Sunday, November 18, 2012

Pretend play tied to toilet training readiness?

Well, it's been a heck of a week! Here's, how it all went down, briefly:

~ Drove to Chicago Tuesday. Seemed like a longer drive than usual. I wonder if Chicago moved and is now even further away somehow.

~ Went to Rush University Medical Center for our drug trial check up. This was the yearly "long" visit - meaning blood and urine tests, an hour each with a psychologist (the boys, not Mark and I, although I'm fairly sure he and I need psychological help too), the physical exam, and 4 questionnaires. It took hours to get a urine sample from Zack. It took numerous pokes in two arms to get a blood sample from AJ. All in all, a 6-hour appointment. We left dazed and confused, just in time for Chicago rush hour. Good times.

~ Zack acted so strange the next morning. I wasn't positive he was okay, and therefore was so looking forward to the next 8 hours in the car with a kid who gags when I offer him chocolate milk.

~ Zack turned out to be okay. He was just super exhausted to the point of tears. The doctor appointment was really hard on him.

He eats some chicken, enjoys the free wifi at McDonalds, and begins to act more like the kid we know and love.




While I'm not convinced they got accurate testing results out of the boys (IQ tests right after stressing them both to the shrieking point with giving blood and urine samples? Come on!), the psychologist did have some interesting things to say. After he was through, he came out to the waiting room to chat with us. He was pointing out on a spreadsheet the different developmental stages, and where he thinks the boys are at. He commented that Zack appeared to be in the midst of the "terrible twos." Zack was wandering around the waiting room, whining and screaming at the time.

I don't know. I think most kids, almost regardless of age, would have complained about the fact that we'd been working to get him to pee in a cup for hours, by then.
He also talked about one part of the tests he'd performed, where he holds up an empty toilet paper roll to one eye and peers through it. He showed us how it's done there in the waiting room.

"Look, AJ. I see you!"

Then he handed the toilet paper roll to AJ. "You look through it, AJ."

First AJ handed it to me. I handed it back to him. "No, you look through it."

AJ obligingly put the toilet paper roll up to his face, directly between his eyes, and then handed it back to the doctor.

The doctor then explained that this is a good test of the developmental skill of imaginative play. If a kid holds a toilet paper roll up and looks through it, he is showing that he understands how to pretend. If, even after seeing someone else do it, he doesn't put the roll up to one eye and look through it, he doesn't understand really how to pretend. And the psychologist said that this developmental skill is tied to potty training. If a child isn't capable of pretend play, he probably isn't ready to toilet train.

He demonstrated it further by showing the boys a telephone handle - just the ear/mouth piece of one of those old style phones. Not a cordless, and certainly not a cell phone. He pretended to talk on the phone and handed it to Zack. Zack of course was having nothing to do with it. He had had it with all of us. AJ wouldn't do it, either.

I didn't mention that AJ has pretend conversations on our cordless phone all the time. He can talk to real people on the phone, too. He was born in 2005. He probably had no idea what that big, clunky old fashioned phone handle was.

So this past weekend, I happened to use the last paper towel on the roll. I took it in to the living room where AJ was watching You Tube on the iPad. I held it up to my eye. "Look AJ! I see you!"

I handed it over to him. AJ promptly held it up to his ear. "Hello? Um, ok. Goodbye!"

1 comment:

Tom F said...

I hear ya all the way from oz. It takes such care to instruct your son that there is nothing left for instructing the Neuro-typicals.

