RattlerStudio

H is for Hope

Today’s post will be short and sweet.

I know, at times, the obstacles for parents of children on the spectrum may seem overwhelming. Hang in there. Celebrate the small things.

Mama Bear walked into J’s room the other day. He was sitting in the middle of the floor playing with his dinosaurs. When she stuck her head into his room to check on him, he looked up at her smiled and said hi! Doesn’t sound like much to a parent of a neurotypical child but this was the first time in his whole life that J acknowledged someone and spoke first, unprompted.

Today, J participated in an Easter Egg hunt at his school. The teachers gave each child a cartoon in a specific color and instructed them to find and collect only the eggs in that color. J found all six of his.

Little things like this keep the hope alive.

#AtoZBloggingChallenge #autism #autismspeaks #hope #amwriting #GrandmaBear #10MinNovelists #365WritingChallenge

G is for Goals

Goals are an important part of life. For people on the spectrum, goals are more than just important. They are vital.

As children with autism enter school, an IEP, or Individualized Education Plan, provides a roadmap for education. In order to create a successful IEP, goals must be set. These goals should be set to increase skills in a variety of areas including:

  • Physical skills
  • Cognitive skills (thinking, learning, solving problems)
  • Communication skills (talking, listening, understanding others)
  • Self-help or adaptive skills (eating, dressing)
  • Social or emotional skills (playing, interacting with others)
  • Sensory processing skills (handling textures, tastes, sounds, smells)

In order to set effective goal, one needs to understand how to recognize and set smart goals. SMART goals should be:

  • SPECIFIC: Detailed. Answer the five ‘W’ questions.
    • What exactly do you want to accomplish?
    • Who needs to be involved? Who will be impacted? Who can help?
    • When will you work on this? When will you finish it? You’ll get more detailed under Time-bound but at least set a general time limit here.
    • Where will the work take place?
    • Which challenges must you overcome? This question will help determine if your goal is realistic or not.
    • Why? This is my favorite word of all time. Why are you setting this goal? Why do you want to achieve whatever it is you are setting the goal for?
  • MEASURABLE: how will you know if you have achieved your goal? I recommend setting an overall method of measurement along with some smaller milestones along the way. Give yourself a chance to celebrate the small wins. Celebrations keep the motivation high.
  • ACHIEVABLE: Setting unachievable goals is setting yourself up for failure. Yes, goals should make you stretch. They should make you work harder, make you grow. Goals should not defeat you, not beat you up. Setting unattainable goals is dooming yourself to a downward spiral of defeatism, low self-esteem, and frustration. Goals are meant to inspire and motivate you, not discourage you. Think about what you need to achieve your goals. This ties back into the specific and measurable portions of a smart goal. Know what you need to learn to achieve your goal. Celebrate the small successes as you work to the BIG success.
  • RELEVANT: Do you really need this goal? It this something that’s truly important? If you are setting goals for a non-verbal child, would it really make sense to set a goal of learning the finer points of debate? A relevant goal for a non-verbal child could be to teach him/her to respond to his/her name. Make sure your goals make sense and are for the good of your child.
  • TIME-BOUND: A goal without a deadline is just dream. If you don’t have realistic time-constraints you are unlikely to achieve your goal. If you are setting a long-term goal, set smaller deadlines within your overall deadline. This helps you measure where you are in the process and provides those opportunities for small celebrations.

While researching this post, I came across several good resources including:

#amwriting #AtoZBloggingChallenge #autism #autismspeaks #SMARTgoals #GrandmaBear #365WritingChallenge #10MinNovelist #RattlerStudioandPress