Autism Treatment Center of America Forum

[msacalifornia]

My son is 5 yrs old and continued his Special Day classes (normaly) last week after a three block therapy of Tomatis. This week started kind of rough, because the school bus company called me and requested to me to pick him up because he took off his seatbelt, was taking of his shoes and was screaming in a high pitched, and also this happened today Tuesday again. The school bus company is having with bigger strapps in X in front of him. I've been asking to the teacher about his behavior in class and she hasn't answered yet. She is not communicating at all.
I feel so sad and not very confident in this school this year. Still trying to find a runway.

[maryB]

I am not sure if this will help, but we had similar problems with my son at that age. We taught him to leave his seat belt on by playing with action figures and a barbie sized car while he was around, (listening to the exchange). We placed the paretn doll in the front and said come on kids lets go to the park. The sybling doll was put in and the doll representing my son was put in adn we said, ok, put on your seat belts so we can all be safe while we drive. oh no, *** will not keep his seat belt on. How sad. He will have to stay home. We will really miss him while we are at the park. my sons doll was taken out of the catr and the parent and sybling doll "drove off " to go to the park. this took several attempts but within a couple of weeks we saw an improvement.
There are seat belt covers that can be purchased for a small fee that can be placed over the release button ont he belt so the child can not push it. As for shoes, if your child has sensory needs he/she may be too hot or the shoes may feel tight. Can they wear a less restricitve shoe or slipper? Can the bus driver allow them to remove their shoes on the bus and put them back on when arriving at school? Is there an aid on the bus? There should be. The aid can assist with putting shoes and socks back on once arriving at school.
The screaming is a bit more difficult to address. This could be a sensory need or it could be Tourette's. there is new evidence that Autismsoectrum kids may also have co-morbid Tourette's syndrome. If so, they can not help the screaming. It is involuntary.In either case it si sometimes helpful to use ear phones that either play music or block all noise. It is likely the bus noises are bothering your child.
Good luck. Hope this is helpful.

[KimKorpady]

Dear Msacalifornia,
After reading your post I would love to help you out, as your question does not have one clear conscise answer I think it would be most beneficial to you to direct you to a few of our our blogs:

http://blog.autismtreatmentcenter.org/s ... bel/Crying
http://blog.autismtreatmentcenter.org/s ... 0Behaviors
http://blog.autismtreatmentcenter.org/s ... /Parenting

In addition to reading these blogs I would highly suggest that you take a look at our Start-Up Program. This program will help you further your connection with your child, as well as provide you with countless techniques when facilitating progress and growth in the area of your child's challenging behaviors and growth and development overall.

Here is a link to more information about this program:
http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/co ... /index.php

I also think it would be extremely beneficial to call the following number and set up an appointment with one of our highly trained family counselors: 1800-714-2779

I hope this helps you along your journey!
Big smiles,
Kim Korpady

[msacalifornia]

Hi Kim,
Thanks for your feedback. Actually, I am working with my son in the SonRise Program when he allows me to do it and he really enjoys mostly all the time. The only issue is that he is very tired in the afternoon and this makes everything slow down for him or get on track back and forth. We had a very nice week for Thanksgiving holiday because we could be together at home and apply the SonRise techniques and "play, play, play, play" or just go outside. We all in the family can see the difference and everything changes when the school starts. Something needs to be done soon. Your big support and energies are really appreciated, and your comments are more than welcome. All the best for you all. Hope you had a very good vacation.
P.D. About the bus issues: doing better, the bus driver is so nice and she says that meanwhile she is driving the only way she can help is keeping the bus warm to keep his feet warm if he takes off his socks and she understands (actually he is still little, just 5 yrs old and we know that he needs to stop doing it). Nothing I've heard from his school teacher yet.

[msacalifornia]

MaryB thank you so much for your input. Very interesting your point about the help from the school. They are just only helping with the picture. The administrator of the program says that the bus company should be responsible for this (????!!!!!), and for me was a surprise and very upset to hear this. I am getting fed up with the Special Education field, the bus drivers have been very pacient and cooperative. About the T...syndrome you mention I will be searching about this, the school teacher and all the professionals there are speechless or more convenient for them to see that behavior increases (kind of speculation and suspection feeling here, sorry). It's been winter break and also a great time to see how he shows his progress in only two weeks at home in more different aspects. Even potty train has been succesfull. Next week he will start school again. I am waiting to see what it's going to happen. Hope you have a very good Happy New year 2012. Thanks again.