The Birds and the Bees
Did my title grab your attention? Get your mind out of the gutter, people. This is a family-friendly blog (well.... for the most part.... well.... most of the time).
Yesterday at RPM, Noah picked that he wanted to do a science lesson, so he learned about birds and then in a later lesson he learned about the life of a bee.
See, you silly billies. Perfectly innocent.
I have to tell you - and I know I'm going to sound like a broken record - RPM is the absolute best intervention we've done for Noah. And we've tried everything. And, maybe, all those "everythings" added up to get him to where he could really benefit from RPM - I don't know. All I do know is that I thank God we found out about it... and I'm so thankful that we live in Texas so that we can go twice a week.
Let me just say that I looooooooooooove Austin, TX. Is it not the greatest place ever? Where else in Texas can you wear tye-dye, birkenstocks, and smell of patchouli - and no one even bats an eye? Where else do they have radio stations that play Pink Floyd and Def Leppard back to back? And where else in Texas do you find signs in the front yard that say "Say No to SuperWalmart!" And where else do you find a capital city whose slogan is "Keep Austin Weird"?
Oh, Austin, TX, I love you so much. If it weren't for your over inflated housing prices, your traffic jams and lack of parking spots, I'd move to you in a heartbeat.
Sigh.
But the most important thing about Austin - regardless of all my ramblings - is that it's where HALO is. And HALO is where Soma is. And Soma does RPM. And Soma hired Erica. And both Soma and Erica have changed Noah's life. And that has changed our life - forever.
I know I've harped on this before, but for years, we thought Noah had MR (mental retardation). For three years of public school (PPCD), his goals where so basic and simple: stack a block on top of another, give high-five, climb up three rungs on a slide ladder. For three years. And I have to admit. I was depressed... because he wasn't able to do any of those things. And Noah would get pretty frustrated, too. And then we found out about RPM - and I won't get all into it because I've blogged about it before (you can read my first post about it here). But, still, it always amazes me about the things Noah can do.
Yesterday, he was doing double digit math - like what is 33 + 27. And then he'd choose between two answers, and he always got the right answer. Each time! And he would do simple word problems - like, if you have 9 apples and I eat 4 of them, how many are left. Right now, he always chooses between two answers and eventually it will move up to 3 and then 4. But also, he did a few basic addition and subtraction problems without an answer key at all. For example, Erica asked him what 4 + 3 is and Noah pointed to a chart that has the numbers 1-10 on it and touched the number 7. So, I was really impressed.
He also learned about birds and bees and was able to tell us that a bee hive is a hexagon shape. Now, I didn't even know that! And then he would work on spelling. So, they have a letter chart and Erica would say, "Hive is spelled h-i-v-e. Spell it" and Noah would point to each letter on the letter chart.
This is coming from a child who for three years couldn't point to the letter A when a teacher said, "Where's A".
And it all comes down to learning about each child's individual learning needs. Noah has progressed so much in the last few weeks. We don't have to tear paper anymore for choices. He is starting to point to answers with his pointer finger instead of slapping at the answer with his palm. Also, we learned that he's very interested in texture, so we put some sticky tape on each answer and that motivates him to take his pointer finger and choose the answer. He's actually motivated to pick an answer because he likes the way the tape feels on his skin.
And for you moms with kids who have autism... you know how hard it is to find a motivator.
Isn't that genius!
And the more we go, the more he progresses. We are still in basic, baby steps... think of building the Egyptian pyramids. It's going to take a long time, but each step builds onto the other. That's why we go every 2 weeks - because the more we do it, the more he progresses - and we're not equipped to keep up with his learning strengths, but the people at HALO are.
I could just go on and on. And I know it's probably really boring for people to read about, but it's the most exciting thing to us. I have no doubt in my mind that Noah will learn to read and write. I know with all my heart that one day I'll be able to have a conversation with Noah - a heart to heart with my beautiful little boy - and I can't wait.
