Autism Awareness Day

April 2, 2014 was Autism Awareness Day.  We celebrated the day with cupcakes after dinner and a long restful night sleep because the next day we traveled to Disney World.

I've always wanted to find some really cute Autism shirts for the boys.  Every time I have looked, I have not had any luck.  They all look like garbage screen printed on a gross ill fitting t-shirt.  No thanks.  Then a few weeks ago I struck gold.  I was perusing Etsy (like usual) and searching and searching for anything related to 'Autism t-shirts'.  I found the cutest shop ever, FinchPickles.  The shirts my boys are wearing are from her shop.  You can find her shop here.



My boys wore these shirts to school and to therapy that day.  I have never had so many emails and texts asking me where I got these from or if I made them myself.  The shirts are super high quality.  She even hand dyes the t-shirts making every piece super unique.  I would put these on par with Mini Boden in fit and quality.  Shipping and turn around time was super fast.  I was surprised and overjoyed when these shirts arrived in my mailbox days before Autism Awareness Day.  So cute and just to die for!



I also fell in love with the shop owner.  She also has a son on the spectrum, about the same age as my oldest son.  Our conversations were like talking to an old friend.  AND I later learned that we share the same birthday.  I mean, how cool is that?  So go on over and check out her Etsy site full of awesome handmade goods.  She has lots of cute items- for kids on the spectrum and not.  I highly recommend this shop!

Boys' Autism shirts found here.

FinchPickles shop found here.

My Ash

This is my Asher.  He is delectable.  Well, when he wants to be.  Most of the time he is.  Well, part of the time he is.  Sometimes he is.  I am just wondering if it is possible to love someone so much it hurts but at the exact same time they are the bane of your existence?  :-)

 Oh goodness!!  I keep looking at that face of his and then suddenly it doesn't matter that he wiped the peanut butter off his sandwich and onto the couch (do you know how hard it is to get peanut butter out??) and took his shoes, socks, and pants off while we were at Nordstrom and ran around like a crazy mad man (I got lots of mom stink eyes).  I truly love this boy so much.  He melts my heart. (Note to future self- don't take your 2 boys with Autism to Nordstrom!).

Building robots with Ezra during play time in the PAC

 Asher was diagnosed with Autism when he was just over 2 years old.  That is very early for the norm.  Since Asher has an older brother who is on the spectrum, we have been participating in Autism studies since Asher was around 6 months old.  They still don't know why, but there is some genetic component to Autism.  That is why if you have 1 child with Autism, the chances are greater that you will have another on the spectrum.  Those chances also increase with boys.  Still, no one yet knows why it is this way.  So to make a very long story short, the moment Ezra was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (at age 2.5) we did absolutely everything possible to keep a watch on our Asher.  He participated in two different sibling Autism studies.  The first study lasted a year and the second study lasted 3 years (we are still participating).  We enrolled him in Infant and Toddler Connection the second he qualified for services.  We had a therapist at our home weekly.  He also has speech therapy and occupational therapy weekly.  Suffice it to say, I believe in early intervention.  I feel like it is absolutely key to helping these little guys.

Working on 'pretend play' with Ezra in the PAC

 Last September Asher started pre-school (at age 2.5) at our local public school.  The county I live in is seriously amazing and has the most amazing schools and school district I have ever seen.  It is such a blessing that we live here.  My oldest son attends the Preschool Autism Classroom (nicknamed PAC) at our neighborhood elementary school.  Ezra is in his 3rd year of the PAC.  And yes, this means he will start kindergarten next year (don't start freaking out yet Jeni!).

