Today was our house meeting with Linda H., Kathy and Margie (Nikko's teachers) regarding PECS pictures and how to get a picture schedule set up for the home. We sat in the living room and they pulled out little 2x2 pictures with velcro circles on the back. These were the 6 foods that I picked out that Nikko really enjoys: Peaches, Cookies, Popcorn, Cereal, Juice and Crackers. They put Cereal and Crackers on the floor in front of Nikko and asked him which one he wanted. Nikko stared at the squares and did nothing. Then Linda brought out the box of crackers and showed it to Nikko. He reached for it, but Linda put the picture next to the cracker and told him to take the picture. Margie helped Nikko pick it up, and then helped Nikko put it in Linda's outstretched hand. When he did that, Linda immediately gave him a cracker. We repeated this a few times until Nikko was able to pick up the picture of the cracker and hand it to Linda, getting rewarded with a cracker. BINGO! For Nikko to master this task in a few minutes was just awesome. I know he may forget it tomorrow and I'll have to show him how to do it again, but he has the capacity to pick it up. That's awesome. They also showed me a long strip of laminated colored paper that had velcroed squares of pictures of winter clothing. This is the picture schedule. If I am going to dress Nikko to go outside, the squares of clothing would be ordered by how they go on. Socks would go on first; after the socks are on, Nikko is supposed to take the Socks picture off and put it away in a pocket on the back of the strip. Next is the Shoes picture. After Nikko puts on his shoes, then he's supposed to take off the Shoes picture and put it away. And that's how the schedule goes. They hadn't finalized all the pictures and the velcro, so Kathy said she'd probably put it in Nikko's backpack tomorrow for him to take home. Nikko will need a picture schedule for when he eats, plays, takes a bath, goes to the bathroom and sleeps. Linda asked if I wanted to practice PECS more with Nikko before getting in contact with someone named Maria to move forward with discreet trials, but I said let's go ahead and contact her. I hope Linda will give me her number tomorrow because she didn't leave me with anything today. I was so incredibly grateful that Nikko's teachers came to our house and sat with him, even though they'll see him tomorrow. "Do you guys do this with everyone?" I asked them. Kathy and Margie kind of looked at each other (they must be a well-synchronized team since they've worked with each other for the past few years) and said, "Well, everyone that needs it. And there are a lot of kids that need it!" I am so grateful that they took time to come over with Linda to show us stuff. Teachers are a godsend.
Nikko and Ronin had temperatures today, about the 99.4 range. Audrey had a 101.6 temp before lunch. They didn't seem sluggish throughout the day, but I had to force a nap on Ronin and Audrey in the afternoon. Nikko didn't fall asleep until 5pm, even though I tried to coax him into a sleepy state to get some rest. Around 8:20p when I was headed to the bathroom to give Audrey a bath, Ronin suddenly looked like a zombie and was resting on an ottoman. He had a glazed look on his face and I could see that the sickness was hitting him hard. We hurried to give him a bath after Audrey, and he could barely keep his eyes open during the prayers. I'll have to check on these kids before I go to bed. I hope that Nikko's temperature goes down by tomorrow morning.
I FORGOT to add this one extra tidbit today: Nikko pulled me to the living room and signed Fish. He wanted to watch Finding Nemo, but couldn't find the DVD covers (I put them in the bedroom as I was cleaning up last night for the PECS meeting). I put it on and both boys were enjoying watching it. I went to the kitchen to eat lunch. Then I heard the screams and the crying followed by the thunder of feet running toward me. Ronin was holding the toy Nemo fish and Nikko wanted it by force. Ronin didn't want to give it up. I tried to show Nikko other cars/trucks to distract him, but he just wanted Nemo. Ronin was not willing to give in. Finally I was on my knees in front of the TV and said, "Ronin, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE will you let Nikko play with Nemo? Just for a little bit? PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE??" Know what? Ronin held out Nemo, walked over to Nikko, and gave it to him. Nikko took it and ran to the couch and I took Ronin into a big hug and gave him a big kiss, thanking him for being such a giving brother. [At that moment.] Ronin may never do that again, but maybe it was the PLEASEs that made him change his mind. I don't know. But I'm proud of Ronin for giving Nikko the Nemo.
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