My Kid is a Damn Nutter

[Clodfobble]

Out of nowhere this evening, my son gave me a hug and said, "I love you" for the first time ever.

[lumberjim]

not out of nowhere.

good for you, mommie.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Out of nowhere this evening, my son gave me a hug and said, "I love you" for the first time ever.

Wow!

I'm overjoyed for you!!!!

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Out of nowhere this evening, my son gave me a hug and said, "I love you" for the first time ever.

Now you've made me happy!

[Chocolatl]

Awesome!

[glatt]

This is wonderful news.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Out of nowhere this evening, my son gave me a hug and said, "I love you" for the first time ever.

That is so utterly Awesome!

[Spexxvet]

That's great to hear, Clod. Hopefully it's the first of many, many times.

[limey]

Fantastic! And I agree, it wasn't out of nowhere, it was out of all you do for him.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Only the first time he's verbalized it, not felt it.

[classicman]

For Clod ... sorry its so long...
Sailing Program Provides Therapy on the Waves
Dani Buckley was not about to get on the sailboat.
"Being the mean mom that I am, I said, 'We’re gonna go,' " recalled Julie Buckley, Dani's mom. "We had about to lift her onto the boat."
And so the mother cajoled the daughter on board George Saidah's sailboat, part of the Heart of Sailing Foundation's fleet. The organization, which turns 5 this month, has introduced 10,000 children with developmental disabilities to the joys of sailing.
Dani and Julie have been sailing with Saidah and his crew for two years, in Florida. The nonprofit has chapters in 11 other states as well as Canada, France and Puerto Rico.
Dani was diagnosed with profound autism when she was 4. After years of intensive biomedical therapies researched by Julie, a pediatrician who now specializes in autism, Dani currently has what Julie calls "autism in recovery."
The 11-year-old is a gifted, mainstreamed student, but still suffers from low muscle tone and above-average anxiety. On the boat, her worries disappear. She even steers.
Heart of Sailing places children in the captain's seat, offering them a level of responsibility they are not often granted on land.
"They are in charge," Saidah told AOL News. "It's a whole opportunity for them to do things that they've never done before." And for their parents to realize just how much their children with disabilities can accomplish.
"The family is usually very impressed with what their kids are doing," said Saidah. "It opens their eyes in terms of how much they're able to do. The parents are usually the ones that are holding back the kids. They don't want them to fail or have a bad experience."
Julie knows what he's talking about. She nearly had a heart attack when Dani took the wheel.
"She was driving the boat. I was having chest pain that she was going to bump into something, and George was just having her drive the boat right in. He was much more confidant and trusting than I was."
George is confident about Dani because George used to sail with his cousin Emile. Emile has a developmental disability, and sailed with George all the time when they were young. If Emile could do it, Dani and other kids could, too.
And so when George, a successful software entrepreneur, retired in 2004, he rounded up his Indiana sailing friends and their boats. They sailed the kids out to sea, and the program took off.
Julie said Dani has reaped multiple benefits from Heart of Sailing, and has returned to the program several times since her first reluctant sail.
"It's good for her balance. It’s good for her strength," Julie said. "It’s been a wonderful tool to help with anxiety and confidence and trying something new."
Julie said the program also has benefited the rest of the family: herself, son Matthew, 15, and dad Dean.
"From a family standpoint, it’s just nice to be able to go out somewhere and do something where you're in public ... and to have it be completely accepted. You can relax and really enjoy," she said.
Saidah said this family experience is part of the program’s goal: to encourages families to let go of their child-centric worries, and instead to celebrate their child’s abilities and enjoy life as a family. Everyone benefits.
"When [the parents] relax, and the tension between the kids and them relax, then the kids are performing much better," he said. "When they are in public, they are afraid of the public that is going to look at them, saying something to them that’s going to hurt their feelings.
"Here on the boat, nobody cares. Just let go."

Link

[Clodfobble]

That's funny that you posted this just now... last week we got to participate in a similar thing, where the kids were able to ride in boats (motor boats though, not sailboats,) and be pulled behind in inner tubes, or waterskis for the ones who were big enough. Minifob loved it. Since that day he has switched back from taking showers every night to taking baths, so he can play with his boats in the water.

In other news, Minifob has officially had his first experience with ABA, which is a type of intensive behavioral therapy. We've stayed away from it so far both because of cost (anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000 a year,) and because I really prefer methodologies that are social/relationship-based, rather than treating my child like an animal to be trained. (Quite literally, ABA therapy most often uses tiny pieces of food as rewards for preferred behavior. It's intensive and the result is automatic obedience, not necessarily understanding.) But one of our local places offers some very small, short-term clinics for specific skills, as an alternative to their broad 20-40 hour/week programs. These include the feeding clinic for picky eaters, the potty-training clinic for the poop withholders, and the medical compliance clinic, aka sitting still for IVs and learning pill-swallowing. They've done these so many times in an isolated setting that they have them down to a complete art.

Last night, after just two 30-minute sessions during the day, Minifob swallowed all his smaller medicines in pill form. We're doing a couple more sessions today and maybe tomorrow, to get him up to the giant fish oil capsules, but at this point it's safe to say he is officially done with syringes of nasty sludge. And the greatest part is that insurance should cover part of it, and the rest will pay for itself in a few months, since the chewable forms of a couple of his medications were twice as expensive as the capsule form.

[limey]

WTG Clod. You truly are amazing.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

snip~ We've stayed away from it so far both because of cost (anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000 a year,) and because I really prefer methodologies that are social/relationship-based, rather than treating my child like an animal to be trained. ~snip

Sometimes ya just gotta do what works.

[kerosene]

I wish I had known about the picky eater clinic 6 years ago.