WonderfulWednesday: My son communicates with @googlemaps via @gwynnemiriam

This week's wonderful Wednesday share comes to us via Autism Speaks and is an article from Miriam Gwynne who writes at Faith Mummy. She shares a wonderful moment when she realised her son was using google maps to communicate.

#WonderfulWednesday: What not to ask an autistic person

This week's wonderful Wednesday share is based on a video by BBC Three 'What not to ask an autistic person.' It's a humorous video that highlights and explains common misconceptions about people with autism from autistic people themselves.

Sporting plastic red belt accessories for half term?

It's not just the kids that people look at oddly because they have autism.  Never mind their peculiar behaviour, screaming collapses, strange way of talking or just complete lack of speech, I'm 'odd' even when I'm on my own thanks to my latest clothing trend. Red is definitely not my usual colour, but it has been this week.

Both our boys are very sensory seeking.  Just like Jane, their younger sister, most kids love hugs, tickles and cuddles on the sofa.    The boys are a bit different. 

I'm so happy my son has echolalia

Nearly 75% of verbal autistic people display some kind of echolalia. It is 'echoing' or repeating or words, sounds, sounds made by someone else. It's there because the child doesn't understand what's being said but thinks a response is appropriate.  It was one of the key 'symptoms' that led to our eldest son's Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis, so why on earth am I pleased our second son is now showing signs of echolalia?

It's moony tonight

Our Anthony often says or sees things others either don't notice, or don't think about like he does.  He makes great observations on the way home.  His latest one made me smile. He looked up at the evening sky and declared "The moon is very bright, yes, it's very moony."
Read more here

Gloves, glorious gloves! A moment of magic with my autistic son

It started to get much colder this week. David's not great with wearing unfamiliar clothes. Unfamiliar things can be scary for anyone and it can be even harder if you are a kid with sensory issues. 

Two and a half year old Jane has been wearing gloves (well mittens actually) for a long time. Hilariously she even wears them eating ice lollies in the house. David's older brother has been told to put his gloves on every school day for the last two months as he scoots to school. 

I've been saying the word a lot and I guess David must have been listening and watching because when I said 'gloves on' to him, he held out his hands. 

He and I and the other kids were going to our local playground. In some ways it's better when it's cold because the playground is quieter.

David held my hand and we walked slowly down the road to the playground that's not far away at all. Did I say slowly? 

The reality is we had a great time taking a very long time to get to the playground:

David checked to see that he could still count his fingers when he had gloves on. Check! 

He made sure he could still clap. Check!

He checked that they felt soft on the outside too, by rubbing his cheeks. Check!

Then we stood still for a minute while I copied every glovey move he made. He covered his ears, then his mouth.  He put his hands like antlers, then just one antler, then the other. Then back on his cheeks, and then covering his eyes. I copied him exactly and he watched me intently and grinned hugely, and didn't notice when I peeked through whilst covering my eyes (after all, I had another child in tow).

This was almost a type of intensive interaction if you've heard of that before. 

Best of all, after we got to the park David found that he could hold on to the bars and play equipment for as long as he liked and his hands didn't get cold. We headed back home a little early when Jane slipped into a muddy puddle, but no one was upset about it. 

Great cold trip to the playground. 

Links
Our blog - A ray of sunshine, autism in the playground 

External links
What is intensive interaction? 

Why ALL forms of communication are awesome in autism

"Does he have any more words yet?"

"Does he talk, does he say anything at all?"

A mum at a special needs playgroup once said to me, "I'm just desperate to hear her voice and hear her say mummy. Can you imagine not hearing that from one of your kids?"

Of course, I can.

However, I believe this mum made a basic error in her comment. True, her daughter doesn't talk, it doesn't necessarily follow that she doesn't have a voice.

Our son David has autism and no, he doesn't say any actual words. He uses makaton sign language most of the time. He sometimes uses PECS which is a series of picture cards to form sentences and he often vocalises with both of these. Without sign or PECS it would be extremely difficult for anyone to understand what he was saying. But trust me, my son has a voice.

He tells me when he wants something and tells me when he doesn't. He tells me when he's having fun and when he's distressed. And he's more likely to sign 'daddy' than 'mummy'. After all, why request me? I'm always here.

About a year ago David's signing vocabulary started to expand far beyond the 20 or so words he knew that mostly related to asking for his favourite food items. He started signing 'swing' in the garden and 'house' when it was time for home.

