Trying it on
Alex has been a difficult child lately.
Short tantrums, refusing food, rebellion ..... anything that can make my life a little harder.
Jeremy and I made a decision to always agree with each other when parenting Alex. If one says "no" the other will say the same. If we don't agree with one's decision, we will let that go once and then discuss in private. Never ever disagree in front of Alex as he will learn to manipulate us.
For a child with ASD, Alex certainly do not have learning difficulties. He knows how to gauge our moods, look at our expressions and hatch a plan to get what he wants. A cheeky little devil in the making.
So, when daddy said no, Alex will run to mummy. As soon as he hears me say the "N" word, he will throw a tantrum. He will continue for a moment and then look up and see if he is winning the battle.
Most of the time, we can distract him with something else. If that fail, Jeremy will put a stern voice on and say "We don't do tantrums in this house". Miraculously he stopped.
Daddy is always the fun guy and mummy is always the baddie. When daddy raise his voice, he knows he is in big trouble.
Alex has been a bad eater since last week. He will smell everything before he put in his mouth. What used to be his favourite is now history. He survives on cereals, porridge and muesli.
I am not sure if getting dark earlier has any effect on his appetite. I recall he was like this, same time last year. He will only eat porridge last year but has now added Muesli into his favourite list.
I guess it's not so bad as Muesli is good for health but will he get all the nutrition he required for growing?
Alex has grown 3 cm taller over night. I only found out when his car seat needed adjustment. All his new trouser are now just right when it was a little too long last week.
I seemed to be complaining all the time .... ha ha ha
In the Summer, I said Alex is a Gannet ... can't stop eating. And when he stops eating, I worry.
Do you think children go into hibernation as well? Eat less in the winter to avoid indigestion?
1 comment:
Dear Christine,
I read your blog for the first time yesterday after stumbling into it. My husband and I are malaysian chinese living in Liverpool, UK now for 9 years.I am a mother of a 4 year old boy diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder a year ago, (I am also a paediatrician). I was interested to find out more about Childhood Apraxia of Speech and as I believe my son has this condition in addition to the ASD. My son is currently in specialised unit for ASD kids under 5. He has a lot of initiative to try and speak and communicate with us and his teachers but his speech consist of single syllables that are often inconsistent. When he was first diagnosed at the age of 3, we taught him PECS and he progressed through with PECS to phase 4 in 3 months. This reduced a lot of early frustration but he is at a stage that he is fed up with PECS and tries very hard to say what he wants but it comes out incomprehensible to us. His motor fucntion is otherwise normal ( i think) , althoguh he hates to write, draw, use scissors..
He tries so had to communicate but never gets it right. He has never been able to say the 'S' , 'T' , V, D, N sounds and has never had any really clear words spoken.. he says mama, papa, ar (for car), wa wa (for water) kaka (for duck) , ig (for pig) etc..
Your son is a lot better with his speech than you think!
If you want to talk further , my e-mail is ngszemay@hotmail.com
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