October 2011 Updates: Hahgoot’s updates Part 2 Hahgoot is about half way through her enormous book of Tashi

I’ve been trying all kinds of things from the books I have been reading lately on SPD, like having Hahgoot suck applesauce through a straw for heavy work on her muscles and relaxation after school (combined with wearing the weighted vest). Alma likes it too as an afternoon snack, so it keeps everyone busy

As waking Hahgoot up is nearly impossible, I’ve tried waking her up with music. So far we had success with Carmina Burana (on very high volume, it was like waking the dead...), Bobby McFerrin and Japanese Taiko drumming.

Hahgoot is very difficult to get through the morning procedure, with putting on clothes being the biggest hurdle. She is even a little monster on weekends (pictured), going into meltdown mode in her favourite foetal pose (right).

At night she comes up with 101 excuses to stay alert, like saying she is hungry (I check if she really is hungry by saying she will have to make her own meal. When she really is hungry she does make her own toast otherwise she just stomps off angrily). She calms down with workbooks, like this maths workbook in Hebrew for problem solving using basic multiplication. But then she has a meltdown if I tell her it’s time to finish the task... She’ll basically have a meltdown, no matter what I do.

After a discussion with Hahgoot, I devised a star chart that broke the morning procedure into small single tasks that she can tick as she goes, and she can choose the order of the tasks. She completed everything perfectly (even getting dressed!) and was rewarded with money to pay for a guess of how many jelly beans were in the school’s jar (that week’s fundraiser). She was thrilled, but the next day announced she will never do this chart ever again and I was back at square one...

Instead of wrestling Hahgoot in the afternoon I made her a nest from the off cuts sack and she enjoyed cuddling in it with Alma, and later on fell asleep in it at night.

Hahgoot astonished me and her OT by drawing these: She said that when she is frightened she feels like she “is falling to the edge of the world” (left) but when someone helps her to calm down (with a big hug, deep pressure, etc) she feels like they “made a home for her in the world” (right) and she said Carly was the big person picking her up in the drawing on the right hand side. It was very poetic and touching to hear...

Here are Carly and Hahgoot enjoying another OT Session, escaping from sharks and chasing each other inside Lycra swings.

Hahgoot wrote and drew a picture for Carly about a dream that kept bothering her with kids blowing up balloons. The book on the right has been a tremendous resource for me to better understand Hahgoot’s issues. I had Barak, Mrs Di Donato and Dorothea read large parts of it too.

Hahgoot has spent time on the computer this month on her own (exploring Shidoni on the right) and with her dad (playing a game about creative problem solving).

We tried to do one science experiment using the crystals kit we have. An attempt to make sugar crystals cluster around a stick as a homemade snack did not work out, but that’s OK, we still learned a lot.

Hahgoot dressed up in a pig costume (she is not holding guns, their are pig hoofs gloves) Hahgoot designed little robots made out of stickers, waiting in line for the bus. I read to Hahgoot one of my favourite childhood books, “The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South Seas”, by Erich Kästner (in Hebrew).The 35th of May, or Conrad's Ride to the South SeasErich Kästner She loved it dearly too and the minute we finished reading it she asked to start again, which is the biggest compliment a book can get, that you don’t want it to ever end... Hahgoot made drawings about what happened after the book ended, with the characters corresponding (as Negro Caballo, the talking roller skating horse married and stayed at the South Seas island while the uncle and the boy returned home). On the left you can see the boy and uncle giving the bird a letter to transfer to the horse via air mail, and on the right the horse and his wife pick up the mail and the horse bursts in tears after reading the letter (he was always an emotional guy...)

EVERYONE waiting for the bus Hahgoot sorted all the stickers Laurie sent her Hahgoot loves making characters with speech bubbles

Hahgoot used the stickers Lotem sent her to make a lovely story Here the character can’t reach high enough so she climbs a chair. This was the first time Hahgoot solved a problem like this in a her drawings and we spent time discussing the use of chairs to assist around the house. At last Hahgoot started to use a chair to reach things up high by her own volition – took me nearly 6 years to convince her to use this to help herself! But there is hope...

Hahgoot and Tashi going on adventures in the snow

Hahgoot threw a snowball at Tashi and his face got covered in snow Tashi and Hahgoot took the snowman apart and walked home (they are viewed from the back here) Hahgoot and I made a shared picture, with each one having half of the page. It had to be an outdoors scene and use stickers. Hahgoot’s work is on the left side. We sat next to each other and worked at the same time. This activity was Hahgoot’s idea.

Hahgoot started working on this mobile project but it was too much work so she took a long break. To be continued... Hahgoot took a photo of me

Both girls enjoyed Laurie’s letter, from America (California). Hahgoot got a lovely letter from her diligent pen pal Noam, including a maze he drew himself for her. She wrote him a letter on the back side of a crosswords puzzle she completed in Hebrew. She sent him worksheets too, as he is a keen student like her.

Top, left: Hahgoot has been writing stories and corresponding with her Grandpa Ido online via recently. Right: I took Hahgoot out of class early one day for an OT session and she missed out on a discussion about the activity they just completed, which was hunting for mini-beasts (bugs) in the school yard. Hahgoot was eager to participate as she had lots to say on the topic, so I told her she could write her teacher all about it, and she did...

Hahgoot wearing a new sleeping gown, from her friend Grace In our next presentation: Alma turns 14 months old!