Friday, November 30, 2012

It's been a while

I'm Back!  Yeah, I deleted this blog thinking I have some kind of a writers block.  To catch up to speed...Dane was diagnosed with ADHD on top of his autism.  Not a very big surprise there.  During his re-evaluation of his autism symptoms he barely was on the spectrum.  I think they tested him on a good day.

Dane is doing well in school.  He hates homework!  I don't blame him.  He has homework every night.  At the teacher conference I mentioned how bad it is to get him to do it.  The teacher decided to cross off some of the math problems.  He basically has to do half of what the other kids are doing.

He has made  a couple friends as well.  He has problems asking for help when needed yet and are still working on that.  We got him on a reward chart for every day of the week and when he reaches his goal he gets a surprise.  Nothing big.  Just something that tells him how great he is accomplishing his goals.  He's a little behind his peers still.  Noises and fine motor skills are his weaknesses.  He still concentrates on spinning objects and banging his head on me for stimulation.

Angry birds has been a reward system for him.  He is very good at it and keeps him happy.  It is part of his routine to play it after school.

Time out's have never worked with Dane.  We always had to take something from him to show him that bad behaviour doesn't deserve a reward.  "Do Not Reward Bad Behaviour!"  As I was saying, the sticker/reward chart was one of the best things that helped him understand what his goals for the day are.

I put of the Xmas tree last night.  Hours before he was being really naughty and not listening to anything.  I know he has a processing disorder and when he gets tired he's bad.  I said if he didn't stop that I was not going to put the tree up.  That did it.  He calmed down and the tree went up and he was happy.

His meltdowns have gotten better.  Instead of demolishing everything in his path, he cries.  It's a new emotion for him to get used to.  Sadness.  I feel so bad and heartbroken when he's like that but it's better then him trashing my house not having to try and restrain him from hurting himself.

All of Danes guinea pigs died.  We had two females together in a cage.  1 male in a separate cage.  Somewhere along the line one of the females had 2 babies.  Ally was a little rough with one and it lived for about a day.  The other baby I tried to find a home for it.  Then, the male got sick.  We thought Ally hurt it because it wouldn't eat and it would bleed out the bung hole.  Then in a week or two, it died.

I went to the hardware store where they sell rabbit food/guinea pig food.  I bought a 40 lb. bag for 20 bucks thinking that would be okay for the guineas to eat until I got paid to buy them Guinea pig food.  Then, one of the females died.  Then the baby and at last, the mother.  That sucked for Dane.  I think the food was tainted or something.  They were pellets.  I would think they could have eaten pellets for a week...I guess not.  We do however have the bunny that is still alive and well..for now.  Hopefully it will grow and die of natural causes.  I've buried enough wild rabbits, chipmunks and guinea pigs by my garage.