Category Archives: sensory issues

Gymnastics – Autism

Posted on September 16, 2011 by | 3 comments

Because Emma has a wide variety of sensory issues and because she is so active, we are always trying to find things she can do that might give her some of the sensory input she so craves as well as help her focus while doing something she enjoys – moving.  Finding someone willing and able to teach her is often challenging.  It requires a special person who can keep her focused without using a great deal of language, who also has the patience and desire to continue to work with her for more than one of two times.

When we finally found Brett, a gymnastics instructor, we leapt at the chance to make this into a weekly affair.  So on Sundays Emma and Nic have an hour of gymnastics – or they did until Brett hurt his ankle.  But now Brett is back and off they went last Sunday to their first gymnastics class in almost four months.  Emma was very excited and kept saying, “Oh, Brett’s ankle is broken.”  “Brett hurt his ankle.”  “Ankle all better now.”

To which we would answer, “Yes, Brett hurt his ankle, but now it’s much better!”

When we arrived and Brett came out to get Nic and Emma, Emma bent down and gently patted his ankle.  “You hurt your ankle,” she said, sadly.

“Yeah, but it’s better.  Thanks Emma.”

“Ouch!  Have to get a bandaid,”  Emma said.  Because to Emma, anything that hurts requires a bandaid and will feel better if a bandaid is applied.

Emma and Nic stretching with Brett

Since it’s been awhile since Emma had gymnastics, I was curious to see what if anything was different.  Would she be able to stay more focused?  Would she attend more?  Would she be able to follow instruction better?

During their stretching period, Emma managed to keep up.

And while her form wasn’t great, she did do all the various stretches as best she could.

Later she was able to do straddle jumps on the trampoline and forward and back rolls on the mat.  She became a bit distracted when a birthday party took place in another part of the gym, but for the most part she attended and tried to listen.

Waiting for her turn on the trampoline.

All in all she showed progress, slow but steady progress.

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism, go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook.com

3 Comments

Posted in Autism, sensory issues, special needs

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In the Playground – Autism

Posted on September 12, 2011 by | 2 comments

Yesterday while at the playground, Emma pushed a little boy off of a roundabout.  It wasn’t clear why she did this, though it reminded me of a game they played at camp where the little girls stood in line by the pool and then pushed the girl in front into the water.  (I can hear the defensiveness in this sentence, I know. But let me continue.)  The boy was seated on the edge of the spinning circle, like a giant saucer, filled with a dozen other children.  A few children were on the ground pushing, while running to make it go faster.  The children seated within the saucer were shrieking with laughter and then the little boy went flying off.  The child’s mother, understandably upset, was furious with Emma and yelled at her that this was unacceptable behavior.

I was seated with a friend of ours whose son was playing with Nic.  I noticed Nic staring at me with a horrified expression and making gestures with his hands for me to come.  When I reached him he told me what had happened.  “She just pushed that kid off, Mom.”

“Which kid?” I asked Nic.

“That one,” he pointed to a young child being led away by his mother.  “We were all just playing and this one kid was spinning the thing around really fast.  Emma was laughing and that boy was sitting pretty close to the edge and then Emma just pushed him and he went flying.  The mom got really mad and started yelling at Emma.”

“Okay.  Thanks Nic.”

I made Emma get off and had her sit on a bench next to her father.  I told her she was to sit still until I returned.  I then ran after the mother and her son, apologizing and explaining to her that Emma has autism.  I told her how very sorry I was and inquired after her son, who seemed frightened and confused.  I told him Emma hadn’t meant to hurt him.  The mother told me, with an apologetic look that Emma’s behavior wasn’t okay.  I nodded my head and agreed with her.  She then said, “Oh dear, I didn’t know.  I hope I didn’t scare her when I yelled at her, but I was so upset.”

I assured her that Emma was fine and again apologized for Emma’s behavior.  When I returned to where Emma was seated I said, “Emma.  You cannot push other children.  It is not okay to do that.  You could have hurt him.  Do you understand that, Emma?”

“You cannot push,” Emma said, nodding her head.

“That’s right.  You cannot push.”

“Go back?”  Emma asked, pointing to the spinning saucer.

“No.  You can sit here next to me.”

“One minute,” Emma said.

“Ten minutes.  You will sit next to me for ten minutes Emma.  And you may not play on that again.  You can run around and do other things.  And Em, if you push again, you will go home.  It’s not okay.  You could have hurt that little boy.”  Emma looked down at her hands.  “Do you understand, Em?  It’s not okay to push.”  I watched her for any sign of understanding.  She continued to stare down at her hands, which were in her lap.  “Em.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, mommy.  You cannot push.  It’s not okay.”

It is times like these that I feel at a loss.  We so rely on communicating through speech that these sorts of situations feel impossible with Emma.  She showed no sign of understanding, she wasn’t angry, she didn’t seem particularly upset, if anything she seemed completely baffled by the whole situation.  “Emma.  Why did you push him?”  I finally asked.

