Well last night this made some amazing grill cheese and grilled cheese with salami sandwiches. Tonight they are going to make hamburgers. I was gifted this, but this is one of the most favorite tools in my house. Also being in a FL my house is very warm, and not having to turn on the stove/oven is an extra icing on the cake win for me.
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Since my little man was about 3 he fell in love the show Number Blocks. Numbers are calming for him and he was learning along the way.
This shows characters are based on the cubes we use to use in math class when I was in elementary school. I will randomly hear my little man signing the songs around the house and he even used one to show his cousin how to draw the number 8 the other day. The below activity set now brings number blocks into your home. You have to do some set up with the stickers yourself, but it even gives you which episodes different activities are associated with.
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Summer is not wall to wall learning, but learning should never stop. So today we took letter beads and hid them in the sand and set up the construction fun. We also hid some fun little figures and a spider to surprise the boys. As they pulled the letters out they read them out loud. They had a ton of fun digging around in the sand to find all the treasures.
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Road trips ......do those two words bring you excitement or dread? Mostly for my family and I it is excitement. However we never know where on the trip our neuro spicyness will pop and we have to be prepared. So for my husband and I this time I grabbed our old school CD binders and we played memory lane roulette - it was interesting to see how many of the same CDs we had from our younger years (we did not know each other in our teenage years).
The older son got the whole back seat to himself and had his laptop, phone, and headphones with access to games, videos and music. He also has a summer reading assignment that has to be completed and after some prodding finally used some of this dedicated time to almost finish it.
The younger son had his tablet, a sticker book with scenes to put the stickers on, a look and find book as well as the Leapfrog headphones from the previous post.
All was going well, but as we hit the 2 hours left to go mark there was a marked increase in the energy in the car - that can make for a very long 2 hours if it cannot be redirected. Thankfully at the same time a request for a bathroom stop was made and a rest stop appeared fairly shortly after. At which time the little one says I don't need to go, but I want to stretch my legs.
What a win! He is starting to identify when he needs things to bring him back to calm. So out we all got and thankfully it wasn't a super busy stop. He ran from one end of the rest stop to the other and then he still needed just a bit more, and he found a hill. Said hill was a great place to summersault down, run back up and do it all over again, about 3 times. He then says I think I'd like to walk back to the car now.
The rest of the trip was peaceful and enjoyable, just like the first half!
What is the other thing we make sure to have on any trip and I recommend to all my other traveling families out there? These wonderful Plastic portable storage caddy's, but you don't use them for them for storage. You use them for anything food related. You can easily load and pass around the vehicle. The keep all containers in up right positions. If you have little ones that you have to break food up for it keeps all the crumbs contained. Then they dump and rinse out super easy. They come on every color under the sun - though I highly recommend getting them in bright colors so they are quickly located in a vehicle that can be quickly over packed. Even by teenage eyes, who often struggle to find "it" and it is two inches from their left hand (if you know you know). I have linked these wonderful wonders below the pictures of the rest stuff fun. I also relinked the Leapfrog headphones.
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You Have Eight Sensory Systems
I'm specifically focusing on Proprioceptive "prop" today, well every day - because that is what my little man struggles with. After lots of observing after getting his system clean of all dyes we started really noticing this back and forth of crazy jumping around, climbing, wanting to wrestle/climb on people and then flip a switch he didn't want anyone near him, he didn't want to climb on the play set he would just want to walk laps around the play set. So these observations lead us down to narrowing down his sensory issues mostly being related to Prop.
However as we read more and more on Prop we noticed he oscillated between under-responder and over-responder. Some times this oscillation was happening over and over from minute to minute. So we would start one of the activities related to being in under-responder mode and it would seem to be having a calming effect and flip a switch it started to set him off and not be calming any more and he would need space away from everything.
Fast Forward a few weeks and we try an ADHD medicine again (verified dye free this time) extended release. Once the medicine is given through out the day the ADHD is managed and so we are watching what symptoms are still there from the ASD. We see a significant drop in the under-responder as the medicine kicks in and we see it coming back as the medicine wears off. We see a lot more of a need for space, alone time, less push-pull input needed during the medicine time.