Working on colors and sorting

Last September Asher also started the PAC.  When Ezra started the PAC almost 3 years ago I cried almost everyday and was so sad that he was gone all day.  It was really hard for me and I worried about him so much.  It is heartbreaking to put a backpack on your 2.5 year old son, have a huge bus stop in front of your house, and have to lift your son up onto the bus because he is too small to get up there on his own.  I prayed and cried and worried myself to death when Ezra started preschool.  I remember being physically sick to my stomach and worried that something would happen to him.  But the more Ezra went to school (like I said, he's in his 3rd year) the more I fell in love with his teachers, his assistants, and yes, even our principal.  I was so happy that Ezra was going to school and learning and doing things that I did not have the ability or knowledge to teach him (the preschool is ABA based).

When Asher started in September I was sad, don't get me wrong, but I was excited for him too.  I knew how much preschool had helped Ezra.  Ezra was essentially non-verbal and just moaned and screamed when he started school (but he was as smart as a whip and knew his planets, numbers, and alphabet, among other things).  Asher had seen Ezra get on and off the bus so many times before.  Now he could go!  I also knew that early intervention was so important and that I needed to let go of him for a few hours a day so that he could get the help he needed.  That's all I wanted for him.  Just to be the best possible version of Asher he could be.  It also helped and was comforting to know that Asher would be riding the bus with Ezra  and that he would see him throughout the day.  They deliberately chose not to put them in the same class (there are 2 PAC classes at my school) but the PAC classes combine all of the time, so I knew that Ezra and Asher would spend a lot of time together.

Sensory play!  He is not sure he wants to touch that weird feeling thing!

At the end of the second grading quarter (the end of January) we met with Asher's teacher to discuss his progress.  Jason and I were both very surprised and excited to learn that Asher had mastered every goal they had set for him at the beginning of the year.  He knew all of his numbers, colors, animals, the alphabet, matching, etc.  But they were still nervous (and I was too) because although Asher talks a lot, none of his speech was intelligible.

Working on sorting and matching!

A few weeks went by and I noticed that Asher's speech began to be more and more clear.  Most of it (like 98%) is still a jumbled mess and I even cannot understand him.  But he tries to communicate so hard with us.  This is a cool thing.  He tries!  He wants to communicate, he points and tries to show me things and gets very frustrated when I do not understand his needs / wants.  Ezra never did this.  He never cared or tried to communicate with us.

Not a fan of swinging!  Can you tell?

 A few weeks ago I got a phone call from Asher's teacher.  Of course I assumed the worst and thought he had fallen off the slide and broke his arm or something horrible like that.  I am really great at freaking out. :-)  No, she was calling me because she felt like Asher does not belong in the PAC anymore.  She said that he waves at his classmates and says hi to them spontaneously.  There is another student in his class that cries a lot, and Asher comforts this boy by patting his back and giving him half hugs.  She said that Asher is very social and the other students in his class do not even notice he is there.  I was surprised.  I asked her if she felt that Asher was different than Ezra, because in the 3 years Ezra has been in the PAC- I have never had a discussion that he should graduate from the PAC.  "Oh yes", she said.  "There is a huge difference between Ezra and Asher."

Asher loves his teachers!

 I don't know what came over me, but after she said that I dropped to the floor in my kitchen and began sobbing.  Uncontrollably sobbing my eyes out.  Asher's teacher was still on the phone.  It was silent on the phone for about a minute (on her end, while I was bawling).  After I gained composure of myself, I realized how embarrassed I was.  Did I really just start hysterically crying?  I wasn't crying because I was sad.  No.  I was crying because I was happy.  Very happy.  When Ezra was diagnosed with Autism I thought: 'God, I can do this!  I will be his voice and I will fight for him!'  When Asher was diagnosed with Autism, I wanted to jump off a bridge.  I definitely felt sorry for myself and thought: 'Why me, God?!'  I had a nice long pity party for a few weeks.  Then I dusted myself off and got back to work.  I think my crying outburst was just pent up emotions that I've been holding in for a very long time.  She consoled me and told me that this was a good thing and that Asher would be fine.  We talked a lot more.

Asher's PAC teacher.  We love her!  She will be missed!