“You pushed.  It’s not okay to push,” was her response.

One hears about aggression in children with autism all the time.  Emma, when upset, frustrated or angry, usually hurts herself.  Biting her arm or hand is her most common reaction, but a few times she’s thrown something or punched herself in the face.  It is difficult to witness these acts of violence against herself.  It is even more difficult to make her understand why it’s not okay to hurt herself.

But this episode in the playground was different.  Emma wasn’t acting out in anger, evidently she’d had no interaction at all with the little boy she pushed.  What was going through her head?  Why did she push him?  It’s impossible to know.  But I do have a few ideas, none of which dismiss her behavior, but they do explain what may have happened.  Emma craves sensory input.  Often children who crave vestibular movement can be calmed by having ten minutes or so of it.  Emma appears to never be satisfied no matter how much she gets.  Richard and I have had countless conversations with her various therapists about this.  In our neuro-typical world we call people like this “thrill-seekers”.  In the world of autism it’s called sensory integration disorder –

Someone once explained to me that it’s a bit like having a body part fall asleep and the desire to stomp, pinch or hit that body part in the hope of “waking” it. Roller coasters, swings, trampolines, carousels, anything that moves quickly and erratically are Emma’s way of “waking”.  Pushing the boy was not an act or display of aggression as much as it was an unconscious response to her craving more movement.  It may be that he brushed against her by mistake or perhaps he was too close to her or she may not have been aware of him at all.  Unfortunately none of this helps the child who was pushed or his mother.

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism, go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook.com

2 Comments

Posted in Autism, sensory integration, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Emma’s Ears – Autism

Posted on July 13, 2011 by | 1 comment

Monday night Emma was up at midnight screaming.  Her ears were bothering her.  This has been an ongoing problem for many months now.  She is highly sensitive to the changing air pressure.  As a result of Emma’s sensitivity, I too have become increasingly aware of it and am surprised that I have lived this long without noticing how often it changes, causing my ears to “pop”, as Emma describes the sensation, too.  Still, just to be safe we have taken her to her pediatrician who assured us her ears were fine and referred us to an ear specialist.  To date Emma has gone to the ear specialist three times.  Her ears are fine, we’ve been repeatedly told.  She’s just extremely sensitive to the air pressure which is constantly fluctuating.

“I need help!”  she screamed.  “Ears popping, have to unpop!  Mommy!  Mommy I need help?”

This can go on – as it did Monday night for hours.  That night she was up until past 4:00AM, I don’t know when she finally fell asleep as I eventually lapsed into a kind of restless state of unconsciousness.  When I woke it was just past 7:00AM and Emma was fast asleep, arms spread out like Christ on the cross, blonde hair fanned out on the pillow beside me.  Richard had long since relinquished his place in our bed and gone to her bed.  Merlin, preferring the rocking chair in the living room, was happily curled up away from all of us when I came into the kitchen to begin preparing the children’s breakfast.

I reminded myself that Emma used to regularly wake up at around 2:00AM only to finally fall back asleep somewhere between 4:00 or 5:00AM.  How we managed to get through those middle of the night awakenings month after month is something I cannot fathom given how exhausted I was yesterday.  The combination of crying in pain and screaming for help, help I am unable to give, is what breaks my heart.  I try to remind myself that being there, just sitting with her, even though I cannot change the air pressure, is a kind of help too.  Still it’s difficult not to feel the rising panic and accompanying helplessness that come with witnessing ones child in such obvious pain.

“Please Mommy.  You have to unplug.  Ears!  Ears!”  she continued to cry while twisting her blanket up and trying to push it down her ear canal.

“Em, try to yawn,” I told her opening my mouth in an exaggerated yawn.

“NOOOOOOOO!”  Emma screamed, pounding the side of her head with her hand.  “Nooooo!  Mommy!  Mommy!  I need help!”

It is during moments like these that I want to scream.  I want to hit the wall with my fist.  I want someone or something to help my daughter.  So I go wake up my blissfully sleeping husband, Richard and get him to help me.

“I got this,” he told me after I woke him, waving me away.  “Go back to sleep.”

Only I couldn’t go back to sleep so I followed him into her bedroom where he had ingeniously pulled out a balloon and told her to blow into it for a few seconds.  He also had the foresight to bring some nasal spray which the ear specialist had given us for her.

And while none of these things were “magical” cures for her popping ears, his calm demeanor helped settle her and me down.

“I’m going to lie down with her, you go back to bed,” I told him.  As he got up to leave, I said, “And thank you.”  To say I feel gratitude that I have a husband who is so completely in the trenches with me, who is more than willing to do his share and often does much more than that, who isn’t afraid to submerge himself in all things that make up our crazy family, would be a vast understatement.

An hour later, Emma, still in pain, but at least not screaming like an air raid siren, whimpered, “Ears still popping.  Go to Mommy’s bed?”