One afternoon I was retrieving him from the car after returning home from his nursery. He held me tight as I went to release him from the car seat. I took the opportunity for a hug and said 'hug' as I squeezed him awkwardly. I went to get him out for a second time and he grabbed me again. This time I stood back and said and signed 'hug'. Then I asked him what he wanted.

For the first time, David signed hug. I was close to tears. I praised him and he giggled, juggling around as I nearly crushed him. We continued signing and hugging for at least two minutes if not more. Soon, my daughter who was sat on the other side of the seat started asking for a cuddle too so we went into the house.

David may not say many words but we are working with him to help him say more. We have a great speech and language therapist that works with him and us. He will 'fit in' more if he talks, but even when he is older he could be like the other 25% of people with autism who are non verbal. Fitting in is not what we are after, unless that's what he indicts he wants of course.  Talking is not the be all and end all. He expresses his opinions and often understands situations. That's not even considering the progress he's made with his receptive language (the language he hears) such as following instructions.

I think David has a fine voice. Did you know a baby has to hear hundreds of repetitions of words to pick up them up. Everywhere they go, babies are listening and adding to their words lists. Imagine though that the baby didn't hear any of those words because they weren't engaged with them. I think David's had to pick up sign via a much shorter number of repetitions, just like hug above, because it's not happening everywhere.

No one signs at the shops, in the playground nor most other places we go. We don't even all sign to each other in the house, but that hasn't stopped him. And overall his I was far more delighted with his desire to sign and have a hug that I am about his perhaps odd attempt to say mummy. Even if he was only asking for a squeeze to help fill his sensory needs - he's getting what he needs.  And that or showing affection seems a fantastic way for him to use his voice if you ask me.

I don't know how you do it - from a mum of autistic and neurotypical kids

"I don't know how you do it." It's a phrase I've heard so many times.

Often it's preceded by "with respect". It's hard to know whether it's a compliment or a criticism. Do I look such a mess that it seems I'm only just coping? Or are people suggesting that they wouldn't want my kids?

Bauble babbles:Follow their lead

A valuable thought to end our Bauble babbles and to continue into the new year - follow our kids.

Jane is busy make a big mess with the felt tip pens and the colouring books she got in her stocking. David was looking at a small book collection nearby. I thought I would try to engage him by picking up one of the books and looking at it. 

But David wasn't interested in me having a book, in fact me having a book meant he abandoned them altogether and started playing with the felt tip pens. Reading the book I had in my hands was no good, I was only able to engage him when I started to help him line up the pens.

I asked him which colour he would like next? And he responded until we had lined up the pens a few times.

Only by following David's agenda did I manage to engage him and get him to communicate with me. Lucky me!

Have a look at our Bauble babbles from the beginning, an idea a day while the holidays were here. 

From Monday, back to our regular blog posts, the random ramblings, thoughts and info from me, a mum of autistic and neurotypical kids. See you then. 

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Bauble babbles: Wait for it...

Let's start the week with one of my favourites. Waiting. Bless my kids, waiting is not one of their talents, but thankfully I've learned that my ability to wait is a virtue when it comes to my boys communicating.

When the boys see so much it can be hard for them to filter the information they need from a question. Like a computer chugging along and slowing down when it has lots of tasks going on, my boys need time to work. They need time to process and then act. 

David needs plenty to time to form his thoughts into a communication. I need to wait. Eventually he manages to Makaton that he wants to watch Toy Story 3. Great - I'll put it on. 

Anthony needs lots of time to process and understand what I'm saying. I need to wait. At the pantomime today I took a snack with us so he eat something familiar. He was prepared for the idea of having ice cream during the interval but when I asked him I still had to wait for about 20 seconds for him to process what I was saying and accept my suggestion. 

20 seconds doesn't sound like a long time? Try it in the middle of a conversation, it feels like an age. After getting the ice cream, he had just two spoons from the tub. Anthony was then finished with it and returned to his familiar rice cakes. 

I'm not at all bothered that he only had a bit of ice cream. In fact it's quite daring if Anthony to eat ice cream that's not presented in a fine (as it should be). But if I'd not waited he'd have missed out on this theatre tradition and perhaps been disappointed later.

So good waiting, and watching of Toy Story 3 and nibbling of ice cream.