Basically there are 2 special education preschools in my school district.  One of them being the PAC.  The PAC is very rigid and is ABA based.  The hours are longer and there is typically a one to one teacher student ratio (one teacher and 2 teacher assistants in each classroom).  There is another special education preschool for children that are considered 'special education' but are not on the spectrum.  They call this classroom Non-Categorical.  It is nicknamed NONCAT.  This preschool classroom is just down the hall from the PAC.  If you were to observe the classroom, it looks like a typical preschool classroom.  They have story time, do art projects, go to the library, all the things that happen in a normal preschool classroom.  There is only 1 teacher for 8 - 10 students.  It's less hours everyday (only 2.5 - 3).  And lots more opportunities to be social and interact with kids his own age.  This is a very good thing!

That face just melts my whole body!

 Asher has been in the NONCAT for a little over a month now.  Although Asher is still the bane of my existence (I am kidding when I say that!) I can already tell he has learned so much from his classroom.  He is speaking more clearly.  He is using the potty.  He is acting more like a 3 year old should act (like finding the sharpie pens and scribbling all over the mail!!  --hey- I am just happy that it was on paper and not something else!)  He tantrums like he is 3 years old.  He tries to communicate with me and he doesn't give up until I understand.  He is independent and wants to put his clothes/shoes/socks on by himself.  He loves being read to.  He is the best sidekick I could ever ask for!  I love my Asher.  I am so proud of him and all of the progress he has made.  I am sad that he won't see Ezra at school anymore, but I know this is a good thing to make Asher the best version of himself that he can be.  Hooray for my Asher!  :-)

The Greatest App I've Downloaded this Year!

I downloaded an app about a month ago from the iTunes app store that has seriously changed my life.  I've used it a lot over the past few weeks and it has my stamp of approval.  I have to share.

Every app out there is designed in some way to make your life easier.  So let me share with you my "First, Then" card.

To explain, "First, Then" is a behavior management tool for kids with Autism.  It is used as a visual prompt for children to know what they must work on or accomplish before they get a reinforcer.  The "First" is what the child needs to do.  The "Then" is the reinforcer and what the child has to look forward to when they accomplish the task.

Here is a sad sad sad sad picture of my "First, Then" card that I've used this past year.  The lamination is totally falling off.  The card is bending.  It looks awful.

You can see that there is a tiny piece of velcro on both squares so that I can put a visual prompt (a picture) on the card so that the child knows what to do.  It will end up looking like this:

I have a PECS kit (Picture Exchange Communication System) that I use for the pictures on my "First, Then" card.  The kit has about 150 stock photos in it.  I think I use maybe 8 of the 150 pictures regularly.  That isn't my toilet, but a stock photo of a toilet.  And my kids have never seen candy that looks like that before in brightly colored wrappers.  Kind of reminds me of the really crappy candy that's in those giant Costco bags at Halloween.  Anyway, I've taught my kids that this picture means candy.  So they know that if they use the potty, they will get a piece of candy.  And more specifically, they will get 1 M&M of the color of their choice.  Wouldn't it be nice if I actually had a picture of something that was useful to our specific world and routines?! I used to take pictures of everything, but that got old fast.  I was taking pictures, getting them developed (who develops pictures anymore?), and then running to get them laminated.  Plus I was running out of velcro or the velcro was falling off my pictures.  It was a mess!!

This is all of my PECS photos.  What a waste!  I hardly use any of them!

Enter the greatest app that has made my life so much easier!

It's called "First & Then" and you can get it here!

This is a lovely screen shot from my iPhone.  This is what the app looks like when you open it.

This app let's you take a picture of anything you want or use pictures that are already on your phone or iPad.  Or it let's you use pictures that you have already used in the past on the app.  It is AWESOME!  You take a picture of something that your child doesn't want to do.  In this picture above,  Asher doesn't like brushing his teeth.  He LOVES stories and being read to, so the bed time story is his reinforcer.  If he let's us brush his teeth, then he will get a story before night night.  IT WORKS!