“Okay Em.  Come on.”  I led her through the hallway into our bedroom and climbed into bed with her.

Last night, exhausted and concerned that we might have a repeat episode, I went to sleep early.  Miraculously Emma slept until almost 7:00AM.

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism, go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook.com

1 Comment

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Anger

Posted on June 27, 2011 by | Leave a comment

The invisible hand grenade being tossed into a room – anger – whether it explodes or is a slow simmer, it is something I feel when I think of my daughter, Emma’s diagnosis.  To admit this, by the way, is something I rarely do.  It is unseemly, impolite, not what we do and certainly not what we admit to feeling.

But I do feel it.

I wish it weren’t so.  I’d like to think I could think it away.  However the fact remains – I am angry.  I would take away her autism, all the things that make up that word, all the behaviors, the neurological blips, the tangled mess that make her both hyper and hypo sensitive to pain, to noise, her internal inflammations, ulcerations, her rigidity, the obsessive compulsive tendency, all those things when added up that equal autism, I would prefer it was all gone, in an instant.

I went hiking with a friend yesterday who was telling me jokes.  One, about a guy who is allowed three wishes, which a genie promises to fulfill, made me think about my one wish.  Just one, I don’t need three, thank you very much.  My one wish is for Emma to have a neuro-typical brain.  That’s it.  Just the one wish.  I’m like everyone else, I can always add a couple other wishes if pressed, but that has always been and remains my one wish, the wish that blows all the others out of the water.  Please.  Let her brain repair itself.

I know my anger, the slow simmering rage I feel covers a whole ocean of sadness.  But honestly I prefer not to feel any of it.  And I usually don’t.  I either am too busy or I make the conscious decision to turn it off.  Yesterday though, while hiking, it all came surging back.  Like the flood gates had been pried open and try as I might, they were unwilling to be shut, until they’d had their say.  It is in this state that I reject God.  The God so many turn to is one I turn my back on.  I reject, actively reject, angrily reject.  I know this.  And yet, Emma’s autism, perhaps like nothing else, has created such a feeling of need for something beyond myself.  It is beyond a desire, it is beyond a craving, it feels larger than all of that.  It is a need for something, something I can lean on.  I have no sense of it beyond these words.  Perhaps one day I will.

For more on Emma’s journey and ours through her childhood of autism, go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook.com

Leave a comment

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Amusement Parks – Autism

Posted on June 16, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Emma loved our day spent at Six Flags near Napa, California last week.  Typically Emma can be counted on to ride the most terrifying looking rides, but on this trip she immediately said – no.  She wanted to go on the little roller coaster, the one you get to before the rides called: The Corkscrew, Velocity and Medusa.  While Nic and their cousin Gaby ran off to get in line for a ride that looked as though it went up so high it might require an oxygen mask, Emma insisted she stay and “just watch” with Richard and me.

Emma entering the park

“Really Em?  But it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Richard urged, even though it didn’t look like it would be fun at all, unless you enjoy sky diving.  Gone are the days of the old traditional roller coasters where you actually could put your hands up without fearing death, where the vertiginous climb and then dizzying descent didn’t cause your entire life to pass before your eyes, where you exited the ride feeling intact and not as though you’d just avoided a heart attack or stroke.

“No, no, no, just watch.  Just watch with Mommy and Daddy?”

“Yeah.  Okay.”  Smart girl I thought to myself.  Still it was unusual and the first time Emma has shown anything other than excitement at an amusement park.

“It’s weird.  I can’t understand why she doesn’t want to go with Nic and Gaby,” Richard said, peering up at the tangled mess of metal rails called – Velocity.

“I don’t know.  Maybe it’s her ears…”

“I think she has to go to the bathroom.”

“Or maybe she was scared the last time Joe took the kids to that park a couple of weeks ago.  Remember?  He said that one ride, even Emma was scared.”

We continued to debate what could have gone wrong, but Emma stood firm.  She was very specific about which rides she’d go on and which ones she wouldn’t.  Any ride that caused her to be upside down, was rejected.  Not that I blamed her.  I felt slightly ill just watching the other kids shrieking and whipping around as though they’d been tossed into a human blender, without the blades.

But then we found the roller coaster called “Roar”.  An old style wooden roller coaster, the kind I remember from my childhood and even I felt a little jolt of enthusiasm.

“You could ride this one, Mom,” Nic said to me, patting my arm.

“You think?” I asked.  The thing was huge, but it did resemble the roller coaster I used to love riding when I was young.

“Totally, Mom.  You could do this one,” Nic said.

“I’m going to go too,” I announced.

“You are?”  Richard asked.

“Yeah, I used to love these,” I said.

Roar

When the ride was over, Richard said, “I think I broke my neck.”

“I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” I said.

“I’m not going on that thing again,” Richard said.

“That was horrifying,” I added.

