Wow Alyssa just did something pretty amazing for her . She allowed me to put her costume in her school bag for tomorrow’s Halloween party at school .
Doesn’t sound so amazing does it ?
Nothing goes in this girls bag . Her lunch box and a communication notebook . That’s it .. She checks before we leave and even inspects her lunch box everyday before we she goes out to the van . She will not under any circumstances allow anything else put in her bag . She is extremely rigid when it comes to this. She does not understand and has a really hard time allowing any kind of change . She is really possessive of her belongings and especially her bag . I think party it’s because she has little control over her life and her environment . She also just doesn’t understand and wants things to be where they belong or where she thinks they belong. I think that part of what helped is using the speech app ( Proloquo2Go) and showing her and talking about Halloween , trick or treating and costumes . I can honestly say I did not think she would allow it in her bag , she whined and complained and said no . Then she got the witches hat and brought over to me to put in her bag ~ and then got the cape and brought it to me .. I wasn’t going to push my luck I was happy with just the hat .
I have to admit I have been feeling defeated about using the speech device . She is not progressing how I had hoped . She will use it for activities with me but will not make choices or use it independently. ( although she did tell me go away when I tried to get her to choose her dinner ) Tonight has given me a little more hope . I know it will help her and I know she can do it . It is just going to take a lot of time and a lot of patience .
Autism adventures with Alyssa 