Another thing about this app that my kids like is when they are finished with the "First" task they drag the picture to the checkered box and it completes the task.  You'll here a big swoosh sound.  It reminds me of the sound when you send an email on your phone, except much louder.  My kids love dragging the picture to the completed box when they are finished!  Also, see that clock in the middle of the app?  You can also put a timer on any of the tasks.  For example, if the reinforcer is an iPad you can put a timer on the "Then" card so that the child is only spending how long you want them to be spending on the reinforcer.  It also makes transitions away from the reinforcer so much more easy!

I use this app probably 5 times a week.  I just used it this morning.  Asher did not want to get dressed this morning (he has issues with taking shirts on and off over his head).  BUT Asher really wanted a cereal bar for breakfast.  So I quickly took a picture of his shirt that I was trying to get him to put on.  Then I took a picture of the cereal bar he was begging for.  When I show him what I want him to do in this way, he understands it and the tantrums are not as severe!  Hallelujah!

So there you have it!  The greatest app I've discovered this year!  Download it and try it out!

Doughnuts!

Lately my Ezra has been super into doughnuts.  It's adorable.  He often asks: "Go get doughnuts with daddy?"  My husband, Jason, works a lot.  He is a patent attorney in Washington, D.C.  He is brilliant at what he does.  It's awesome, but it also means that most nights he gets home after the kids go to bed.  He has been trying to spend special time with each boy alone.  Saturday mornings he has been taking Ezra to go and get doughnuts.  Ezra loves it and feels so special!

It's really nothing fancy.  He just takes him to our local Shoppers grocery store.  It's kind of a ghetto grocery store, but they have the best doughnuts fresh each morning.  Cheap too.  Ezra knows the routine.  He picks up the box and chooses 3 doughnuts to put in his box.  Then they walk to the check out and Ezra puts the box on the conveyor belt.  He carries the box to the car and holds it during the drive home.  Once home he takes his shoes off and brings the box of doughnuts upstairs and puts them on the kitchen counter.

I know this seems so simple for all of you parents out there that do this all of the time.  You don't even think about it because it is so easy.  But we have worked our way up to this for weeks.  All of my boys' behaviors have been taught, mimicked, and practiced over and over.  At first Ezra did not want to let go of the box and would freak out once it went up on the conveyor belt.  He also would get mad if something came out of order- like if Jason grabbed a few extra groceries before they went to check out.  Or he would get upset since he had to put the box of doughnuts down in order to take his shoes off.  Believe me, we've experienced it all.  It's taken about 7 weeks, but he has it down now and loves spending time with daddy.

They also stop to check out the poodles getting haircuts.  My boys LOVE dogs.  Love them.  I definitely think that one of these days I will succumb and we will probably get a dog.  Not yet though.

Now Ezra finally gets to enjoy his doughnut!  Notice his rocketship shirt?  If you haven't already seen it, you will see a lot more of it.  He loves it and asks to wear it almost everyday.  I try to wash it as much as I can so that he can wear it.  He wears it probably three times a week.  His preschool teachers probably think that he has no clothes!

We are working on eating and chewing with both of our boys.  Ezra has the inability to take a bite of food.  He doesn't know how.  Our therapists say it has to do with the whole 'he cannot tell where his body is in space'.  Meaning he cannot tell when or if his mouth is full of food.  We are working on it though and he is getting much better!  All of Ezra's food is cut up or broken up into small pieces so that he can put them in his mouth and chew them.  If we gave him this entire doughnut then he would shove the whole thing in his mouth (which would not fit) and he would probably gag himself and throw-up.  That's another story, but the first few years of his life we had a lot of throwing up going on.

Our January Sucked

January has been a rough month for us.  Rough I tell you!  I will sum it up with this picture:

That blurry gray blob in the top left corner?  His foot that was kicking a million times a second.  And yes, my children are crazy flexible.  Inherited from my side of the family.