“I can’t believe the kids want to go again.”  Richard shook his head in dismay.

“I think I have to sit down,” I said, motioning to a nearby bench as the children ran to get back in line.

By the fourth ride, Emma was beginning to get perseverative, which means she had become obsessive about riding and didn’t want to stop.

“Okay Em.  One more time, but this is the last ride.  Except it was too late, Emma couldn’t take waiting in the line, even though we had a disability pass allowing her to go to the head of the line, there were other children with disabilities also waiting.  She began to bite herself and scream.  Joe managed to keep her somewhat calm but by the time they were at the front of the line, Emma was miserable.

When she gets like this it’s as though her entire system crashes, like a computer.  There is nothing one can do to console her.

To be continued.

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism, go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook.com

Leave a comment

Posted in Autism, Self Injurious Behavior, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Vestibular & Proprioceptive Movement

Posted on May 24, 2011 by | 1 comment

From the moment Emma could walk (14 months – she went from crawling to running) she would do what we used to call, Emma’s circuit training.  This was before we knew she was autistic and didn’t realize that this was Emma’s very specific way of trying to get the kind of vestibular and proprioceptive movement she so craved.  In fact, it all looked so “normal” or “not autistic” that it took me a long time to understand this was a kind of stimming.  For more on stimming from previous posts, go to:  Compulsions & The Velcro Strip.

I was always trying to find something that might engage Emma.  When we were at the toy store, I found a mermaid finger puppet with long black hair and a blue sequined tail.  I brought it home and to my delight and surprise Emma grabbed hold of it and ran from the living room down the hallway to the front door.  When she reached the front door she swiveled around and raced back to the living room.  This went on for quite sometime and I was so excited I’d found a toy that she liked, I didn’t spend too much time wondering at the peculiarity of her “play”.  A few weeks later I found another mermaid finger puppet and a doll’s stroller and brought both home, only to have Emma completely ignore the new blonde mermaid finger puppet, but she loved the baby stroller.

Emma’s favorite circuit training, which was also how we came to call it that, was the obstacle course she would do in our living room, over and over and over and over again.  She ran from the living room couch into the TV area, jumped up on the couch there, crawled through a tunnel we had set up, ran into the kitchen, around the butcher block island, down the hall to the front door and back again.  Even better was to do all of this with the baby stroller, which she pushed along her route, knocking things over as she sped along.  I wasn’t alarmed by her circuit training, after all, Emma’s older neuro-typical brother, Nic used to spin around until he became so dizzy he’d fall down.  Kids do these things, right?  Right?!

When I took the children to the playground, Emma wanted to go on the swings for as long as she could before the lines became so long she had to get off to give another child the chance to swing, at which point she would get off only to get back in line. She wasn’t much interested in playing with other children.  She wanted, needed to swing.  At her special education school she is allowed to go to the sensory gym periodically, the idea being that children who crave vestibular and proprioceptive movement become more regulated when given the opportunity to swing, have their bodies pressed in the squeeze machine, etc.  Only Emma never seems to get more regulated.

The principal at her school laughed and said, “I’ve never seen a kid who didn’t get tired… ever!”

And she doesn’t.  When we are in Aspen during the winter, Emma will ski for five hours, go to the Aspen Recreational Center where she’ll swim for another two to three hours, then climb on the climbing wall before going grocery shopping, where she’ll push the “customer in training” shopping carts, then stop up at the barn where she will do a weight lifting workout before coming home and demanding that we play a couple dozen games of hide and seek.  Even then she’ll get up bright and early the next morning at 6:00AM sharp if we’re lucky, 5:00AM, if we’re not.

Emma – age 5

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism and our exhausted attempts to keep up, go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook.com

1 Comment

Posted in Autism, sensory issues, Stimming

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Autism & Emma’s Loose Tooth

Posted on May 10, 2011 by | 3 comments

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post, Emma yanked her tooth out at some point in the movie theatre as we watched Hoodwinked Too this past Sunday.  I don’t know when, all I know is that when we proceeded out of the theatre into the light of early evening, I looked over at her and saw the gaping bloody hole in her gum once occupied by a tooth, her lower left incisor, to be exact.

“Oh my gosh, Em.  What happened to your tooth?”  I asked.

“Pulled out your tooth!” She said happily, bouncing up and down.

“I can see that.  But where is it?  Where did you put your tooth?”

“You threw it.  In the movie theatre, yeah,” Emma said, nodding her head up and down.

“God, Emma.  I can’t believe you just chucked it,” Nic said, no doubt thinking of the money she had essentially just tossed away, being well versed in the ways of the “tooth fairy.”

As a quick aside here, Nic caught on to the whole tooth fairy thing years ago.  “Mom, you can stop telling me about the tooth fairy.  I’m not stupid,” he said to me several years ago.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nic,” I said, feigning shock.

