Wee's obsessing again.

[Shari]

My mom is here for a couple days to watch Wee after school.

She brought him a jumping bean toy, I guess lots of kids are into them now. He got really excited and asked to take it to school for recess, because lots of other kids have them. I said ok, as long as SpEd teacher said it was ok, which she did. He agreed to put it up when he got to school.

I guess around 10am he began obssessing over it, sort of like he did when he ordered the lego kit a couple months ago. To my knowledge, nothing major came of it, but he lost an hour and a half today.

I'm also a bit gun-shy, being its nearly mid-November. The annual slide is surely not far off, tho I'm walking on egg shells to try to prevent any triggers.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the last of the language testing. I am so worried about it.

 

[Jena]

i'm glad he likes it, sorry he obsessed, mine does that too alot with everything! new teacher sounds like she's working out. try not to worry about tmrw! enjoy your mom's visit by the way

 

[gcvmom]

Does HE realize he's doing this? I'm curious because difficult child 2 is now aware when he starts to do this and we can actually talk about it, but before his medications were optimized, he could NOT be talked out of this and he would NEVER admit this was even a problem -- I was the problem if I was trying to redirect. Now that I think of it, husband was a lot like this pre-medications, too. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the "slide" is not inevitable for Wee... maybe this will be the year he only wobbles a bit instead of a dramatic dive off the deep end.

 

[Shari]

You know, gcv, I don't think he is aware. After the fact, he knows he's in trouble for "being bad", but I don't think he realizes how obsessed he gets. Good point.

I pray this year doesn't spiral like others. I have refused to leave for work, and we are keeping everything as absolultely even keel as possible. We'll see. I'm with you, tho, hoping we can learn to bobble in November, yet still recover.

 

[DammitJanet]

What in the heck is a jumping bean toy? Is it the Mr Blick?

And have you seen the Kissing Pigs...tea cup pigs? OMG...how hilarious! They sell them at Radio Shack. I think Billy is getting the pink one for Keyana.

 

[Shari]

They are little "capsules" that have a character printed on them, and there's a marble inside it. It comes with a track, to roll the "bean" down. The track holds the bean length-wise, instead of sideways, so the marble inside the capsule rolls to the end of the capsule, then the capsule flips end for end and the process repeates. It makes it look like this 'bean' is flip-flopping all the way down the track.

I have not seen the pigs. Will have to look.

 

[DammitJanet]

Wee might actually like a pig. I think they are more geared towards girls but they do have brown and black pigs. They come in big tea cups with clothes on them and squeal...lol. They also have bottles and you can buy sets for them like cars or such things. I dont think we are getting a set. If we did, it would be the runway set. (Duh!)

I actually like those little singing thingy's that you squeeze and they make a tune but if you have more than one you can put them together and they sing in harmony...lol. They are really cute. Tony is dying for a pair so I am sure Keyana is getting two of them...lmao. We cant enter CVS without him picking them up and playing with them.

Shari...I really think you should get Wee either the Vreader or that Fisher Price Xl something or other gadget. The Xl does more with the music and pictures in one device but I dont know that the actual book portion is as good as the Vreader is. Keyana already has a Ipod knock off so I am going with the Vtech Vreader.

With the problems Wee has with reading, just like the fact that we are just starting on phonics and reading, I want something I can load books on and that will show her words, read the words and stories, highlight each word...let her press the word if she wants to know what that word is...etc. Also there are games attached, its in color, pictures move and talk...its really cool. You can see both of them in the stores or online. With the Vreader you can also download books online from the Vtech website. We got Keyana both the Vreader and the Mobigo.

 

[Shari]

I haven't bought the vreader, but I have spent a small fortune on "reading" toys, dvds, cds, and games. I haven't seen that any of them have helped him...he was excited to get them, and then quickly frustrated by them. I am making him do earobics now, but he hates it, largely because now its so juevenile. I mean, he's still a little kid, but clowns and cute bunnies and choo choo trains are a bit beyond his scope of interest now. I make him do it. He doesn't like it. And I'm not sure its helping any.

I will most likely get him a cell phone that he can text on, and we are getting him a toughbook to put his earobics and other software on. He currently uses mine and its just a little nerve wracking knowing I need that thing for work.

 

[susiestar]

Are the other kids there interested in the jumping beans? We have a store here that does closeouts and about 3 yrs ago they had a bunch of stuff that was all for $1. Including boxes of about 150 of these beans. I don't know if Wiz still has them, or if they are in the toy bin at Gmas or if they are gone. But there are a zillion different ones. They also make a plastic slide thingy that can be used to do tricks with them. I got them as stocking stuffers for the kids and to help with fine motor skills.

I hope he doesn't stay obsessed and doesn't have a big slide this year.

It is such a shame that he keeps thinking he gets into trouble for being "bad". Hopefully some day he can grasp that he is NOT bad and that there is NO WAY for him to BE bad. He can do bad things, but regardless of what anyoen tells him, HE IS NOT BAD AND CANNOT BE BAD. He just makes mistakes. Heck, seems like even when he is just himself the school principal is mad at him, and so have many of the school employees he encountered in the past. It has to take a huge toll on his self esteem.

I wish some of the reading toys helped him. Not sure what "earobics" are, but is there a reason it can't be modified to something that is a bit less babyish?

 

[susiestar]

Have you tried having Wee listen to a book on tape while he follows along in the book? It is something that a friend of ours uses with her students. It won't teach him to read, but it will help him become more able to match the way the word looks with how it sounds, esp when used in a sentence. This friend is a reading specialist who is super good at what she does. She also advises that kids ALWAYS have the captions showing while they watch tv. ALWAYS. Personally it drives me nuts, but it can be very useful with kids who have trouble reading or problems processing what they hear.

Does Wee enoy the Magic Treehouse series? I know they are available on audiobook and have a lot of interesting facts mixed in with the story.

 

[Jena]

susie we do the exact same thing with our stepson who is major add. it helps him soo much. he also listens to books on audio at night to help him sleep and calm him.

 

[Shari]

Earobics is a training software for kiddos with trouble hearing the phonics in a word. Its a training program. Its designed for kids much younger than Wee, and is really no way to modify it.

We've tried audio books, the caption on tv, heck, remember the speak and math and speak and read games from 30 years ago? I bought THOSE. His processing was just so slow they were nothing but frustration.

He is learning, now, and is not as negative about academics, so I am hopeful things will start clicking for him.

 

[HaoZi]

Ever since I got a DVD player I've used the closed captions on it. I think it helped kiddo learn to associate written and spoken words early on. You could also mute the sound or put the audio on another language. The closed captioning on tv programs is often really poor. Try it with a movie he really likes, or just make it a habit to always have the captioning on. Kiddo got so used to the captions being on that she gets upset if we rent or buy a movie that doesn't have them.