Table tasks

This year I’ve taken upon my daughter’s therapy after a very disappointing (and expensive) year last year. Through the Autism initiative I attended the PECS workshop in February and have since implemented Phase I. Elizabeth’s grasp of it is coming along slowly but I think that has got to do with stubbornness then anything else. Sometimes she will hand a card over to me to request something, but other times when I hold my hand out for the exact same thing she flops onto the floor and acts like I’m torturing her. I’m determined to persist however as a form of communication is one of the most important things to have for some kind of quality of life, especially as she gets older. As I’m writing this Elizabeth took my hand over to the gate that blocks off the kitchen and handed me the kitchen card. I have a special draw for her that is filled with Tupperware, which she just loves playing with. Depending on how well she does the exchange (for example, how much prompting was needed) determines how long she gets to play in the kitchen. This time all was needed was a light touch on the elbow to remind her to give Mum the card.

Another activity I’ve been doing is table tasks. After watching five different Speech and Occupational Therapists over the last two years I decided that I could do a much better job. In her PECS folder I have about twenty different table tasks, these include puzzles, play doh, computer time, story time, singing time etc. I select five of these activities at a time and stick them on a schedule board. Once the activity is finished, we put the card into the finished box. We only sit at the table for about half an hour at a time, which is pretty much Elizabeth’s attention span, which I think is not too bad for an autistic child going on four. I choose activities that she finds fun like singing time and bubbles, interspersed with things she hates like drawing. Since I started these table tasks I find Elizabeth has become much more interested and engaged in what I am doing.

My parents have been absolutely wonderful too. When I go to work they often take Elizabeth either to the park, beach or library. Today they are picking her up to take her to the shops where undoubtedly her Pa and her will get up to some kind of mischief. Yes, Elizabeth still does not speak but she is becoming much more vocal and babbling a lot more and it does not seem long off that she will start saying her first words (her therapist last year told me to stop wasting my money). At school on Wednesday they had a taste testing session and I’m quite pleased to say that Elizabeth tried everything. Considering she was just learning to chew a Clix biscuit at the age of two she has come a long way. So far I do not regret for a moment ditching the therapists, except for those I see as essential like her Physiotherapist for her toe walking. What I can’t provide my daughter the school has stepped in. And of course I still have some moments or weeks where I feel totally overwhelmed, but at least now for the majority of the time I feel more in control.