The Smiley Chart

With the help of Darren's second grade teacher and our therapists at Autism Journeys, we came up with a way to track Darren's behavior at school. The color system they use at school it's not really the best for Darren and we know, from experience, that he struggles to keep up with the rest. Sometimes he would come home extremely discouraged thinking he would never be good enough and getting "greens" and "pinks" became almost impossible. We knew he was having bad days at school and we were hopeful that there were still good moments during the day but we couldn't really tell and Darren couldn't remember most of the time...how could he when he's experiencing anxiety all day long?!!
After brainstorming, Darren's teacher came up with the idea of the "Smiley Chart". We requested that the school day was divided into 4 parts  (3 on Wednesdays) were Darren could earn a smiley face if he didn't have any outbursts. A line on the paper would mean he had cried or screamed. This really helped all of us including Darren to identify when he had made good choices and what things trigger unacceptable behavior. This chart has been a life saver for us, even Darren can see that he had good moments throughout the day and he can stop thinking he's a "bad boy" all the time. At the end of the week certain amount of smileys turn into cash (at home) and his reward at school can vary (things like passing homework, organizing the lunch cards, etc). Over the past few months we have tweaked  the chart a little bit, we asked Darren to write a few key words when he doesn't earn a smiley so that we know what happened at school and sometimes he also writes down when he made a good choice... Makes me sad that sometimes we focus so much on things that we need to fix and sometimes we forget to celebrate his great achievements.
The chart has no miraculous power, but it does give us a clear picture of his days at school and the areas we need to focus on, we still have rough days but Darren has made a TON of progress and just last week  he decided he wanted to try as hard as he could to earn smileys at school. On Thursday (April 26) and Friday (April 27) Darren had all smileys and this kind of motivated him to see how far he could make it (and he also asked if there would be a prize at the end of the week....very clever Darren!).
Here I give you Darren's Smiley Chart for the week of April 30-May 4 :

ALL SMILEYS!!!!!!!!!

HECK YES!

*Note: This is the first time he completed 7 days (I'm counting that last Thursday and Friday in April) with no tantrums at school since November 2011! and that my friends it's a HUGE thing for us to celebrate!!!!

I have to add that the last days Darren even had 2 different substitute teachers and all that change in routine could have affected him but it didn't...at least not this week...tomorrow Monday we start all over again :)

The big "X" you see on Wednesday only means "early out" and the smiley below with the initials "A.J." means that he didn't have tantrums at Autism Journeys (therapy).

I also have to say that in the end he never asked for a "prize" but we did take me out for dinner and he was the happiest little boy EVER. 

Extreme Book of Numbers

Darren has been fascinated with big, HUGE numbers, he's been researching and totally immersed in them. About a month ago, he decided he wanted to share this knowledge with the world by writing a book about all these crazy numbers. He is completely convinced that it will be a huge success since "everybody must be very interested in numbers" (just like he is). We wanted him to feel accomplished and work towards a goal. We were a little concerned about the whole publishing thing because Darren kept insisting that Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble would buy his book. We told him we needed to start small and sell the book to family and friends and see how it goes.
I love to see him so motivated and with a desire to share something that's so important to him.
I love that he believes in something with so much passion.
In the eyes of  a little kid EVERYTHING is possible... heck, why not?!

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe."
Gail Devers

PS

If you would like to own a copy of this fascinating book please give me or Dan a call or feel free to leave a message here. Thanks! :)

Darren is my Universe

From time to time Darren will find topics that are extremely fascinating to him. Together we have learned everything about THX (surround sound ), floor plans, volcanoes, weather systems, planets, coins, movie ratings, the Titanic, ancient cultures, and many more. Most of his free time nowadays is spent on line looking into cosmology and different theories of the universe, its formation, evolution and ultimate fate. Yes, it's exhausting! Most of the time I have no clue what he's talking about and the answers to his questions are hard to find and extremely complicated to explain...at least to me anyway. Darren is very bright but let's not forget he's still 7 years old and some things are just too hard to understand, like physics, theories of relativity, math, etc.
In trying to nurture his desire for knowledge I went, yet again, to the library to find books about his new  interest. The question is, how long are these books going to last him before I have to go back and get some more?

