ANOTHER GENESIS

I HAVE STARTED A NEW BLOG.
The new blog is called ME AND MY WORLD.
I shall continue to write on this blog about Beauty, the family and Autism and my new blog will be me writing about my views on the world around me and my thoughts and opinions(I know, scary stuff!).On the new blog I get to talk about politics, philosophy, religion(sorry guys!) and general world goings on. Just a separating of what I write about already.
You can link under ABOUT ME on the main page , in my links or in my profile.

Remember the film ICE AGE?
Remember when Sid says,'Why am I the poop checker?'
Well that is me!
Beauty has been in nappies for 6 years and 4 months and that is way too long, I am afraid that we are going to have to deal with the situation. Over the last few months Beauty's language skills and understanding have increased immensely, so now is the time to put her new found understanding to good use. I think she will cope.
Autism or not I am sure she will cope. A couple of years ago I bought Potty Training in a Week by Gina Ford, Beauty was obviously not ready for it, will I use the book this time? I was so impressed with the book that I did something I never ever do with books! I got rid of it! To all the Gina Ford fans out there.........sorry! Please do not comment on Gina Ford's book as she threatens to sue people who discuss it adversely or criticise it.
Autism can be a very tiring thing at times ,unfortunately autism is not a 40 hour a week job with two days off a week and 20 odd days holiday a year. Oh I wish at times! It is the night times that leave me most exhausted. However, Beauty learning to use the computer has been an absolute blessing, she loves it and it is definitely stretching her brain.
I found this on Amazon Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism & Related Disorders: A Comprehensive Guide for Parents & Teachers by Maria Wheeler , does anyone know if it is any good? I think I shall order it and give it a go.
This a good article Autism and Toilet Training-By Danica Mamlet.
This I thought was important

impaired social interaction can be demonstrated by "the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction." Impaired social interaction can also be regarded as a "failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level" as well as " a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people" and a "lack of social or emotional reciprocity (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p. 70)". Often autistic children are happiest when left alone, not seeking out connections with parents or peers. Autistic children may actively avoid interactions with others, straining away to avoid eye contact or being held. An autistic child does not get pleasure, as typically developing children do, from making their parents happy or proud. They may be taught to say, "I did it!" or "Look at me!" but rarely think to do this on their own.

That is so true. Beauty is not really interested in being praised for what she does which is an incentive for a normally developing child to do things.
Beauty has learned in the last few weeks that she has to let me do her hair or she doesn't get to go back on the computer and she has become very obliging, this I feel might be a very good incentive to make her sit down on the toilet for a few minutes.A lot of children with learning difficulties have treats as incentives such as sweets and chocolates, as yet Beauty will not eat any sweets but will eat chocolates but I do not want to go down that road as she has such thin enamel on her teeth and at the moment she only eats chocolate rarely.
Half term begins tomorrow with an inset day( a buzzy bee day) or teacher training day. I really feel that the teachers at Beauty's school really deserve the half term holiday as they are so hard working. I did part of my nurses training at another special needs school in Cardiff and it was such hard work.The communication difficulty I felt was the biggest problem that the children had and as communication increased then so did their ability to do other things. Here's hoping!
Life will be quiet in Cardiff for the next 10 days as Ariel has gone to Florida to visit with her sister Belle and brother-in-law Beau. It will be the first time that Ariel has met Beau as Ariel was away when Beau visited us from the US and she was in Spain doing an expedition with army cadets when Beau and Belle got married.
The weather here is still grey and that 'nothing time' that C.S Lewis talked about in Shadowlands seems to be easing a little as I noticed at about 6pm that there was still some daylight. I have never been one to suffer from SAD( seasonally adjusted/affective disorder) but I really do like it when the evenings start to draw out again. One summer we spent two weeks in Malta and I loved the way the locals spent their summer evenings either promenading along the front or sitting on the beach, it was brilliant. My idea of a relaxing life! We visited with family friends whilst we were there and they had moved from inland to a summer chalet for the summer and the father had to get up at 4am to be in work to lay a load of cement early as the weather was too hot later. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the lack of anything green, because of the heat everything was brown and burnt. But I am sure that I could cope!