Labels

#youmightbeanautismparentif 2012 in review 9/11 memories ABA therapy Acceptance acronyms advocacy affection aggression AJ Aliza Aliza the playwright All I really need to know... Alphabitty Moments American Girl Ann Coulter antibullying anxiety anxiety in parents of children with special needs apple orchard apps for autism AppSmitten Arbaclofen Arbitrary Thoughts ARC autism autism brushing autism portrayed in TV shows Autism Shines awareness backyard band baseball bath toys beds behavior problems being tall Birthday Boys biting blog change blog hop blogging books bottles brushing bubbles Burnsville Fire Muster bus Cabin Fever in Minnesota candy Carly Fleischmann Carly's Voice cats cats and dogs chewys Chicago childcare for special needs children childhood Children's Museum chocolate Christmas Church circumin clinical trials Clonidine CNN Hero of 2011 coffee communication comparisons computer Conference cost of special education Courage Center Curcumin daddy dance dance competition dance moms Dental surgery dentist developmental milestones diagnosis diapers Diego Disability Day dogs Dolphin Tale Doomsday Preparation Dora Doritos drug trials DVD player early intervention earrings Easter ECSE Parent Retreat electronic gadgets electronics Everything I need to know... Evil Overlord fall falling asleep at school families family fashion fear Featured Feel Good Friday field trip fireworks first day of school Flash Gordon Food Chronicles food issues in Fragile X and autistic children forms forts Fragile Face of God Fragile X Fragile X advocate Fragile X and autism Fragile X Awareness Day Fragile X carriers Fragile X in the news Fragile X presentation Fragile X statistics Fragile X Writers friends fundraiser for Fragile X funniest Funny Gabrielle Giffords Galveston games getting carsick Girls' Night Out Giving Spirit glasses global warming going home Good Morning Great Quotes guest blogs guest post haircuts Halloween hearing test Heaven is for Real hippotherapy holidays Holland Holly home life homework hotel hugging human behavior hyperactivity IEP Meeting IEPs in the news inclusion inspiration integration iPad iPad apps iPad apps for autism IQ testing Jack Jablonski January First Joke journal entry kids with Fragile X and animals Kindergarten Kindle kisses language study learning to talk leaves lemonade stand Lily Little Einsteins losing teeth Mad Gab makeup mall Mall of America marcia braden McDonalds media sensationalization medications Melatonin Miami MIND Institute Minnesota Bloggers Conference minocycline Miracle League monkeys mosquito bites Mother's Day movies MVMOM Used Clothing and Equipment Sale nail trimming names naughtiness neighbors nicknames nightmares normal off topic one thing leads to another online dating Operation Beautiful oral sensory orphan drug act other bloggers Our Wedding outside overstimulation panic attacks parade parental stress Parenthood park Partners in Policymaking penicillin people with disabilities pets pharmacy fun photography Photoshop picnic Pictures pinching pink shirt Pinterest playing outside playing with toys poem politics poop potty training Presents protecting autistic children rash reading to kids research Retreat riding a bike Robin Williams Roger Ebert routine RSS feed RUSH University San Diego Sandy Hook Elementary Santa schedules school school bus school notes school pictures screaming self image self-checkouts sensory Seroquel siblings with developmental delays sick kids sippy cups sleep smile snow pictures Snowstorm social situations speaking of the unspeakable special education special education evaluation special needs kids special needs parents Special Needs Ryan Gosling Special Olympics spelling spoon feeding spring break staying positive stimming Strep STX209 Stylish Blog Award suicide summer Sunday School Sundays sunshine survival mode swimming talking talking to kindergarteners Target teacher's aides Teeth brushing Tegretol Temple Grandin Ten Commandments textbook case of Fragile X thankful thanksgiving that window/mirror thing The Autism Store The R Word the rapid passage of time The Right Things to say to parents of special needs children The Santa Experience the Shedd Aquarium The Twin Thing The Wiggles therapeutic horseback riding therapy This is Autism topless trampoline traveling with special needs children TV twins with special needs Twitter typical Fragile X characteristics typical kids typing vacation Vacation Bible School video games videos volunteering Waisman Center water play way-back-Wednesday What I've Learned What's your song? when a special needs parent dies Wiggles Wii games Winner Winner Chicken Dinner winter wonder Wonder Pets Wordful Wednesday Wordless Wednesday Words of Wisdom World Autism Awareness Day YMCA You Tube Zack Zoloft zoo animals

Fragile X Blogs