It's quite simple really.  We traveled to Utah over the holiday for 2 weeks.  We arrived home and welcomed the massive flu for both boys.  Then add in the Polar Vortex of death- which cancelled 8 days of preschool this month and 5 days of Speech and Occupational Therapy. 

And what are we left with?  Days and weeks that are completely free of any schedule or routine.  It sounds like any elementary schooler's dream.  I'll admit it:  I was in heaven for the first few days.  It is really hard for me to carve out a schedule and routine if I don't have to.  I much prefer to hang out in my PJs all day and watch shows with my boys without a care in the world.

The kids were sick so we couldn't venture out to an indoor play area or even take refuge at a new friend's home.  School was cancelled.  The wind howled.  And the ice on the roads thickened.  After watching 80+ hours of YouTube videos we were about going crazy (more on our favorite YouTube videos later).

So suffice it to say, I will be welcoming February with wide open arms.  Bring on February and health to all!

How was your January?

Christmas Travels Part 2

Hey, remember me?  Remember like a month ago when I said I was going to post part two of our Christmas travels?  This month has sucked rocks big time.  I'm talking lots of vomit, taking stool samples to the lab, and a crazy polar vortex.  I will explain my absence tomorrow.  For now, let's talk Christmas travels.

So once you have finally made it to your final destination and you've braved the airplane or long car trip, it's time to celebrate big time!  Seriously mama (or daddy or caregiver)!  Have a snickers bar already, give yourself a pat on the back, and put your feet up for a minute or two.  YOU ARE AWESOME!  Repeat that a few times and then get back to work.

I have a few tips to share on how to enjoy the rest of the trip.  I hesitate to share them because it is pretty much common sense.  I am hoping that I can give someone a new idea!  Here are my top 4 tips for vacation survival with kids on the spectrum:

1.  If You Are Traveling to See Family, STAY AT YOUR OWN PLACE! 

For us, this is crucial.  This might not be possible for everyone, I get it.  You've already forked out the money to fly on a plane or drive in a car for hours.  And you're visiting in-laws or grandparents or friends or whoever. Why wouldn't you just crash at their place for free?  I would say yes if your kids can handle it.  My kids just can't and that's okay. 

All of my siblings that live outside of Utah stay with their families at my parent's home.  This year two of my brothers and their families stayed there.  Most of the grand kids slept on the ground in an open room.  My parents also have 2 dogs that bark a lot.  The house is quite loud with lots of commotion, eating, dishes clanking, dogs barking, children screaming, and overall Christmas merriment.  I love the sounds of Christmas.  My boys don't love these sounds.  It can be very overwhelming for a little boy on the autism spectrum.  Don't get me wrong, they can handle some loud noise for a few hours (depending on their mood), but not constant for days on end.  If I don't provide a "safe" place for my boys to unwind, recharge, and calm their nerves (aka- a place that can be absolutely quiet) my boys don't do well.

 It is also AMAZING how well my boys will sleep on vacation if we stick to their exact bedtime routine.  Which is: bath, PJs, Tired Teddies, story, prayers, tuck boy in bed in his own quiet room and close the door.  Voila!  A sleeping child!

This Christmas we found a quaint little duplex on VRBO.  Have you heard of this website before?  We love it.  Vacation Rentals By Owner.  This rental saved us about 100 tantrums over the course of two weeks. :-)  It was so nice to be with our family during the day.  It was loud and chaotic and fun.  Most of the time the boys could handle it.  Sometimes they couldn't.  It was so nice to have the option of taking them somewhere else where they could unwind and not be amongst all of the commotion.

2.  DON'T FEED THE KIDS JUNK FOOD SNACKS!  

This seems like a no brainer, right?  Of course you wouldn't purposefully feed your kids Hershey kisses and peppermint M&M's for a whole day.  I am here to tell you that this may or may not have happened to us.  ;-) I speak from experience people!  However tempting it may be to hand your child some Christmas candy to quiet them for a minute or two, JUST SAY NO!  They will be grumpy, gassy, and then they won't have room in their tummies for a good dinner. 