Tomorrow: more tips to talk over the festive season 

Last week: Use their choice of communication 

Notes: Thanks for reading Baubley babbles, my notes on helping my family talk over Christmas. My sons are both on the autistic spectrum and we have a two year old daughter. Our son, David is five years old and uses a variety of Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) to talk. Every school day till school restarts I'll post a one thing I'll be keeping in mind to help us all communicate over the festive holidays. Maybe some things will be of interest to you too.

Bauble babbles: Use their choice of communication

David uses both PECS and Makaton to communicate but he's not forced to use either of them instead of the other. Some people may use programmes like Proloquo2go or a talker device too.

If David manages to communicate that he wants to watch The Polar Express using key words with either his PECS or his Makaton sign I'm not going to force him to repeat it with the other device. This kind of exercise will only confuse him, no one else has to repeat themselves? I've found that if David has communicated to me asking him to repeat this only irritates him and causes him stress.  And despite my preference for Makaton, if he chooses PECS that's fine too.  Imagine the upset on Christmas Day if I asked him to request a present again because he used his PECS book instead of his Makaton?  I don't think so. The important thing is he communicates as best he can.... and that he gets another Christmas present... and to watch The Polar Express of course!

Yesterday - Modelling language 
Monday - more ways to help us communicate

Links
The Makaton Charity
Communication Matters - PECS

Notes: Thanks for reading Baubley babbles, my notes on helping my family talk over Christmas. My sons are both on the autistic spectrum and we have a two year old daughter. Our son, David is five years old and uses a variety of Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) to talk. Every school day till school restarts I'll post a one thing I'll be keeping in mind to help us all communicate over the festive holidays. Maybe some things will be of interest to you too.

Bauble babbles: Model the communication

Today it's about model communication. David's default communication method is Makaton. But that means it's my default when talking to him and sometimes when talking to the other kids too. If he's going to use his Makaton he has to know how. I wouldn't expect Jane our two year old to speak if I never spoke to her - same for David and his signing.

If I'm asking David if he'd like a mince pie, I need to use signs just like he does when I'm asking the question. I'm looking directly at him, just like he should look at me. I'm talking and signing just like he should. And I'm using the language he needs to understand, reply and be able to request again. It also means if I'm using a sign either I don't know or is unfamiliar that I can introduce it for practice in a meaningful way. For mince pie, I signed 'sweet' and a mini pie 'crust' sign. 

Whatever I'm using, I'm trying to do it myself and be consistent. Though I guess we might go through a fair few mince pies! 

Tomorrow - Use their communication choice
Yesterday - Reading our conversations social story

Links
The Makaton Charity - Christmas vocabulary

Notes: Thanks for reading Baubley babbles, my notes on helping my family talk over Christmas. My sons are both on the autistic spectrum and we have a two year old daughter. Our son, David is five years old and uses a variety of Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) to talk. Every school day till school restarts I'll post a one thing I'll be keeping in mind to help us all communicate over the festive holidays. Maybe some things will be of interest to you too.

Bauble babbles:Reading our conversation social story

Our Baubley babbles are my notes on helping my family communicate over Christmas.

Today is about using a social story to help with communication. Social stories work really well for some autistic children, and I think could help a neuro-typical child with a particular behaviour. Anthony has a social story that's about have conversations and in particular speaking in full sentences. 

Social stories are short stories model appropriate social interaction. They are describing a situation with its social cues, other's perspectives, and what an appropriate response would be. It can be used to help correct an inappropriate behaviour but is often used to praise appropriate behaviours too. Reading through the story again at times when you think you might need to reminding about the is an easy trick.  With so much going on at Christmas, a quick read of Anthony's social story at the beginning or end of the day gives him a better chance of achieving it's goal over the festive holidays.

Tomorrow - more tips to help my kids talk at Christmas
Yesterday - Introduce and use appropriate (festive) vocabulary

Links
National Autistic Society - How to write social stories

Notes: Thanks for reading Baubley babbles, my notes on helping my family talk over Christmas. My sons are both on the autistic spectrum and we have a two year old daughter. Our son, David is five years old and uses a variety of Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) to talk. Every school day till school restarts I'll post a one thing I'll be keeping in mind to help us all communicate over the festive holidays. Maybe some things will be of interest to you too.

