Re: Re: question-need some help

[Guest guest]

I really disagree with this kind of theory. It's well and good to let kids learn "on their own terms" but you would not give them keys to a car before they were ready to drive and say, "They need to learn on their own terms." Why not? It's dangerous and deadly. Why would you let them decide when to brush their teeth/if to brush their teeth? Teeth are not replaceable plus having rotten teeth can also contribute to other health problems. I guess because it takes many years for your teeth to rot out of your mouth, maybe it doesn't seem so bad or "instant." But once they are gone, they are gone. You have to teach healthy habits from the beginning. We do a lot of things in life because we have to do them, not because we take great joy in doing them. THings like brushing your teeth are important and not optional. I would not leave this up to a kid who has no judgement skills and who doesn't appreciate the long term consequences of not brushing. I see this posted on here every so often and I guess it boggles my mind that a parent would take the attitude that brushing ones teeth is optional or something kids have to learn to do through trial and error - once they get a few teeth pulled due to cavities, they will suddenly say, "Mom's right!" and problem solved..only now they have no teeth. So what is the lesson learned? It makes zero sense.

Roxanna

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Jefferson

( ) Re: question-need some help

My son is seven and still needs help brushing his teeth, bathing, and zipping zippers and buttoning buttons and tying shoes. He brushes his own teeth but I have to check them several times and tell him where he missed. He still hates baths and can't stand water in his ears. I still have to pour water over his head and shampoo it as he doesn't like to rub in the shampoo. He will scrub his own body though, but I have to break it into steps the same for dressing himself. He is starting to learn to pour if the milk jug is really low and can make a sloppy but edible peanut butter and honey sandwich and is capable of getting out a piece of fruit from the fridge and washing it. Again, he is seven and has Asperger's syndrome.

--- In , "stephen" <robindeutsch@...> wrot

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> My son is currently working on a project that involves autism and daily living skills. He needs some help right now. He is wondering in a typical day what three daily living skills does your child have. How old is your child and where on the spectrum are they?

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> I know with my daughter it was the simple things such as all the steps for brushing her teeth, remembering to not just brush the sides of her hair but the back as well and some showering skills. Now at 27 she can do all those things herself, but when she was younger she always had trouble and I would have to be behind her telling her what to do. Everything had to be broken down into little steps for her. Back then little if anything was known about autism. I didn't realize that I was using ABA back then with all the little things I was doing to help her. She has gone from having little to no language to now speaking at autism conferences and rallies. She even has her own website where she sells her incredible art. The doctors told us she would never go on to college (she graduated with honors), never have friends (she has several) and never drive a car (she doesn't drive a car, she flies planes) and many other never be able tos. She is remarkable and while she doesn't remember much about what it was like being autistic when she was younger, she can verbalize what she feels like now. (She still has trouble in very large crowds where the noise is very loud.) Because of her knowledge of autism she is helping her brother in this project.

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> Please help with some feedback.

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