It all spirals out of control when they don't have a nutritious dinner and they wake up in the middle of the night with a tummy ache or they are finally hungry.  I am not saying absolutely no Christmas candy, but just make sure they have eaten dinner before they have a few pieces.  It never hurts to let their tummies get a bit hungry.  Normally my diaper bag is stocked with goldfish crackers and teddy grahams.  The kids know it.  My bag was not stocked on this trip with anything.  It was truly one of the best things I did because my boys may not have been brave enough to eat all of the new foods they tried. Proof that he ate some type of Brazilian sausage.  AMAZING!

3.  TIRE THEM OUT!  

This also may seem like a pretty obvious one.  It's easy when you're on vacation to let the kids watch more TV than normal or to just sit around the house and relax.  There is a time and a place for that.  We want the kids to move their physical bodies and practice using their sensory system which includes proprioceptor and vestibular.  I know, weird big words. 

Proprioceptive information is sensations from muscles and joints. Proprioceptive input tells the brain when and how muscles are contracting and stretching and how joints are being compressed or stretched. It helps us to know where our bodies are in space and how they are moving. If you can run without looking at your feet, hit a baseball without looking at the bat, or pass a basketball without looking at your arm, then you are using a sixth sense known as proprioception. The vestibular system is the sensory system that responds to accelerated and decelerated movement. Think of swinging in a swing, doing a cartwheel, or riding a rollercoaster.  It is through the vestibular system that we learn directions and are aware of our body position in space. This input helps us to form a basic reference for all sensory experiences.  These are just two of the reasons my boys both are receiving occupational therapy.  Anyway, that's another story for another day.  My point is, tire the kids out!  Let them run around and roam free as much as possible!

 

 

4.  TAKE AS MANY PICTURES AND VIDEOS OF THEM AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!!

I know what you're thinking.  All of the pics and videos are for the scrapbook, right?  Nope.  I use them as my own autism 'social story'.  In the autism world many teachers and therapists will use social stories as a way to teach a child a certain skill or concept.  For example, one social story book might talk about how a child will say hello and wave his hand when someone says hello to him.  Or if a child is going to the dentist you might write a social story for what will happen and what is to be expected during the trip.

It's not exactly the same, but I use these in the same way.  My children are narcissistic.  They love looking at pictures and watching movies of themselves.  We are an Apple family.  We have all things Apple.  We have an Apple TV and it is so awesome to throw our movies and pictures up on the TV.  We talk about the pictures and remind the kids what happened. 

It wouldn't be a Utah Christmas without a trip to the ER.  If you look closely you can see my fingers clasped around his ankle holding his leg and foot still for the x-ray.

 For example, while we were in Utah we took Ezra skiing for the first time.  We weren't expecting much from him.  He's only 4 and he's on the spectrum.  We just wanted a ton of videos and pictures so we could show and talk about how Ezra went skiing.  We also talk about different things that are happening in the videos and pictures.  Like how Ezra is wearing 'ski goggles' and his helmet is pink.  Children learn from talking about and experiencing life.  Hopefully the next time he goes skiing he will feel much more confident because he will remember and know what to expect from the experience.

Both of my boys absolutely LOVE dogs.  One day we will get a dog.

I hope you have found something useful for your next travel adventure!

Christmas Travels Part 1

We just got home from almost 2 weeks of Christmas holiday traveling.  While I am happy that we just sucked it up and did it, I will never do this again!  Traveling with young kids is hard enough, but throw in two boys with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and I was pretty much done after day 1!  :-)

Jason and I have our little tips and tricks that help us travel.  This may not work for everyone, but we've flown on a plane so many times with our kids that we know exactly what to do.  I would say that this was our most successful travel experience that we've had.  Again, every kid is unpredictable and totally different, so this might not work for everyone.