Baubley babbles: Introduce and use festive vocabulary

Our Baubley babbles are my notes on helping my family communicate over Christmas.

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Baubley babbles: Aim high with your communication

Welcome to our Baubley babbles, my notes on helping my family talk over Christmas. My sons are both on the autistic spectrum and we have a two year old daughter. Our son, David is five years old and uses a variety of Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) to talk. Every school day till school restarts I'll post a one thing I'll be keeping in mind to help us all communicate over the festive holidays. Maybe some things will be of interest to you too.

Today: Aiming High

An opening thought, aim high with your kids communication. My kids make progress at school and I'm not always aware of how much they can do. But I do know David can string several Makaton signs together and when he is using PECS, he is at working at stage 4 + attributes. I also know Anthony's speech targets includes responding in full sentences.

I'm not going to withhold fun at Christmas or expect targets to be hit at all in the midst of present opening. But during the normal parts of the day, I can encourage the boys to request/respond in full sentences as appropriate.  During breakfast it a good idea as its routine. 

Jane is lucky she's at the point of forming  full sentences so she gets constant good modelling too. 

Tomorrow - introducing festive vocabulary

Links

Communication Matters - What is PECS?

The Makaton Charity

Autism, facts and absolutes?

Yesterday was the 1st of December, and according to Anthony, who has autism, this meant it was now definitely 'Winter', he had to open a chocolate advent calendar and all the trees were dead.

Jane loves her autistic brothers

Jane is two and a half years old. Despite her young age she has already accomplished many more things than her older brothers.  This is because as yet, Jane is the only child in the family not facing the difficulties associated with a diagnosis of autism.   She's developing in a more neuro-typical way, talking in near sentences, enjoying social interaction and to my absolute joy, declaring love for her siblings.

Jane's eldest brother Anthony is seven and if you ask him if he loves his family he will tell you that of course he does. David is five years old and can tell you if he wants something, but not really if he either likes it or loves it. He is more likely to ask for a biscuit than his mother. This doesn't mean that the boys don't play with their younger sister. On the contrary, Jane being younger makes things easier for them.  Jane is able to be directed in play.  She will follow instructions and suggestions for play.  She's also up for anything fun like running around, wrestling and hiding. And she does it with an absolute joy than is infectious even to the boys. 

Don't get me wrong, playing with the boys can be challenging.  Both have sensory difficulties meaning than can be very physical in play. David can be fairly rough and his play repertoire is mostly adaptions of chase.  Anthony can be very demanding, games have to be played as he dictates and sometimes Jane has to put up with a fair amount of shouting when the simple rules aren't followed appropriately.  This is because Anthony enjoys repetition as it means he doesn't have to deal with the unexpected.  They were both diagnosed with ASD within a year when they were around three and four years old has meant we understand them better and are able to help them all play together.  Both boys also need their space too and it's not uncommon for poor Jane to be told 'I don't want to play with you right now.'

Jane had been told such a thing when I went to comfort her yesterday.  I asked her if she was sad because she liked playing with her brothers.  "Yes, I sad. I like playing with my brothers. I love them," she said.  Admittedly, she seems to 'love' everything at the moment. But despite this it was still one of those many times you have as a parent when you know you should have a sad face to show you empathise with your child but you've actually got a smile.  For despite her brother's behaviour being a bit odd, rough and sometimes seemingly mean, she still loves them, even at two and half years old.  I know she may find her brothers difficult to understand as she and they get older but I'll take a bit of love between them all right now. 

Links
Our blog - Normal Repetitive play, watching Jane's development
Our blog - Anthony's always aloud

External links
NAS - Sensory
NAS - Obsessions, routines and repetition

Generalising dog - autism and language

My mum let our dog, Smithy, out into the garden yesterday. Anthony was the garden too. When it got dark, mum shouted for everyone to come in. Smithy was the last to come back into the house so mum yelled, "Come on dog," into the garden. This was immediately corrected by Anthony, "It's Smithy, not Dog." It reminded me of the difficulties Anthony faced with generalising his language. 

Difficulties with communication, speech and language is a basic symptom of autism. Anthony was diagnosed with autism around three years old, just like his younger brother David. For both our sons, it was the speech delay that first alerted us to their condition.