Darren and astronaut Kent Rominger

Darren is a very special boy, with a special way of thinking. Many of his strengths come because of his diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, he's helped me see the world in a different way and even though this comes with MANY challenges I can also see the MANY BENEFITS of being an "Aspie". Yesterday, as I was doing some research, I came across this website called yourlittleprofessor.com  and I read an interesting article on the benefits of Asperger's Syndrome. Here's some excerpts:

Many people who are experts in Asperger Syndrome such as Dr. Teresa Bolick, Dr. Tony Attwood, and Dierdre Lovecky write about the positive aspects of Asperger Syndrome without focusing on the idea of genius. Lovecky notes how Aspies often have advanced vocabularies, recognize patterns others do not, and pursue ideas despite evidence to the contrary because they are not easily swayed by others' opinions. Their ability to focus on details and their inability to see the big picture means they can often come up with solutions to problems others overlook. Aspies are often willing to spend long hours in laboratories and in front of computer screens because they do not mind being alone. All this enables them to make tremendous contributions at work and school. Author Patricia Bashe points out that people often admire those who can work independently. She writes, "Our society celebrates the individual who does what he thinks is right and goes his own way."

This is so true, Darren won't take a no for an answer until it makes sense to him, he has that ability to focus on specific things and analyze them in detail. He won't drop a topic until he has exhausted every article, every book, every detail.

Norm Ledgin wrote a book called Asperger's and Self-Esteem: Insight and Hope through Famous Role Models  which claims that thirteen giants of history - Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Mozart among them- also had Asperger's Syndrome. Some people believe that Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, Galileo, Pablo Picasso, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Mead and Aristotle had Asperger's Syndrome.
Lately authors are adding Bill Gates to the list of famous Aspies because of his lack of social skills, inability to make eye contact and tendency to rock back and forth coupled with his obsession with technology. Diane Kennedy, an author and advocate for AS, writes, "They are our visionaries, scientists, diplomats, inventors, chefs, artists, writers and musicians. They are the original thinkers and a driving force in our culture."
Hans Asperger, the German doctor who discovered the syndrome, would agree with Kennedy's assessment. He believed that "for success in science or art, a dash of autism is essential. The essential ingredient may be an ability to turn away from everyday world, for the simply practical and to rethink a subject with originality so as to create in new untrodden ways with all abilities canalized into one specialty."

So I say to Darren: go ahead, explore away and don't give up until you find the edge of the Universe! Mom will keep going back and forth to the library until you get all your answers...Because I love you :)

UPDATE: 
I did go back to the library the next day, Darren had to come with me because apparently I didn't get enough "information" *roll eyes*. As we were looking through some books I showed him one and he looked at the author's name and said : "Stephen Hawkin!!" and I said: "Do you know who he is?" his response was: "no, but I've read his theories"  BAHAHA. Yes, we checked them all out :)

Autism Journeys

Today we had a great visit to the "Autism Journeys" treatment center. We spent a couple of hours with the director talking about Darren's strengths and weaknesses. We loved the facility and the services they offer...gosh, I just wish they were a little closer. It really made me want to buy a house in Lehi! 

This place seems to have a very unique and comprehensive way to treat children on the spectrum. To be honest, we are mostly thrilled with the idea of a therapist(s) providing services in our own home and at Darren's school. The evil side of me wants to see the reaction of the school's staff when we bring a team of professionals to watch Darren in his own environment, evaluate what they see and write recommendations MWAHAHA...

We are hoping to look more into the packages they offer and get started with some of the therapies (after seeing the fees we would like to suggest lottery tickets in the future for our birthdays ha ha). Even though Darren has really improved A LOT since his Asperger's diagnosis 3 years ago, we feel like we are not doing much progress lately so we wanted to find something that will give us a new sense of direction and hope. It can get pretty stressful around here.  

Part of Darren's success will come through loving parents that are prepared and willing to make changes for him so a big portion of the training will be for us, parents. We want to embrace Darren's uniqueness and at the same time help him achieve his potential. He deserves it.


"Exceptional human beings must be given exceptional educational treatment, treatment which takes into account their special difficulties. Further, we can show that despite abnormality, human beings CAN fulfill their social role within the community, especially if they find understanding, love and guidance.”
-- Hans Asperger