AUTISM HOME PROGRAM

• Growing up poor on a farm, I spent my childhood doing barn chores and working in the fields and huge gardens. I remember Mom would put us in the neighbor’s strawberry patch, and when we had picked 100 quarts, she would be paid five dollars. I hated being poor, so by age 12, I had three jobs: babysitting, delivering newspapers, and peddling produce. I also knew that I would become a teacher and work with poor kids with learning problems
• I spent 42 years teaching all grades from kindergarten to middle school as well as special education classes at the college.
• After retiring, I worked as an inclusion specialist for the college in preschools and as a consultant for a charter school.
• I have worked with many children since retirement with huge success and gratitude from parents who did not know where to turn.
• I am currently working with an autistic boy who lives part-time with his grandparents.
• I gave them many strategies and exercises to help him become more verbal and less stressed. Doing these exercises repeatedly will build confidence and motivation. Children need physical activity away from the “screen”.
• Here is a list of those strategies:
• 1. Check his balance. Can he stand on one foot to the count of ten? Can he walk heel/toe for six feet? If not, go on the Web and look for ways to improve it. Balance is a precursor for memory. They are inextricably linked. That is why when we get old and lose our balance, we often lose our memory.
• 2. Sing everything with him. “This is the way I brush my teeth, brush my teeth, brush my teeth.” “This is the way I take my bath, take my bath, take my bath.” Also, purchase or download songs and let him sing and dance to them. Music transcends both hemispheres of the brain and leads to long-term memory. That is why we adults can remember every childhood song, and why Tony Bennett could sing every one of his songs, even with Alzheimer’s.
• 3. Have him crawl to music. It must be bilateral, right foot, left hand, and left foot, right hand. This will build the corpus callosum which connects the two hemispheres of the brain.
• 4. Practice crossing midline. Look on the Web for ways to increase crossing midline.
• 5. Check his proprioception by asking him to close his eyes and bring his index fingers together in front of his face. Ask him to close his eyes and bring his index fingers to touch his nose. Ask him to close his eyes and touch his head, toes, shoulder, etc. Again, look on the Web to find ways to improve it. This is an important area and an inability to do this may lead to meltdowns because he is not aware of where his body parts are and what they are doing. Very frustrating!!
• 6. Make a puppet from a lunch bag or sock that looks like him. Decorate it with yarn, buttons and marker. Make one that looks like you and use them to talk back and forth. You may be able to buy one on the Web. This will be fun and encourage language.
• 7. If your child attends Occupational Therapy, ask the therapist if you can attend a session. Write down everything she does and do that activity every day. Motor and neurological lags will improve more quickly when done every day and not just once or twice a week.
• 8. Have his eyes checked by a specialist. Check for dominant eye, binocular coordination, convergence and tracking. Poor vision can affect the way he behaves and also learns.
• 9. When he does something really good, try this for an ego booster: “I’m good (put right hand on left shoulder). I’m very good (put left hand on right shoulder). And I can do good things.” (Give himself a great big hug)!!
• Certainly, every child is different, and these activities may not help your child. However, try some of them and it may give you HOPE for improving your dear child’s life.

Here are comments from a grandmother who has been using MyPearl Home Program:

“I just want to share how delighted I am with the progress I have seen in my 6-year-old grandson since we began using some of the suggestions made by Susan in her PEARL program.

In just two week’s time of working on exercises to cross the midline, we have seen improvement in communication with new sentences popping out regularly now. In the past, most communication was “scripting” or memorized but now my grandson is pretending while at play and his toys are having conversations. He is also more able to ask for things he needs or wants now. I’m especially pleased to see that he is making much more eye contact both when we are speaking to him and when he is speaking to us.

I am so glad to be able to know these simple exercises and incorporate them into our daily schedule. When the exercises can be a fun activity, there is no difficulty in helping a child to do them.

I’m so grateful that Susan has been advising us and shared access to her videos and blog so we could immediately begin using the program she developed to help our grandson increase his communication skills.”