I just noticed that I forgot to follow-up about the Sunday School meeting. Since it feeds into our war against the OT, I thought I'd just let you all know what happened there.
We had our meeting, and really talked about some of the issues they were having with Joey. These folks are not special ed trained, and the teachers aren't even education trained- they're Sunday School teachers, and have been for a while. Autism is not something they usually deal with. To them, he needs to act like everybody else, or at least do what everyone else does. The director was very helpful, having been in teh Stafford schools and having at least some exposure to the challenges and accommodations of autistic children. She could translate. ;)
I let them know I would have something of an answer by the time Sunday rolled around again. So the next Sunday I walked in, and told them about teh gum, and brought his vibrator. Before I even got the pack of gum out of my pocket, the one teacher had a peice in his mouth, and the other was thanking me. I was shoo-ed away. I returned to find he had earned a lollipop like everyone else. They had someone put a hand on his shoulder during storytime, and had also given him a stuffed animal to hold, so that they had the vibrator in reserve. Bingo. Earned a lollipop.
Compare that to an OT that has fought tooth and nail against even trying the gum for almost four weeks now.
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Can you tell me more about some of the helps you use? I'm interested in the gum and the stuffed animal. I am a Sunday School director who has many children in my classes who are on the autism spectrum. The parents arent' too helpful- they just say "he has Asperger's" or "He has autism". I would love to have a few "tricks up my sleeve" to help the children who are particularly disruptive with their calling out, throwing themselves around, etc. It doesn't bother me very much but it is very distracting to the rest of the class. Thank you!
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