "What do _______ mean, Mom?" (Yes, I know what needs to be corrected in that sentence. We'll get there.)

And it was with her increased curiosity and questioning that I gave up the plan to complete one Madsen Method lesson every few days. I decided to set aside those lessons until we'd had some time to practice and experience defining terms and words, allowing her many opportunities to ask her dad and me, "What do _________ mean?" and allowing me opportunities to ask her to define or describe terms to me.

Several months have passed and we have not done another Madsen Method lesson, although it is Madsen Method that opened up a *whole new world* for us. My girl is still asking me to define terms daily as they arise, in context. I know she's paying attention by her questions. Her curiosity has grown by leaps and bounds. Her ability to describe what she means has slowly and obviously begun to expand.

"What do 'unusual' mean?" she asked a couple of days ago. We talk about, discuss, define something new every day! I'm getting practice describing concepts in ways she can understand them - a pre-requisite for Madsen Method. And she's learning to define concepts and words for me and for herself, too, when I turn the question around on her and ask her, "What do you think _______ means?"

My question now is when to pick up Madsen Method and start again. How much experience defining terms and words does my girl need before we begin again? What knowledge and experience does a typically developing child have prior to beginning a program like this one? Has the practice we've done in the past few months laid a foundation that will allow us to begin English for Life® with fewer (or no) modifications on my part? I have lots of questions. I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with Joe Madsen a couple of weeks ago as he coached me through some techniques I can use now, even if I postpone formal lessons for another few weeks. We're practicing saying, seeing, hearing, doing together, away from the table and formal lessons, to introduce this routine before we begin again, formally. Mr. Madsen's "hand holding" is fabulous, and he "gets" the needs of learners like my daughter. He prayed for me before we ended our call, how precious that is to me.

So, you've probably gathered that this review turned out instead to be a pre-review, an opportunity for a discovery, and an opportunity to begin to fill in a developmental gap. Stay tuned. I will to continue to blog about English for Life®-The Madsen Method®, because we are still in the very beginning stages of it. If you have a struggling learner, I encourage you to take a serious look at this program that combines hearing, seeing, saying, doing in short lessons that are completely scripted for the parent in developmental order.

Part One of English for Life®-The Madsen Method® retails for $299.95 (Home Educators receive a 30% discount) with a money back guarantee.

The web site explains that "Part One is the first portion of our complete, ungraded language arts curriculum. It introduces the first elements of English what a student must know to be proficient in English, regardless of his age. In a graded classroom setting, Part One can be implemented as the complete English language arts curriculum for K-1, or it is the first part of a remedial program for an older student. Students completing our program are independently proficient in all language arts skills and content at 1915 literacy standards."

As part of The Old Schoolhouse Crew of reviewers, Madsen Method English for Life sent me a complimentary copy of English for Life®-The Madsen Method® Part One to use at home and review for you on my blog. I am not compensated for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Homemade Weighted Vest

Early Intervention staff introduced us to weighted vests eight or nine years ago as one strategy to use in providing sensory input to the nervous system of a child who needs more input.

Weighted vests ordered from a catalog are expensive. They can be ugly to look at, too. A homemade one, notsomuch.

A wonderful neighbor who sews helped me convert first a boys denim jacket into a weighted vest, and later, a lace-trimmed vest into a weighted vest.

A boy's denim jacket usually has a lower inside pocket, so we did not need to add one there. My neighbor added upper pockets, all the way across the shoulders and upper back area. She used fabric from the sleeves that we removed.

Hint: Look for a denim jacket at your local thrift store, Salvation Army, Goodwill.



I loaded the pockets with strips of modeling clay from the dollar store. The modeling clay can be pressed so that it molds against the shoulders of the child, and an OT can guide you on how much weight to add.

Weighted vests that were used at school make children stand out and look different. They came from a company that makes items for speech and occupational therapists, and, quite frankly, looked "special needs". A weighted vest made from a denim jacket or vest doesn't make the stand out. It looks like clothing (because it IS clothing).

PS: Mom Lori Swan sent me a wonderful suggestion to add to my post. "If you go to Michael's or JoAnn's stores they sell these plastic beads in the doll making supplies. The bags say how much they weigh so you know that. Whatever you make with them can be washed in the washing machine but not dried iin the dryer. I just lay the items on the dryer and they dry fast. I have made a lot of items using them for my son and they work great. We made weighted bean bags to cover him up with and to toss around . He likes them and I can wash them when they get dirty." and Mom Carolyn Gammicchia added, "We made our son's out of a child's fishing vest from Gander Mountain, filled athletic socks with sand, and placed those in the pockets. When the vest needed washing, we removed the socks. I placed fasteners on the inside so they could not be easily opened. But we did leave a couple for him to use. Then we decorated it with Disney stuff and some other cool patches and the kids at school were actually jealous. It was pretty cool." Carolyn continues, "I though would urge folks before using something like a weighted vest or other things like brushing techniques, etc. to consult with an OT that has a background in Sensory Dysfunction. I'm also not a doctor nor expert, but have seen where folks have utilized some sensory integration tools that actually were not specific to their child's needs and actually caused some problems. Also if you are going to go this route and work on sensory dysfuntion, which I'd urge folks to do within your integrative efforts, to get the book "Building Bridges Through Sensory Integration" by Ellen Yack. This book has some directions to make many items yourself also. This book, along with the "Out Sync Child" assisted us a great deal in this area."

GAK

This is GAK, a mixture made from borax, liquid white glue, water, and food coloring. Our RDI(r) Program Certified Consultant introduced us to GAK earlier this week. Stick some theratubing into GAK and you can blow the most fantastic bubbles! :)

Mini Trampoline Disguised as an Ottoman

Recent internet discussions about a mini-trampoline in the house prompted me to share a photo of ours. A good friend of mine offered me her upholstered mini-trampoline when her children outgrew it. The skirt is sewn to the frame, and when the cushion is removed, the trampoline fabric is revealed. The cushion cover comes off (see the zipper?) for cleaning.

The trampoline has many uses besides a place to jump. We've used it as an ottoman. Plop a tray on the cushion and it becomes a coffee table. The kids sit on the floor and use it as a table top for play, as seen in the photo.