Coping with Autism

Today, we went to the University of Virginia's Child Psychology Department to do a quick computer test for an experiment they are conducting with autistic children. The test consisted of alternating screens of nine pictures-- eight of different kinds of frogs and one of a snake. The boys were asked to identify the snake on each screen. Then the pictures would shuffle changing their location on the screen and the type of snake shown. Nathan decided he didn't want to do it after a couple of screeens. Peter was able to complete the experiment but every three screens was rewarded with being able to open and close the door to the room (he was very stressed by the new location and opened and closed doors repeatedly when we got there). Peter got a few screens wrong and instead of a snake picked a frog. But I noticed that he was trying to do the screens really fast and some of the frog colors (particularly red) resembled the pictures of the snakes with the same colors if you just glanc...

I think we have figured out what has caused Peter to become obsessive over doors. While we were on vacation last week, he was especially bad about opening and closing doors. And family members I thought were accustomed to his "oddities" repeatedly asked him to stop. That like trying to repair a dam with a tube of Elmer's Glue. It's NOT going to happen. Other family members, who see him infreqently because of distance, were even more bothered by Peter and Nathan's tendencies. Needless to say, I was stressed out and dealing with ulcer symptoms every night for most of the week. My husband and I are discussing alternatives for next year. Obviously, vacationing with family in the same house will not work any longer and, while this is a sad, our obligation is to keep our sons safe and calm. But because of the stressful week, we noticed when we returned that Peter wasn't as obsessive over door opening and closing. I think he resorts to it for two reasons: first, out ...

We're having some serious issues with Peter's latest stimming technique. Opening and closing doors repeatedly has gotten not only extremely annoying but also distracting for Peter. He's not focusing as well as he was--he would rather open and close a door. If you can get him to focus, he's using more complete sentences and giving more information when he does speak. It's getting him to focus that's causing the biggest problem. I feel like I did when he became obsessive over the computer. Problem is I could turn the computer off-- I can't take all the doors off their hinges! Argh!!