One of the things that was noticeable with Anthony was when he would use the wrong words for things or not use words that we knew he could say.  Sometimes this was due to difficulties with generalising his vocabulary. Over-generalising can be described as using a word too generally. For example using the same word 'tomato' when talking about a strawberry, a tomato, a pair of socks or maybe even a car because they are all red. Under-generalising is the opposite. This could mean learning that the term 'cup' only refers to one particular cup - perhaps the blue sippy cup a child has at home. If the child was unable to recognise that the other receptacle's with handles used for drinking are also cups too then they are being too specific with the term. The word 'cup' is not being used generally enough. 

Anthony had both of these issues, but the garden incident reminded me mostly of his over-generalising. Initially, all dogs were 'Smithys'. We seemed to manage to explain that Smithy was our dog's name but this seemed to make it worse. The term 'dog' suddenly referred to everything hairy with four legs. This included nearly all the animals at the pet store including rabbits, gerbils and hamsters; the cows and sheep we passed driving to my parents house in Scotland and the horses ridden by the police. Put a furry blanket on top of a table and it might also become a dog. There was something very strange about being told that a dog had chased a dog up a tree and a man on a dog was watching them?

Thankfully, we've come to understand these issues and try to head them off before they occur. Early on using Makaton signs helped us label different items effectively. We can point out the difference between items such as a car and a bus so they are registered as different terms. This is best explained immediately when a new word is introduced.  However, we aren't always there when this happens. Anthony learnt the word 'pathetic' from someone the other day. Without really understanding the meaning of the word, it has been immediately over-generalised so everyone is 'pathetic'. He might have some interesting conversations at school today! 

Links
Our Blog - Anthony's always aloud

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Potato handler and crumble creator - autism and interaction in the kitchen

We don't often do roast Sunday dinners in our house. We used to do them a lot but then there was a period of time when it just became too difficult. Not only were the kids not taking part in the dinner but they required constant assistance to stay off of one another, entertained or safe. There was almost a shift system and someone was always away from the table. Recently though whatever combination of child development stages led to this 'no Sunday roast zone' we had entered seemed to pass. And to my absolute delight our autistic five year old was actively interested in the return of our Sunday dinner preparations.

I don't think twice when Jane wants to 'help' me sweep the floor or do the vacuuming. My husband may not believe it but I do these jobs at least once most days. Jane has been 'helping out' for at least a year and she's only two and a half years old. It's because she is interested in interacting with me and her environment. She is not stressed by the noise of the vacuum cleaner or anything else on the house. We've been baking together for at least a year too. But it's not the same for David.

David has been diagnosed with ASD since he was three years old. Sometimes he cannot, and other times he may decide not to, interact with the world around him because he finds it too confusing or because it seems pointless. Let's face it; lots of people prefer to play on their IPads than engage in an actual conversation with someone. As David's verbal skills are very limited, I'm hardly surprised he is sat on the sofa while I'm peeling potatoes on the floor. One after the other the cleaned potatoes from the colander are peeled over a large bowl and then placed into a big pan to on the hob later.

 Jane has already asked what I'm doing a few times and after being satisfied that the game of flying to the moon she is playing is better than my activity, I'm left alone for a few minutes. Then David comes to sit opposite me. His first task is to investigate the potatoes. They are all emptied out of the colander and checked over before going back inside. David then looks at me for a bit before turning over and looking at me through his legs. This is one of the ways David likes to look at the world. Then as I'm finishing peeling a potato I use Makaton to sign 'potato'. He jumps up and hands me another one from the colander. "Thank you" I sign and say. But my grin is far more than a 'thank you' smile.

David returns to play with his IPad but spends the next 15 minutes guarding the colander from any would be thief and almost to the second, jumping up and handing me potatoes until they are all gone. Each time I am thrilled.

After I'd finished making the rest of the Sunday Roast, I started on pudding - rhubarb and pear crumble. David wonders into the kitchen and sees me measure out the ingredients for the crumble. I'm beginning to break up the butter and crumble it into the flour and sugar just like my mum taught me. Then David leaned up onto the counter and stuck his hand in the bowl to feel the texture and see what I was doing. Again I use Makaton to ask David if he wants to 'cook'. He seemed interested, so I immediately brought the bowl down onto the floor and David and I shared the bowl while he copied me pushing the butter through my fingers and into the flour and sugar.

This type of shared attention is so rare. It requires an interest in people, activities and a preparedness to share them with someone else. This is really difficult and new for David as it means seeing things from another person's point of view.