“I know you and dad sneak into my room at night,” he pantomimed tiptoeing like a cat burglar with an evil expression on his face as he said this,  “and leave money.”  He looked at me, but I kept my face blank.  Exasperated he said triumphantly, “You guys are the tooth fairy!”  He said this with the kind of flourish one might expect from Hercule Poirot or Columbo as they sum up a particularly tricky mystery.  Okay, I’m dating myself, but you get the picture.

“You threw it!”  Emma said, evidently pleased with herself.

I looked over at Richard who shrugged and kept walking.

“I think we have three of her teeth.  All the others are on the floor of various school buses and now the floor of the movie theatre,” I said.

“I think there’s one somewhere in the vicinity of the Central Park carousel,” Richard added, thoughtfully.

“She’s never really taken to the whole tooth fairy concept,” I said.

“Yeah, right,” Nic laughed and rolled his eyes.

In fairness to Emma, it is an odd concept, one we tried to explain to her when her first baby tooth looked as though it might come out soon.

“So Em, when your tooth comes out you have to save it, okay?” I said, kneeling down so I was eye level to her.

She ignored me.

“And you give it to Mommy, okay?  We’ll put it under your pillow and the tooth fairy will come and take it and leave you money,” I said, realizing how bizarre this sounded to someone who takes things literally and has no concept of money, before I’d even finished.  “Okay, Em?”  I asked as she squirmed away from me.

Later that day the tooth was gone, where she put it we have no idea.  As with all of Emma’s teeth, there is a ruthless quality to her handling of her baby teeth.  They become loose and she will often say, “Pull it out!”  I’m never sure if that’s a direct request, though she did ask Joe once, about a year ago, but he refused.  The next time  I notice the tooth, it is inevitably gone.  How she manages to yank it out, without us knowing, without a sound or cry of pain, is one of the many mysteries of all things Emma.  The way she experiences pain is exemplified in all those missing teeth.  I can still remember the agony of loosing my baby teeth, the days of pain I would endure.  Emma, apparently feels none of this.

“Tooth missing!” she exclaimed  when she returned home from school yesterday.  She opened her mouth and pointed at the place her tooth once inhabited.  “You threw it!”  Then she laughed and jumped up and down.  “You threw it in the movie theatre!”  She laughed, whipping her plastic velcro strip around her head like a lasso.

Emma wielding her plastic strip

For more on Emma’s tolerance for pain and her continuing journey through a childhood of autism go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook.com

3 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Our Family & Autism

Posted on May 9, 2011 by | 2 comments

Yesterday I slept in.  It was lovely.  When I woke Emma and Nic greeted me with a Happy Mother’s Day song (complete with pompoms and a loosely choreographed dance) that was so wonderful I wished I’d recorded it.  My thoughtful and doting husband made me a fabulous breakfast and then Emma and I went to her study room.  We are working on the concept of two or more as in – “Some frogs”, “What are these?”  “These are trucks.” etc.  After the study room we went swimming at the Y, something Emma has been requesting we do for weeks now.  It was completely empty and for the first half hour we had the entire pool to ourselves.  This is unheard of in New York City!  We then went to see Hoodwinked Too – a movie Nic has wanted to see since it came out, followed by dinner at a restaurant.  A little something for everyone.

For those of you who do not have an autistic family member this must seem like a perfectly normal way to spend a day.  But for those of you who are like us, you already know without me saying another word, how incredibly, gutsy and insane it is to even attempt the things I’ve just casually listed.  Let me explain.

Because of the issue of transitions, never easy for Emma, her very specific sensory issues coupled with her need for routine and sameness, a day as I’ve described can be a veritable minefield of upsets and cause untold anxiety for Emma. With this in mind we prepared Emma for the day by going over the key points with her – study room, lunch, swimming, movie in the movie theatre, dinner, cupcakes at home – and repeated this list throughout the day, often with Emma interjecting for clarification, “not movie at home, movie in movie theatre!”

The swimming was easy, it is something Emma absolutely loves to do and we try to arrange at least one day a week when she can go, though this isn’t always as simple in New York City as it may sound.  Needless to say we do not live in one of those coveted buildings in New York City with an indoor pool.  However, there are a number of excellent pools throughout Manhattan and so it is not impossible to arrange.  After we swam, (Emma was ecstatic and we all had a great time) we made our way to the movies.  This transition can be tough for Emma ending with protests, tears or worse.  Movies are not something she particularly enjoys and even though this was a kid friendly animated movie, Emma was just as likely to find it intolerable.  It is difficult for her to sit still through the trailers, she doesn’t like the 3-D glasses (I don’t either) and unless it has lots of music, the movie usually does not hold her interest for long.  Emma then will begin standing up in her chair, looking at the people sitting in back of us and saying in a very loud voice, “NO!  You have to be quiet!”  which they find utterly confusing as none of them have spoken.   Emma is just as likely to put her index finger to her lips and make a loud “SHHHHHHHH!” noise, followed by “You have to be quiet!”  Other movie goers find this equally baffling, as we do our best to quiet her.  We always come prepared knowing one of us may have to leave with her, taking her to a nearby playground until the movie is over.  But yesterday she sat through the entire movie, with very little squirming and no audible protest.

