Monday, June 25, 2007

Piglet, Where are You?

Written by Pickel from My Two Boys


Little Pickel: “Go swimming, go swimming, go swimming, go swimming, go swimming, go swimming,”

He just stared at me, demanding to, obviously, go swimming.

Me: “No, I have told you for the hundredth time today. It is only 7 am. The POOL IS CLOSED.”

Little Pickel charged at me, arms swinging, legs kicking, anger ensuing. I artfully scooped him up dodging tiny hands that were grasping for my hair and carried him to our Time-In Chair to take a break. I held him tightly to help calm him while I listened to him scream out of control about going swimming NOW. His legs thrashed, tears ran down his face under his glasses, and he avoided my eyes until he finally began to ease himself down from his temper.

Little Pickel: “AHHHHrrrrrr, I’ll eat you up.”

He growled with a tempting smile.

I laughed and responded “I am King!”

Little Pickel giggled. My little one was back from his high, twenty sweaty minutes later.

I talked to him softly, completing our Time-In ritual with hugs and kisses and let him down off my lap. He ran off yelling “Piglet, where are you?”

This type of tantrum, of course, is common in our house and always has been. But I am sure many moms have experienced those at one time of another. What is more interesting is the language Little Pickel uses.

Little Pickel has not been diagnosed with Autism but rather shunned off as a speech delayed kid, an Institutional Autism case, and a possible Fetal Alcohol Effect child due to his biological misfortune. However, each and everyday we see more and more organic Autism markers; so much so that I am going to have him evaluated again, perhaps this time off the Gluten Free and Casein Free diet.

Since the moment Little Pickel entered our home just under two years ago we have done everything possible to give him the best care he can get. That includes diets, medications, therapies, schools, respite, and our unconditional love and perseverance.

It also includes a journey into his fantasy language. Little Pickel uses Echolalia to communicate and to learn language. He scripts everything and later uses those scripts to aid him in his communication. He connects to people using lines from movies and books in a delayed manner. However, not all of his echolalia fit the situations he is in. He will often answer a question with a phrase that is completely unrelated to what he is asked because he does not know how to answer or repeat the question as the answer. This drives my mother crazy.

Grandma: “Did you have fun today?”

Little Pickel: “Fun today?”

Grandma: “No, did you have fun today?”

Little Pickel: “Fun Today? Okay.”

By joining his world we have had to learn his language. We watch his movies, read the same books, listen to his music and make sure we listen to everything around us because he has a photographic memory for words and phrases. If we can respond to him in his language we can be included and have conversations with him.

By doing this we have greatly increased his language, both receptive and expressive. His scripting and echolalia have gotten even more distinct and he is talking more but he is adding to his words. Instead of just saying “What happened?” he is asking “What happened? Oh, it’s broken”; two phrases or scripts that he used to use independently.

The best thing about him being able to script spontaneously is that occasionally I will hear “I love you” without having to be the first to say it.

Little Pickel: “Mama, I love you. I love you. I love you.

Me: “Did you say that because you want to go swimming?”

Little Pickel: With no hesitation, “Yes.”

MOM-NOS has a great article on this at http://momnos.blogspot.com/2006/03/dr-strangetalk-or-how-i-learned-to.html

As does Be a Good Dad: http://www.beagooddad.com/418/it-all-makes-sense/

This video is great example of how Little Pickel speaks and gets stuck on words and conversations.


Pickel is a SAHM wanting to be a WAHM. She is a mom of one blond angel from Arkhangelsk, Russia who lights up her life (but obviously gives her a challenge. Visit her blog to journey with her family as they travel to Guatemala to adopt their second child, chelate their first, and try to stay sane, which at times is quite difficult. But, that’s why we have kids right? Otherwise life is no fun.

1 comments:

Not From Lapland said...

wow, sounds like quite a challenge!

Featured Post and Blog of the Week



You Are Here

by Amie from
MammaLoves...


You did well in school to get into college. You tried to get by well enough in college to be attractive to an employer or graduate program, and along the way you may have opened your heart a time or two. Maybe you even found true love.

With a foot in the door, the first years of work were the time to
prove your mettle once again. Promotions, raises all with the goal to secure your future will allow you to settle down, buy a house, travel, commit to a relationship, have kids or not. In what feels like a blink of an eye, your future is here.

And now what?


Read the full post...

Chance Favors Only Those Who Court Her

by Debbie from Missives from Suburbia


After a less-than-friendly divorce, I was on the market again. Seizing the opportunity, my friends scoured their address books and Palm Pilots for single men and set me up on blind date after blind date. My reaction to most of those dates was, "I call these people my FRIENDS?" One of my real friends suggested Match.com, and given how much I love the Internet, I gave it a go.

A couple months of e-dating passed by in a blink. It was fun, but so far nothing meaningful had hit my radar, and my match inventory was starting to run low. You see, Match.com "matches" you to people based on a list of your requirements, and I'd pretty much run through all my existing matches who didn't seem psycho or stoned, based on their profiles.

Then, one day, I got an email from a guy who was not a match by my standards...

Read the full post...

A Lost Opportunity

by John from Altjiranga Mitjina


Trying to break in as a writer in the comic book industry can be a bit like the one legged man in a butt kicking contest. Every step forward you make means you land on your butt after your kick forward. Comic books are a visual medium. An artist can bring a portfolio to an editor at a convention and said editor can sit there and look at it within minutes and decide if this artist is worthy of working on the newest issue of Stupendous Man or not. Trying being a hopeful writer handing over a script to this same editor at a busy comic convention. You’ll be lucky if the editor agrees to take the script and promise that they’ll look at it later. Most times the hopeful writer is told to send for their submission guidelines and mail in their proposal.

The best way for a writer is to find an aspiring artist and hook up...

Read the full post...

Jesus Toothpaste!

by Karen Rayne from Adolescent Sexuality Today with Karen Rayne, Ph.D.


This weekend I went out of town, leaving my family to fend for themselves. On Saturday, my darling husband took my two darling daughters – 6 and 3 years old – to what he heard was a fun new toy store in town. Great, right?

They walk in the door, and the 6-year-old pipes up with “Look, Daddy! Jesus toothpaste!” He takes one look, puts one hand on each girl’s shoulder, and does a 180 out of the store. It may be a fun new toy store, but it’s intended clientele does not include the under-13 set.

When I got home on Sunday, the first thing the 6-year-old says to me was, “Guess what! We saw Jesus toothpaste!” I blinked, figuring I hadn’t heard her correctly. Regrettably, I had...

Read the full post...

A biker, a green thumb, a cracked hand, and a Queen.

by Megan from Velveteen Mind, originally guest posted at Queen of Spain


A random biker on a Harley-Davidson took my picture last week. What I wanted to do was take his picture, but I hesitated. Now, instead of a photo of some random biker holding an i am bossy.com bumper sticker, all I have is a lame photo of me holding the bumper sticker and the mental picture of him riding off into the sunset, never to be seen again.

Okay, it wasn’t as romantic or dramatic as that. It was nine in the morning and there was no sunset.

This is not the first time that I have hesitated to seize an opportunity. I don’t expect it will be the last. However, I hope with each lost chance for something intriguing, I will lose a shade of that hesitation for next time...

Read the full post...