Monthly Archives: October 2012

“Can I Have It?”

As you may know, at this point, Zip must be in control of his surroundings. He works very hard to maintain that control. We’re working on it and it has gotten better through RDI. But…  he has a bad habit of grabbing things out of my hand when he wants them. So I’ve been telling him that he must ask instead of just taking something. Now you might remember that Zip does not speak in sentences. So, what sentence has he mastered recently?

He had 20+ balls gathered behind him on the rug today. I had one ball in my hand. He asked me, “Can I have it?”

“No,” I said. “I’m playing with it.”

“Can I have it? Can I have it?” Zip keep trying the magic words that had always worked until now.

“When I’m done playing with it, you can have it” I said, deflecting his grabbing hands.

Zip thought about this for a few moments and then shouted something new – “Mine!”

This from a kid who doesn’t understand pronouns! I gave in, of course.

Quick Update

So sorry that I have not been posting as regularly as I would like. Life has quite gotten in the way. My mother and my dog have both not been well. My mother’s medications were changed and added to and she is doing much better. I cannot say the same for my dear, dear Moo. We are on our third round of medication for what seems to be a gastrointestinal problem but I am not seeing any improvement. We are devastated to watch our sweet and wonderful dog do so poorly. I feel quite helpless and I’ve been trying to be my normal optimistic self, but it is growing increasingly difficult. If he is not better on this new medicine tomorrow, we’ll be off the to the veterinarian again. I hope she will have another option that is feasible for a twelve year old dog, but I am not sure they will.

In other news, Zip is doing very well. He’s been responding somewhat to my attempts at conversation and trying and succeeding at doing some things independently. I’ve not been doing much “formal” RDI with him, but engaging and guide-thinking have become a large part of our lifestyle.

Our Week in RDI — Late September 2012 Edition

We’ve been focusing on engagement with Zip. As the Guide, we are not instructing or showing exactly how to do something. RDI explains the Guide state of mind as “a combination of feeling fully mentally engaged, yet also relaxed and open to making new discoveries and not having to perform in a specific manner.” An Engagement should always have some element of uncertainty or challenge. Even the Guide does not know exactly how the engagement will play out.

Basically we’re trying to engage with him several times a day in an authentic way. He’s been making it difficult as he tries so hard to control every interaction. He wants to be with us, demands attention from us, but on his terms. We are trying to turn everyday interactions into opportunities for turn-taking. We can take turns singing songs, doing fingerplays, eating together, brushing our teeth together, etc.

This week, Zip was rather resistant to turn-taking. He can be very possessive with objects so that is where I had the most trouble.  We took turns putting plastic magnetic letters into a clean mayonnaise jar. He was really not impressed with this idea until I showed him how it dumps out. He loves anything that is like confetti. Zip rushed through the turn-taking part and I had to be careful that he didn’t just take the letter out of my hand on my turn. Clearly, an area that we’ll continue to focus on.

We continued to work on everyday activities like loading laundry. Zip is great with assembly-line but doesn’t seem to notice when I switch to turn-taking. I think I need to slow down and pause to highlight more.

I’m due for an in-person appointment with our consultant. She’s great and we get alot done. I’m sure she’ll have some ideas on working on this objective.