After the movie we walked to a restaurant, a little trendy upscale diner with loud rock and roll music (a plus for Emma & Nic who knew all the songs) and with fast service.  Even so, going out to eat is not something we do often as a family as it can end with drinks knocked over, loud utterances of “Time to go now!” from Emma or she will simply get up and leave with one of us racing after her.  This restaurant was one of those places that doesn’t really get crowded until after 8:00PM so we had no trouble securing one of their much sought after booths at 6:30PM.  Emma has such a limited number of foods she’ll eat, we came prepared with her favorites, which she happily ate when our food was served and then patiently waited for us to finish.

Nic and Emma sitting in a booth at the restaurant.

Richard, ever the thoughtful boy scout had bought cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery the day before, thinking Emma was more likely to get into the celebratory spirit if there were cupcakes for dessert waiting for us at home.  So after we ate our dinner we made a pit stop at a playground across the street before going home to eat cupcakes.

Except when we returned home and brought out the cupcakes Emma said, “No thank you,” and wandered off to her bedroom.

“Wow, that’s new!  She doesn’t want one?” I looked at Richard incredulous.

“Hey, everything changes,” Richard said with a shrug.

By 8:00PM both children were in their pj’s, teeth brushed and flossed and in bed.

It was a perfect Mother’s Day.

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism go to:  www.EmmasHopeBook

2 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Pretty in Red

Posted on April 12, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Emma dislikes wearing clothing that has scratchy tags, is tight fitting, such as skinny jeans and form fitting jackets, anything that binds or doesn’t have some sort of elasticized waist.  I believe it’s her sensory issues that make most clothing so uncomfortable and so I try to find her things to wear that I know won’t bother her.  If it were up to Emma (and it usually is) she would wear nothing but track suits.  Thankfully there are plenty of children’s clothing companies who produce attractive clothing which relies heavily on elastic waistbands and whatever it is they put into clothing to make it stretchy.  But every now and then in a moment of insanity I see something so cute it’s irresistible and out comes the credit card before I’ve taken the time to consider the above prerequisites.  Inevitably the package arrives and Emma takes one quick look at it and says, “No, that’s too small!”

Which is code for – I have absolutely no intention of wearing this, ever.

If I insist, “But Em, just try it on, then you can take it off.”

She will usually comply while saying, “Just try it, then take it off.”

Every once in a while I have been able to get her to wear something other than her leggings with cute t-shirts and a hoodie, but it’s not the norm.   And once the weather gets anywhere near 50 degrees, Emma begins negotiating to wear her crocs.

“Em, it’s still winter out.  You can’t wear your crocs,” I will tell her.

“It’s too cold!” Emma will say, showing me she understands the concept.  “Wear crocs tomorrow,” she’ll say wistfully.

Emma reminds me of the firemen at the fire station across the street from us.  We always know when the weather is above 40 degrees because the firemen begin wearing shorts.  I figure it must be because they’re around all that fire and heat and they crave feeling the bracing cold air on their skin, but perhaps it’s just they are a heartier breed than the rest of us.  Impossible to say, but I keep meaning to take a photograph of the children bundled in their winter coats standing next to the firemen wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts.

Yesterday the forecast was for a high of 72 degrees, (even though it went up into the 80’s!) so I tentatively pulled out some spring like clothing for Em and held my breath when I presented her with:  a skirt made of cotton, no elastic waist band, soft cotton t-shirt and soft red (wool) sweater, no annoying tags as I had cut them all out.  Then I stood back and watched.  Miraculously Emma put everything on, then chose her shoes, “wear these shoes!” she said cheerfully as she pulled on her socks and pushed each foot into a bronze pump.

“Emma!  You look so pretty!” I told her.

Emma smiled at me and twirled around.  “So pretty!” she repeated.

I took pictures because she was so cute in her red and white outfit and who knows when she’ll ever wear it again, so I figured we needed documentation.  Years from now, I’ll say to Richard, “Remember that day in April when she wore that adorable outfit to school?”  Then I’ll pull out these photographs.

Emma getting ready to listen to some music on her ipod

Choosing the music she wants to listen to

Looking up when I said, “Emma you’re so pretty!”