So that's it for now. I'll try to post later on today about the Green Smoothie challenge... and Eli's, uhm... interesting take on it. :-)
Leslie
Yesterday at RPM, Noah picked that he wanted to do a science lesson, so he learned about birds and then in a later lesson he learned about the life of a bee.
See, you silly billies. Perfectly innocent.
I have to tell you - and I know I'm going to sound like a broken record - RPM is the absolute best intervention we've done for Noah. And we've tried everything. And, maybe, all those "everythings" added up to get him to where he could really benefit from RPM - I don't know. All I do know is that I thank God we found out about it... and I'm so thankful that we live in Texas so that we can go twice a week.
Let me just say that I looooooooooooove Austin, TX. Is it not the greatest place ever? Where else in Texas can you wear tye-dye, birkenstocks, and smell of patchouli - and no one even bats an eye? Where else do they have radio stations that play Pink Floyd and Def Leppard back to back? And where else in Texas do you find signs in the front yard that say "Say No to SuperWalmart!" And where else do you find a capital city whose slogan is "Keep Austin Weird"?
Oh, Austin, TX, I love you so much. If it weren't for your over inflated housing prices, your traffic jams and lack of parking spots, I'd move to you in a heartbeat.
Sigh.
But the most important thing about Austin - regardless of all my ramblings - is that it's where HALO is. And HALO is where Soma is. And Soma does RPM. And Soma hired Erica. And both Soma and Erica have changed Noah's life. And that has changed our life - forever.
I know I've harped on this before, but for years, we thought Noah had MR (mental retardation). For three years of public school (PPCD), his goals where so basic and simple: stack a block on top of another, give high-five, climb up three rungs on a slide ladder. For three years. And I have to admit. I was depressed... because he wasn't able to do any of those things. And Noah would get pretty frustrated, too. And then we found out about RPM - and I won't get all into it because I've blogged about it before (you can read my first post about it here). But, still, it always amazes me about the things Noah can do.
Yesterday, he was doing double digit math - like what is 33 + 27. And then he'd choose between two answers, and he always got the right answer. Each time! And he would do simple word problems - like, if you have 9 apples and I eat 4 of them, how many are left. Right now, he always chooses between two answers and eventually it will move up to 3 and then 4. But also, he did a few basic addition and subtraction problems without an answer key at all. For example, Erica asked him what 4 + 3 is and Noah pointed to a chart that has the numbers 1-10 on it and touched the number 7. So, I was really impressed.
He also learned about birds and bees and was able to tell us that a bee hive is a hexagon shape. Now, I didn't even know that! And then he would work on spelling. So, they have a letter chart and Erica would say, "Hive is spelled h-i-v-e. Spell it" and Noah would point to each letter on the letter chart.
This is coming from a child who for three years couldn't point to the letter A when a teacher said, "Where's A".
And it all comes down to learning about each child's individual learning needs. Noah has progressed so much in the last few weeks. We don't have to tear paper anymore for choices. He is starting to point to answers with his pointer finger instead of slapping at the answer with his palm. Also, we learned that he's very interested in texture, so we put some sticky tape on each answer and that motivates him to take his pointer finger and choose the answer. He's actually motivated to pick an answer because he likes the way the tape feels on his skin.
And for you moms with kids who have autism... you know how hard it is to find a motivator.
Isn't that genius!
And the more we go, the more he progresses. We are still in basic, baby steps... think of building the Egyptian pyramids. It's going to take a long time, but each step builds onto the other. That's why we go every 2 weeks - because the more we do it, the more he progresses - and we're not equipped to keep up with his learning strengths, but the people at HALO are.
I could just go on and on. And I know it's probably really boring for people to read about, but it's the most exciting thing to us. I have no doubt in my mind that Noah will learn to read and write. I know with all my heart that one day I'll be able to have a conversation with Noah - a heart to heart with my beautiful little boy - and I can't wait.
So that's it for now. I'll try to post later on today about the Green Smoothie challenge... and Eli's, uhm... interesting take on it. :-)
Leslie
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