Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Imagination, Social communication, Story telling, Shared attention, Theory of mind

He had a small tantrum this morning before going out with the babysitter. This was separation anxiety. He said he wanted to stay home with me and Clara. The significance is that he is prefering the closeness of his family, he didn't initially ask for computer.

He came home in a good mood. Told me he was gentle with the other kids in the park.

He had apple juice with:
1/4 ts ASD multi
1/8 ts GABA
1 capsule carnosine

He had soup made of:
Organic veg broth
Rice pasta shells
Stahlbush org mixed veg
Org chicken

And a cucumber

I just gave him another juice with 1/2 capsule probiotics.

He said 'when you close your eyes, you see pictures'. I asked him what pictures he sees. He said he sees trains. I asked him if they were the same trains on the tv or that he just saw on the tracks. He said that he sees pretend trains that aren't moving. This is amazing, he has the ability to describe his 'thinking in pictures' as Temple Grandin describes it.

I went to get the laptop for his YouTube reward for being gentle. He was talking about smoke coming out of the computer cables and going into the neighbours house. This is a great first sign of imagination, and eventually he'll have the ability to invent a narrative or tell a story. Dan will be thrilled.

As we watch tv and YouTube this afternoon, it's easy for him to respond to my communication. I asked him if he wanted more soup. Before treatment, he would ignore such a request, I would have to try different ways to get his attention and help focus on my language. After asking him once he made eye contact and said 'I don't know'.

He is constantly shifting his gaze from the computer to my eyes, asking me if I like the clip, commenting on it and just now, he encouraged me to get myself some apple juice. This us shared attention and theory of mind! He is interested in how I am experiencing the video AND he cares that I might be thirsty.

Or maybe apple juice is the new code word for 'treatment for anti-social behavior and anxiety management'. In which case, there are a lot of people in this city who could benefit from some of his 'apple juice'.

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