Honestly, if there had been nothing else to do I'd have peeled potatoes and made crumble all day. The crumble proved to be more fun than handing over potatoes and David was a bit disappointed when I finally needed to pour it over the fruit. And despite his valiant efforts, he didn't have roast potatoes or crumble for dinner as neither is yet in his acceptable food repertoire. But I saw a little boy excel himself. And I saw hope for independent living skills in my son. What a great Sunday roast I had this week.

Links
Our blog - Racing Clouds - David's Delight
External Links - Communicating and Interacting

Our mummification mishaps - autism and dressing up at school

Anthony's school topic of this term has been the Ancient Egyptians. Anthony's class have been busy writing about pyramids, discussing Pharaohs and making paper mâché mummies. The highlight was a dress as an Egyptian day and workshop yesterday. Or at least, I think it was.

Anthony is seven years old so has got used to the idea of going to school sometimes in either his 'normal clothes' or something else. As a child with autism we initially took a lot of time to prepare him for a change in his routine like coming to school in different clothes. Now we can give Anthony a days notice that it's a 'special' day at school when he can wear 'normal clothes' or a costume. Anymore than a days notice and Anthony can end up focussed on this change to his routine instead of the activities of the day.  It's probably a bit like the distraction that can be caused by knowing you have a test coming up. 

We used to ask Anthony what he'd like to dress up as.  We've come to realise that this often adds pressure to the day. Anthony finds making decisions very difficult so we'll make suggestions. This relieves some of the pressure and unpredictability in the outcome for him.  More often than not Anthony would be glad of the suggestion and this is what I had expected for Ancient Egyptian day.

During the explanation of Egyptian Day on the way home from school the night before, Anthony suddenly declared he'd like to go as mummy. I was delighted that he had expressed an opinion. However, it meant I'd have a come up with a mummy costume. Usually we'd try out Anthony's costume to give him time to adjust and know what to expect. So, I got out clothes I thought I could adapt and showed them to Anthony and let him know I'd add bandages to them for the morning. I spent a good chunk of the night sewing white ribbons onto clothes. 

In the morning everything went as normal until it was time for Anthony to get dressed. His face dropped, he looked hot and his eyes became all glazed. "There aren't enough bandages on the trousers mum," he said. 

The morning routine is fairly regimented. The routine is consistent and avoids down time distractions so there isn't a lot of time for things like fixing fancy dress costumes. As I looked at Anthony I could see the panic on his face. His costume was not what he expected. It's not the same as Jane being disappointed that her snack is a banana instead of an apple like she'd wanted.  It's a completely different level. It's like a fear of things not being right. Sometimes we can help Anthony deal with this fear but looking at him I could tell this wasn't the best course of action. As part of his routine, Anthony gets dressed before breakfast so has to have his breakfast fully clothed on school days.  Given this, I told Anthony I'd fix his trousers after he'd eaten. As Anthony made his way to the breakfast table he calmed down "Thanks mum, 10 bandages would be enough."

Time was of the essence.  Obviously I'd run out if white ribbon, and the actual bandages from the medicine box were useless. As I began just trawling through washing for a clue I remembered we'd recently torn up an old white work shirt for cleaning cloths. Three safety pins later and Anthony was back on course again.  He was very excited and extremely bouncy.  It would have been easy to assume that this indicated he was all set for the day but I know different.  His excitement and bounciness could indeed be part joy at the fun that was lined up for the day.  However, I suspect he was also coping with the nerves and anxiety at the differences it would mean. 

We are really delighted that Anthony can take part in these activities at school.  Every time he copes with something new or a change to his routine is a chance for him to develop and use strategies to cope with it.  This type of skill could really help him when he gets older and allow him to be independent. Anthony seemed thrilled after school. He wanted to keep his costume on all evening and we had to get changed back into it even after his swimming lesson.

As for decision making, we are still working on that.  We have an appointment next week with some professionals to help Anthony with strategies to make decisions himself.  Despite his apparent keenness on his mummy costume, Anthony collapsed this morning because he changed his mind saying he wished he gone into school as a Pharaoh and not a mummy.  As he was still coping with yesterday, it's just as well we have that regimented morning routine to keep him focused.

Links
Our Blog - Disastrous at decision-making

External Links
NAS - Routines and  change

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