"Extreme Makeover Home Edition"

Miggy calls this "Extreme Makeover Home Edition." (Derived from his favorite show at the Lifestyle Network Channel).

* This is one of his creative plays. Notice that he used blocks to build stairs.

"Merry Christmas, everyone!"

Dear Readers:
Miggy wishes you:
"Merry Christmas, everyone!" (He learned that from Hi-5 Christmas video. I still have to teach him the Happy New Year greetings.) We wish you all the best this Yuletide Season. This is Miggy's 7th Christmas and every year, his excitement for Christmas increases, unlike before when he didn't care about gifts, fireworks and Santa Claus riding his sleigh, entering through the chimney and leaving gifts under the Christmas Tree.

"Where's the girl?"

Dec. 24, 2009
It was already 10:30pm. I checked on Miggy, he wasn't asleep yet. He asked, "Mommy, where's the girl?" He was referring to his cousin, Ate Inah, whom he just met that day.

*They watched the Polar Express movie that day; they acted out some scenes from the movie, with Miggy leading the scenes. Miggy knew the movie by heart since he had watched it probably close to a hundred times already. He had memorized every scene, every dialogue, and every music played with all scenes.

*That's how Miggy is. If he likes a video, he will keep watching it over and over again for maybe a month, from morning until night. The only way for me to stop this routine is by hiding the dvd and telling him that the dvd is already broken. And he will always answer back: "Mommy, you fix it." or "Daddy will fix it." or "Mommy, you buy a dvd."

Ridgeview Academy's Christmas Party

Dec. 18, 2009
Christmas Party of Ridgeview Academy
*At the party, Miggy waited by the door, grabbed all gifts of arriving guests and neatly put them under the Christmas tree. He ran back and forth the room, always checking on the little chocolate cupcakes with frosting and sprinkled candies. Thanks to the school staff, parents and schoolmates of Miggy. They all warmly accepted my son's disability. It was nice, for a change, not having to explain to everyone that my son is special. No apologies made, no discrimination seen...just full acceptance of my son's uniqueness. I knew Miggy felt the warmth, he just couldn't express it.

Play and Say Therapy Center's Christmas Party

Miggy and his friends participated in the fun and games. Look at them. Who would even notice and say that they are a little different from the regulars? The way I see it, they are lucky to have two worlds: their world and our world. Who could ever be so lucky and special to have the best of both worlds?

Helpful Materials

FLASHCARDS:
These are some of the flashcards that Miggy used. These helped him increase his vocabulary and develop his language skills.
What's this?, I asked as I showed him every card.
How do you jump? kneel? sing? (action words flashcards).
What's the color of the apple? the corn? (fruits and vegetables flashcards).
What sound does a cat make? Can a dog say meow? Can a bird fly? (animal flashcards)
E-E-Egg begins with the letter ____. P-P-Parrot starts with the letter ____. (with Mommy always stressing on the first beginning letter).
What shape is this? How many sides does a square have? What color is the triangle? What shape is the pizza?

PUZZLES:
Through the completion of these puzzles, his imagination developed and his attention span increased. He started from 6-pc puzzles and later he was able to complete more complex 100+pc. puzzles .
Miggy, where does this go?
Look at the color, can you find the other part?
What's next? Look at the picture on the box.

At Stac-5 Therapy Center, when he was four, he completed the Philippine map puzzle for 20minutes, and when he was even younger, he could even complete the back of any puzzle (back as in back! the brown empty back of a puzzle!) That was his splinter skill.

Disability Card

This disability card is a must-have for all special children. This entitles the child to a 20% discount on medical & dental services, purchase of medicines, transportation, admission fees, in all establishments and educational assistance. Just imagine the 20% discount you will get at Jollibee, Mc Donalds, Pizza Hut, Greenwich, KFC (Miggy's favorites), plus discounts on vitamins and medicines, entrance fees at Enchanted Kingdom and at the movie theaters. Wow, that's a lot of savings! And what's more? There's no tax! So, if your child still doesn't have this card, get one now.

Swollen Eye

Pictures 1 & 2: (Dec. 10, 2009) Crying and in pain
Picture 3: (the following day) Swollen right eye

Reason: This was what happened when I left him all by himself playing with his dusty stuff toy animals. A more-than-an-inch fur was what I extracted from his right eye on the 3rd day of the inflammation. From day 1, he was crying and whining non stop, up to the time I removed the fur from his eye. I applied anti-bacterial ophthalmic drops (as usual I played doctor again).

Miggy has sensory issues and couldn't feel minor pains. The fact that he cried only meant that the pain he experienced was severe.