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism go to:  EmmasHopeBook

Leave a comment

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Birthday Parties

Posted on April 1, 2011 by | 2 comments

Birthday parties, anticipated with great excitement by neuro-typical children, are something parents of autistic children often dread.  Many autistic kids have sensory issues, which cause them to crash when they are over or under stimulated.  Emma has both and it’s impossible to predict what might trigger her.  Crashing for Emma can mean perseverating on some seemingly insignificant thing – a missing photograph, a stick she picked up and by mistake dropped, a portion of packing tape, a magazine no one knew she cared about that was inadvertently thrown away.  These are the things she uses to calm herself and there’s nothing like a party to trigger the desire for items used for self-soothing suddenly and without warning.  In the past we have witnessed all of the above as well as her wanting something we cannot understand and therefore cannot help her find, which leads to crying or worse, a full melt down.  When in the later mode, we must physically remove her from wherever we are and get her home as expeditiously as possible, something onlookers find baffling and frightening.

A few years ago Emma was invited to a little girl’s birthday “Tea Party”, which took place in the Rose Club of the Plaza Hotel.  Red velvet banquets and gold gilded chairs with couples speaking in hushed tones made me inwardly groan, when we arrived.  How was I going to keep Emma occupied?  What if she was disruptive, unable to sit still?  When the menu was delivered I barely went through the motions of opening it – what was the point?  I knew she wouldn’t eat anything from the menu.  I had the foresight to bring food I knew she’d eat and just hoped the service was quick, given there were eight little girls with a variety of disabilities attending.  My memory of that party is of running after Emma and trying my best to keep her from jumping on the beautifully upholstered furniture or sliding down the marble banister, Mary Poppins style, while avoiding the glares of the hotel staff.

The only other party to rival that one was when Emma turned four.  Given Emma’s love of music, we hired a musician to come to our apartment. We invited a number of children from her special education preschool as well as some neuro-typical children Emma and her older brother, Nic had known since they were babies.   Emma spent most of the party attempting to lie down inside of the musician’s guitar case as the other children danced, ran around or sat politely listening to the music and singing along when appropriate.  My husband, Richard and I took turns excusing ourselves and each went separately into our bathroom where we allowed ourselves a few minutes to cry, before mustering up the strength to return to our guests, doing our best to act as though everything was fine.

That was also the year we had been called into a parent/teacher conference at her special education preschool only to be told our daughter’s development was a “red flag” and that she had “flat-lined”.  It was a tough year.  A year Richard and I still refer to when we feel doubtful of Emma’s current progress.  That year marked a time of desperation, sadness and a general feeling of impotence on our part.   It seemed whatever therapy we tried, whatever medical interventions we took on, nothing made a difference.

Emma’s most successful birthday parties have been when we’ve rented a gym, as we did a few months ago for her 9th birthday (we’re learning) or when we’ve planned the party in some other equally active place.  This past birthday, we rented a gym for her birthday party and the following day took her and Nic to Bounce U in Brooklyn where she ran into a friend from her special education school and everyone had a blast.

Emma at Bounce U

For more on Emma’s journey through a childhood of autism go to: www.EmmasHopeBook.com

2 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , ,

Blocked Ears & the Internet

Posted on March 17, 2011 by | 3 comments

Emma has a blocked Eustachian tube in her ear.  And if I might remind our loyal readers, I did actually mention this in a previous post after searching for several hours on the Internet – having googled such random things as:  ears, ears popping, earache, etc.   I concluded in that post I must avoid the Internet when attempting to diagnose my daughter’s complaints – though now, it turns out, googling random words is exactly what is called for in such circumstances.

The remedy is a bit more difficult to enforce.  The remedy being she is causing the pain in her ears by grabbing hold of her nose, clamping her mouth shut and blowing forcefully out of her now firmly held nose.  Other than turning her face red, I wasn’t aware that other dangers lurked from this seemingly innocent act.  Trying to convey all of this to Emma is proving to be a bit more difficult than simply saying – Hey Em.  Don’t do that.  It’s making things much worse and besides that, you probably wouldn’t have any ear problems in the first place if you just stopped.

She looks at you saying all of this, nods her head and then promptly grabs her nose as though you’ve just given her the go-ahead.  Nothing helpful comes up when I google any words remotely associated with any of this other than a few non-related ads about a new Disney Resort called Aulani in Hawaii.  I am tempted to explore how this ad came up when googling autism and ear sensitivities, but really why waste the time?

I’m going out on a limb here, but as I have said before and been proven wrong more times than not, anyone reading this will take it all with a grain of salt –  Emma is highly sensitive to the air pressure and it turns out, so am I.  Only I wasn’t aware of this until Emma started complaining of her own ears.  Throughout the day now I am aware of a slight pressure within my ears and I immediately wonder if Emma is feeling the same thing.  The difference being I can at least attempt to articulate the sensation and realize it is not life threatening, it will eventually go away and is one of those things in life, like sore muscles that one just puts up with knowing it will be okay, no need to panic.

However this is not the way Emma perceives it.  She is thrown into a state of panic and it is heart wrenching to witness.

I will spend some more time on the Internet, before going into work, having had my faith in Google restored.