I have friends with children that always give me their two cents as to what they feel works best.  Most of them always tell me that we should travel during bed times.  Whether that's driving in a car all night to Florida or taking a night flight to the West coast.  We tried this about a year ago.  Worst decision we ever made in our lives!  We took a red eye flight to visit our family in the west.  It was only a 5 hour flight.  Asher was so tired that he was screaming and crying and making his body spasm.  I walked up and down the plane aisle to help soothe him and I bounced a little while I was doing it.  By the time I got back to my seat Asher stopped crying.  I thought I was a super awesome mom for saving the day and making my child stop crying.  I looked down at him and he looked up at me with wide eyes.  Then two seconds later I was drenched in throw up.  I was dripping in it.  It was all over our entire three seats in our row.  And we were only about an hour into the flight.  Both of my kids have terrible gag reflexes, but I also added bouncing to the list of no nos.  Needless to say, the only place my kids will sleep is in their own beds, not on a noisy airplane.  So we always travel early in the morning when they are already bright eyed and bushy tailed awake.

I've had friends that have also told me that I should give my kids benadryl to help them be calm and even fall asleep.  This is another one of my definite no nos.  We used to live in Northern California and decided to drive down to Southern California to spend Thanksgiving at Disneyland.  I gave benadryl to Ezra to help him fall asleep during our night drive.  Well, it did the exact opposite.  Ezra was super hyper and irritated and he did not sleep at all during our drive.  The next day at Disneyland he was such a grump because he was so tired.  Then I read the benadryl label that says that it makes some kids hyper.  That would be my kid.  It's not healthy for them, it's giving them drugs they don't need, and it is a definite NO on my list for traveling.  Instead, I always carry a travel pouch of Tired Teddies.  No joke.  They help with staying calm and falling asleep at the appropriate time to fall asleep (night time- not some random time during the day!).

This Christmas holiday we flew on a plane for 5 hours to visit our extended families in Salt Lake City, Utah.  5 Hours is a long time for the kids to sit and be quiet.  My kids hate coloring and any book I bring would last for 5 minutes of entertainment and then they would be done.  That's when we turn to the iPads.  Both my husband and I both have our own iPhones and iPads.  You can put books, movies, educational games, and anything else on them.  I know some people are severely hesitant to letting their kids play with technology items, but as a parent you have the authority to control what they are doing on the iPad or iPhone. 

First off, I don't have any games or apps on my iPad or iPhone that are not educational.  I don't do angry birds or car racing or anything else that can be a huge waste of time.  The only things that I keep on my devices are highly educational.  Also, I've disabled the wireless internet capabilities on my iPad so that the kids can't send emails (which has happened) or surf the internet or YouTube (which has also happened).  Ezra is 4 years old and he can spell and read over 50 words (multiply, lick, wave, xray, funny, the, in, scary, and sticky are some examples),  he knows all of the names of the bones in our body, he is familiar with negative numbers and realizes that they move backwards on the number scale, and he knows all of the planets and a fact about each one ("Jupiter is the biggest planet!"  "Mercury is closest to the sun!")  Now, I didn't teach him any of these things.  He learned it from different apps on my iPad.  I am in no way saying that technology should replace learning that comes from parents, but I don't think it's a big deal to let him play on the iPad for a bit.  And it's a lot more educational than any movie or cartoon that he could watch (and my kids don't watch cartoons- their choice- more on that later), so I don't let it keep my up at night.  Anyway, enough with my technology rant.