Mom: You look in the mirror, Miggy is ugly.
Miggy: "Pretty!"
Mom: Are you going to rub your eyes again?
Miggy: "No."
Mom: Do you want your eyes to bleed again?
Miggy: "I don't like."
Mom: Complete sentence.
Miggy: "I don't like blood in my eyes."
Mom: What will happen if you rub your eyes again?
Miggy: "Go to the hospital."
Mom: And if you go to the hospital, what do you think the doctor will do to you?
Miggy: "Put the gamot in the eyes." (gamot is medicine) "I don't like sew my eyes... needle and thread."

Mess and Pack-away

Photo 1: Miggy's playtime (mess-time)

Photo 2: Miggy's pack-away time

Christmas Tags

Last year, it was Miggy who wrote names on our Christmas tags. These are two samples of his works that I will forever cherish.

Spelling

Oct. 11, 2009:
Of the 28 words, only 5 words were misspelled. Miggy wrote this after watching "Special Kids - All About Jesus" video.

October 27, 2009 (Pretend play captured in photo)

Miggy: "Okay, parrot. Take a picture."
"One, two, three.... go.... click!"

Mommy: What is the parrot doing?

Miggy: "The parrot is taking a picture..... taking a picture of squirrel, tiger and kangaroo."

Pizza Hut

This is Miggy's drawing of a "Pizza Hut" delivery truck (although Pizza Hut uses company motorcycles for pizza delivery).
"This is a Pizza Hut truck", he said.

Pizza is one of his favorite foods. Pizza routine every Tuesday and Thursday after his academic tutorials.

Miggy's First and Latest Developmental Evaluations

Birthday: Aug.4, 2002
Date of Evaluation: Nov. 5, 2009
Chronological Age: 7yrs/3months

Diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder

Developmental Pediatrician: Millicent Mae Fronda-De Vera, MD, DPPS,FPSDBP

Test Administered: Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales

Present Developmental Profile:
Locomotor: 6 yrs
Personal/Social: 6.5 yrs
Hearing and Speech: 4.5 to 5 yrs
Eye and Hand Coordination: 6.5 yrs
Performance: 7.5 yrs
Practical Reasoning: 4.5 to 5 yrs

Behavioral Concerns:
Miggy is generally behaved and compliant; impulsive at times; attention span has also improved as he can complete tasks when cued or prompted. He is very talkative but verbal reasons are still limited.

Here is Miggy's first developmental evaluation by
Developmental Pediatrician: Joselyn Alonzo-Eusebio, M.D.
Date of evaluation: May 13, 2005
Chronological Age: 2yrs / 9mos

Locomotor: par w/ age
Personal and Social: 18 mos
Hearing and speech: 15 mos
Eye and Hand Coordination: 18 mos.
Performance: > 2 yrs (non-verbal)
Practical Reasoning > N /A

Diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Main Problems:
- hyperactive; fleeting eye contact; selective attention / response
- delayed / deviant speech
- preoccupations / stereotypes
- unusual fears

Creative Play

Here are two pictures of Miggy engrossed in his creative play.

Picture 1: "It's a girl", he said.

Picture 2: Notice that he built 2 floors with stairs, and added some furnitures to make a bedroom.

Routine

A quick drop-by at Video One is Miggy's routine every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:45am before going to his academic tutorials at the adjacent building.

At Video One, Miggy picks his favorite videos; shamelessly sings and dances; neatly returns the cds to the designated racks and waves bye to the friendly staff before he leaves.

Since I cannot break this routine because for sure it will put him in a bad mood, I always turn this into a learning experience. I ask him to name the characters and read the titles of the cds. That way, we both gain. He gets his way, I get mine.

Miggy's Drawing

View some of Miggy's works then and now.

Miggy's Coloring

BEFORE & AFTER:

Miggy's Handwriting

BEFORE & AFTER

Decorating the Christmas Tree

November 1, 2009: All Saints' Day
A day to remember and honor all the Saints of the ancient times and the less distant past. And that was what we just did. We chose to honor Saint Nicholas, popularly known as Santa Claus.

* Back in the days when we were still very young, my 4 sisters, my only brother and I would wake up on a December morning to find our simple Christmas tree in the living room all adorned already by my mother the previous night. Before, there were no fancy Christmas trees, instead a real tree glued with cotton was all you would ever see in any house. It was like a tree in the winter, all white. My mother wanted it to be a surprise but what she didn't know was that we could have had more fun decorating the Christmas tree ourselves. So this time, I'm breaking the rules. Let them have all the fun! Adorn it! Mess with it! Whatever! I don't care! What matters to me now is to see them happy and enjoying the Christmas spirit. Now, the tree looks the way they just wanted it to be... perfect.