3 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , ,

More on Emma’s Ears…

Posted on March 11, 2011 by | 2 comments

The good news is Emma’s ears look fine.  The bad news is her throat is a little red and evidently strep continues to make its way through the New York City schools.  So we had yet another strep test done.  The immediate results were negative, but we’ll know more today or tomorrow once the culture has had a chance to grow.  So Emma is staying home today on the off chance she does have strep and so she won’t needlessly contaminate her fellow students.

As I write this, Emma is leaping around the living room singing, while waving a thin strip of plastic around like some sort of experimental ribbon dance.   Every now and again she stops and stands very still while twirling the plastic around and around, seemingly mesmerized by it only to continue jumping, singing and dancing a few minutes later.

It’s impossible to know what Emma is thinking or feeling.  I watch her and make assumptions, much as I did yesterday regarding her ears, only to find that perhaps she has strep.  I think I’ve said this before, but autism throws all maternal instincts right out the window.  Whenever I think I have an idea of what’s going on with Emma I am almost consistently proven wrong.  She complains of her ears, look at her throat.  She complains of her ears, I suspect her throat (pride myself in being a quick learner) and it turns out it’s her ears.  It’s as though there’s some sort of “Emma’s Law” out there, whatever I think is going on – I’ll be wrong.   You think you’ve figured this out?  Ha!

Yesterday I did what many parents do when confounded by their child’s ill health.  I went to the internet and googled – ear pressure, ear popping and a number of other things.  All of which was fine until I read about a troubling condition some children are afflicted with called – Blocked Eustachian Tube – a decongestant was recommended followed by a visit to the doctor and Barotrauma, the only suggestion being a doctor’s visit.  Emma’s pediatrician didn’t mention either of these things.  But now I’m convinced Emma has some horrific condition which will only be remedied with invasive procedures, possibly surgery and I’m traveling for work tomorrow, so it’ll be up to Richard to cope with all of this in my absence.  No one has said any of this to me, these are the conclusions I have come to after going onto the Internet for an hour.

All of which is to say – I must avoid the internet when it comes to diagnosing my child’s ear problems.

2 Comments

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Emma’s Ears

Posted on March 10, 2011 by | Leave a comment

For the last few days Emma has been complaining that her ears are popping.  I think it’s caused by changing air pressure, which she is extremely sensitive to, but maybe it’s indicative of something more, so we will take her to the pediatrician this afternoon, yet again.  Interestingly, I have noticed my own ears “popping” or more accurately the pressure in my ears.  We have had a change in the weather, something that might explain the sensations Emma is experiencing.

Last night Emma was cheerfully playing in her room and then there was silence.  I was in the living room reading.  I looked up from my book and waited.  Animated chatter followed by silence never bodes well.  So it wasn’t a surprise when I heard her whimpering and then, “I need help!  I need help!”

“What’s wrong Em?” I called.

“Ears popping, I need help!”  she cried.

“Okay, Em.  Don’t worry.  It’ll be okay,” I told her.

I tried to get her to yawn and when that didn’t work, demonstrated how to swallow, taking big exaggerated gulps of air and finally when none of those things worked, offered her a piece of gum.  “No gum!” she cried.

Taken aback and baffled, as she has never rejected the offer of gum, on the contrary, she usually requests it, I asked, “Why not?”

“No gum!” Emma sobbed.

“Okay then try to yawn again,” I suggested.

Emma grabbed her nose, clamped her mouth shut and blew until her face turned red.  This technique terrifies me as I imagine she’s blowing out her ear drums or doing untold damage, but my worries appear unjustified.

“There,” she said. “Ears all better,” with which she stood up and ran back into her room where I could hear her bouncing on the bed.

I stood in her doorway, “You okay now, Em?”

“Mommy go,” she commanded.

A few minutes later I could hear her crying, “Popping!  Ears popping!  I need help!”

And so it went last night for over an hour, back and forth, with me feeling increasingly impotent as Emma cried out in pain.

Emma holding a cold bottle of water to her ear, hoping it will alleviate the pressure

I no longer remember when we first heard about her ears bothering her, but it has certainly been within the last year or two.  We have weeks when they don’t seem to bother her and then a few weeks when they do.  Other than keeping a supply of gum on hand, it’s not clear what else we can do.  Her pediatrician checked her ears just a few weeks ago – they were fine.  We will go in again today, but my guess is they will again be fine.

Emma is sensitive to things I am unaware of.  However as I sit typing, I am hyper aware of the continuing pressure in my own ears.  But I know it will eventually go away and the discomfort isn’t so bad, so I occupy myself with work and all the things I must get done today.  Is this what Emma experiences?  Is her discomfort the same or much, much worse?  Does she feel something more extreme?  Her hypo and alternatively hypersensitivities make things I consider an annoyance, unbearable for her.

So we go to her pediatrician today, tomorrow we have an appointment with her neurologist and I will mention all of this to him as well.  Perhaps they will have some ideas.

Leave a comment

Posted in Autism, Parenting, sensory issues

Tagged , , , , ,