So what are some things we have available to help with the under-responder? We have a big outside netted trampoline and an inside small trampoline. We have a rubber mallet and designated areas where mallet pounding can commence. We have a weighted medicine ball as well as hand weights with dedicated areas to use them. We also have an bounce back punching bag. I will put links down below to these things. When we are out and it is kicking in, what we have found works where ever we are is we have him with our help do the wheel barrow - he goes down on his hands and we hold his feet and then we walks forward on his hands. We speed up and slow down and got a little farther than he thinks he can go. This seems to help and can be done almost every where.
We do not have specifics for the over-responder. We do model healthy body boundaries and we do allow and respect when he doesn't want hugs. We have tried one vest and that did not work for him. We do have a weighted blanket, which he does like, but he doesn't seem to reach for it or appreciate it more when he is in this state.
This is still a very new journey for us and every day we are learning more. As we discover things I will continue to share, because I know as I was trying to look for this particular ADHD vs ASD fight in the same child I was not finding much information. Below the links for the exercise tools are another set of link to a great blogger that discusses all the sensory systems and gives particle ideas to try.
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Below comes from neurodivergent insights, check out also 8 forms of Proprioceptive input
Proprioception Under-Responder May:
Struggle to know how much pressure to apply (make break pencils or use too much pressure when shaking someone’s hand)
Enjoy jumping, bumping, and crashing into people and objects–sometimes lack awareness of safety and can be prone to accidents.
Prefer rough play and constantly seem to be wrestling with siblings or other children.
Tend to stand too close to others and touch them without permission.
Crave pressure and bear hugs.
How to Support Proprioception Under-Responders
Encourage safe climbing, jumping, and physical contact games/activities
Provide ample hugs, deep pressure (back massages), physical contact, and play when desired
Giving them push/pull/lift chores--chores that require them to move objects (bringing in groceries), do yard work, and more
Consider incorporating a weighted blanket or weighted lap pad
Encourage play that incorporates movement and activities that stimulate proprioception
Proprioception avoiders are highly sensitive to movement and outside input. They are easily overwhelmed by touch and movement.
Proprioception Over-Responders May:
Avoid physical contact (hugs and other types of contact or pressure)
Avoid physical play and appears timid around others
Refuse to play around slides, swings, and other playground equipment
Become anxious in crowded spaces or when standing close to others
Advocate for healthy body boundaries from those around (and for parents—model healthy body boundaries and consent by asking for consent before touching/hugging)
Talking them through movement and what to expect (children)
Pressured clothing and weighted vests may help offset the distress of unexpected touch
Prime Day Deals I would buy or buy again:
First the kindle reader - I have a girl friend that struggled with reading all her life and she saw a tiktoc about trying the reader - I have followed her journey and this reader changed her into a reader! She can change the text size and the color that works for her.
For my fellow walkers/runners or those spending alot of time in the heat. Liquid I.V. is great! I can only use 1/2 a packet at a time, but I love all the flavors I have tried so far.
A phone mount for the car - in our family this is a must. We do a lot of traveling and I always have my map going, even when I know where I am going. I can't tell you how many times I have been saved by quickly being able to see there is a slow down ahead and a possible detour that I was able to recognize in less than seconds. I don't have to look down or mess with my phone while traffic is slowing or possibly slamming on breaks.
The Amazon kids fire has been great for both our boys and has grown well with our older one. The parent controls, though a bit clunky, are great and really help control time allowed on the screen or on which type of apps.
Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro tablet
Another family favorite are these magnetic tiles - legos without the having to snap together or pry apart. A different form of creative construction - add that these travel well and no really small pieces to lose along the way.
MAGNA-TILES Classic 32-Piece Magnetic Construction Set
I have the Versa 3, but I am in love with watch. It lets me track my distance, pace for my runs/walks. It tracks my sleep. I also can track if I am hiking vs just a exercise walk. And I can go back and look at all my past data and see how far I have come.
Fitbit Versa 4 Fitness Smartwatch
Ok I think that is plenty - there is so much out there for Prime day, but these are the ones I would recommend.
Creating a plan to track our experiment- do watermelons grow bigger and sweeter with rocks placed on them?