So I do let the kids play on the iPad after school.  Sometimes I let them play on it longer than I should.  I'm human and not the perfect mother.  Most of the time though I try to only let it be for an hour a day, but I am not staunch on this.  Before we travel anywhere we always go on an "iPad fast" for at least one week prior to our trip.  That way when we get on the airplane they are usually so excited that they finally get to play on the iPad that they are sometimes content for the full 5 hours.  We also download 2 or 3 new apps for the plane ride for the kids.  On the way there Jason downloaded this medical app that had you take apart the bones of a skeleton and name them.  I think Ezra was so content and happy with that app that he really didn't make a peep for 5 hours.  And it was pretty cute to hear his little voice point to the bottom of his neck and say: "Yeah, clavicle!"  And yesterday we were laughing so hard because Ezra said: "Yeah, vertebral column!"

Another thing that we do is we don't feed our kids AT ALL before we get on the plane.  Does that sound like child abuse? :-)  It's usually pretty early in the morning so they are fine not eating until the plane takes off.  If we were doing this in the afternoon then this would be different.  My point is just to do as much as you can while the plane is in the air so that it wastes time.  If you go to the airport and sit around waiting for your flight for an hour while playing with an iPad and eating a muffin, the kids are going to be extremely bored once they get on the airplane and they've already eaten and discovered the new apps.  So as far as food, we will usually buy something right before we get on the plane for the kids to eat.

Also, before we get on the plane we walk up and down the concourse.  We run after each other, chase each other, and get all of our energy out.  We let our kids roam free up and down the concourse (with us close behind them) and let them feel free.  We don't take a stroller (both of my kids have always HATED strollers).  And Jason and I both only take a backpack stuffed with snacks, sensory toys, fully charged iPads and iPhones, tons of wipes, pull-ups, and diapers.  We check everything else.

The last thing that I bring that I think is absolutely mandatory for travel is a small white board.  The kids' therapists recommended that we do this just for everyday life, and it has worked WONDERS!  Now I am telling everyone about it and spreading the word!  All kids like structure and knowing what is going to come next in the day.  That's why kids thrive on routines, because they know what is going to happen next.  But what do you do if your kids can't live life unless it is their same routine?  Or what do you do if you need to change the routine and do something else that day or go on a vacation?  It's hard!  Most neurotypical kids you can just explain to them that there is a change in the schedule.  I've seen all of my friends with kids do this.  I've heard them say: "I know Jack was going to come over and play with you today but he's sick so he can't now, maybe another time."  And just like that the kid was fine with the schedule changing.

My kids aren't like that.  I can't explain to them things that aren't concrete.  It's a little too beyond their ability yet.  So enter the small whiteboard.  It's very small.  I think the measurements are 8.5 by 11 inches, so roughly the size of a piece of paper.  It's small enough that I can fit it in my diaper bag or store it in the console of my car.  When our day is going to be different or thrown off, or if I can tell the boys are just having a bad day.  I will pull out the whiteboard and quickly draw a picture of what is going on that day.  Also when we are done with one of the activities I will pull it out again and cross it off.

So as you can see, I am not an artist.  At all.  In fact, I would have gotten a 4.0 in high school if it wasn't for that B- grade I got in art class.  Yeah, I hate art. :-)  Anyway, on this day Ezra was having a hard time getting his shoes on for school.  He kept fighting me on it.  So I drew up a little board to show him that he had to get his shoes on if he wanted to ride the bus and then have the bus take him to school.  Even though my pictures are always terrible, he gets it and it works.

My whiteboard was a saving grace while we were visiting family in Utah.  On this day it was a busy day of family overload and stimulation.  We were also visiting two different families.  So we told Ezra and Asher that we were going to go play with Sarah at her house.  It's Jason's sister's home and Sarah is the youngest that plays with my boys.  They have a big slide and snow at their house.  Then we went to visit all of my family at my parent's house.  My mom has two white teacup poodles and my boys are in love with them.  So I told them that we were going to see grandma's dogs.  Then the last one is some iPad time.  When we went back to our condo that we were renting, I let both of the boys "veg" a bit by playing some iPad.  This is his robot app.  Don't I draw a great looking robot?  Just kidding!

That's all for part 1.  I will have more tips and tricks for travel and the rest of our trip in part 2.