Re:unusual obsession/unplug it

[Guest guest]

Hey all -

This is a tough one for us too. My son watches videos and PBS

programs and repeats a lot of dialogue from them. I also did

a " Greenspan " thing by joining in the dialogue (I too have many

Disney films memorized) then I change it or add to it to try to

encourage imagination. That's the good stuff about TV the bad stuff

is that we sometimes - especially on the weekends when we are totally

wiped out - use the TV or the computer to get a break. My husband and

I are trying to get better about this and limit the time that Vico is

zoning out. The funny thing is, when we give in to exhaustion and let

him watch videos and play computer games all morning on a Saturday,

we usally pay for it with really bad behavior and tantruming later

that day. If we make a point to have an activity or interaction with

our boy, we all have a better time.

Regarding typical kids - my brother and his wife limited their sons

TV and computer time severly (this was a few years ago before we were

dealing with Autism) and we noticed that our nephew was much better

behavied and actually happier. So.... if it works for typical kids it

should work for our kids.

We have noticed that our son uses the TV/computer to decompress. When

he gets home from his busy day with therapists, he likes to chill

with a drink of rice milk and his favorite video.

Anyway - what I am saying is I guess you need a balance. I applaud

those that go without cable - but I know I couldn't do that - too

much of a Sopranos junkie - I do think the lesson here, for me

anyway, is to figure out a better schedule for my son. He needs down

time, but I need to make sure he doesn't get tooooo much down time.

Thanks for letting me think out loud in this post.

Moira

mom to Vico (4 ASD) and Culzean (almost 1 year old)

[Guest guest]

,

I'm behind on my reading, but I wanted to respond to this one. For over

a year now, we have watched no TV at all. My AS son was getting way too

into some of the violent cartoons, and we had constant battles about

whether or when he could watch. I canceled cable when I saw the mean,low

minded behaviors and attitudes both my kids were developing.

They complained for about 3 weeks, and then got over it. They go

outside to play. They read. They play with each other. Their attitudes

have improved. My husband and I get our news from radio and newspapers.

No more loud commercials, no more daily conflicts about homework versus

TV, no more crap, smut and violence to have to explain to the kids. We

go to the video store

weekly and get their " 5 movies for 5 nights " deal. I pick, or at least

approve the movies, and we watch them together as a family and talk

about them. It's still cheaper than cable. It's doable, and for us it

has brought peace to the house.

Good luck-

>My son has developed a recent obsession with commercials, It was

quite funny at first to have him come running up to me quite serious

and say Zero,ZeroZero payments on your car till april. Quite a big

sentence for him but he can do that when quoting from memory. Problem

is he is memorizing every commercial he can and trying to use them as

language. I dont want him confused, because he is communicating with

two word sentences effectivly right now and I really dont want him to

use commericials as his new language. Anyone else ever experience

commercial obbsession? If so how do you handle it short of turning

the TV off completly? We already moniter all TV time for content

because he definatly learns from visual. But if I had to do no TV at

all I probably would go stir crazy. F