Thursday, March 4, 2010
Cadet Airman Sly
On Monday, Sly had three big events. First, he found out "It's a girl one!" (To which he enthusiastically exclaimed, "I TOLD you!"). Second, he promoted to Cadet Airman in Civil Air Patrol and was pinned by a visiting Air Force Brigadier General (because mom and dad were late for the ceremony after driving back from a long-distance ultrasound). Third, we were there before the end of the entire awards ceremony, and the CAP Captain running the show had Sly unpinned and re-pinned by Habeeb (who didn't punch the pins in nearly hard enough!). Congratulations, Cadet Airman Sly!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Jman's Words, update #2--"progress"
Last week I blogged some about several obstacles we/Jman has had with using his ProLoQuo2Go and/or the iPod in general. Those obstacles still stand, and I could add one more I think I left out: He likes to "chew" on the iPods (and charging plugs/cords and headphone cords). Spit and electronics just don't mix real well. Here's a tip for anyone out there who has had the unpleasant experience of "wet electronics:" After you dry the outside as well as you can, close the electronic device up in a sealed jar or container of DRY (uncooked) rice. The dry rice absorbs the internal moisture that you couldn't get to with a towel. Unless something has short circuited inside (keep the power off to avoid that!), there's a very good chance your electronic device will survive the wet event just fine. (Yes, we've done this with iPod and cell phones multiple times, thanks to "belows in headwork" from both Sly and Jman!)
Now, on to "progress" updates from Jman with regards to his "words" on the ProLoQuo2Go. Jman still primarily uses the ProLoQuo2Go for "instrumental" or "means-to-an-end" communication, such as making requests ("Let's eat dinners." "Let's go to McDonald's." "I want to use the computer.") The "progress" is that he is both using the iPod/P2G to make more 'verbal' requests such as those, AND he is also making more 'verbal' requests such as those WITHOUT using the iPod/P2G. In other words, he is 'learning' and 'practicing' the language/statements/words on the P2G, and transferring them into his head. He is then better able to access those words/phrases out of his own head even if he doesn't have the P2G available at the time. It IS still very scripted, but at the same time it is reducing a 'frustration' factor from knowing what he wants but not being able to find the words in his head and get them out of his mouth. So, I still consider that progress.
Now, with regards to "experience sharing communication," or communicating with others just for sharing perspectives or letting each other know what the other is thinking (rather than trying to 'get' something from the other, such as food or the computer), Jman has made some noticeable progress as well, although the quantity is much less. In particular, P2G comes pre-programmed with a "feelings" section. Jman can select the "feelings" page, and from there contruct the simple sentence "I feel ______." His most commonly shared feelings have been 'hungry' and 'thirsty.' He will also tell us he feels 'scared' or 'sad.' But his newest shared feeling, and one that has come 100% from his own personal studying of the pre-programmed options on ProLoQuo2Go has been "FRUSTRATED!" Yep, he can now tell us (sometimes) when he feels "FRUSTRATED!" And when he tells us he's frustrated, he clearly IS frustrated. He apparently put together his internal feeling with the symbolstix icon/frustrated face, and learned the word from listening to it repeatedly on the P2G. So, I personally think that's pretty awesome. Not only is he recognizing and naming his own internal state, but he's found a way to share that internal state with us in ways other than just looking and acting frustrated. That means there's some improved levels of self-awareness and intersubjectivity going on up there in that head of his, despite his many obstacles.
Jman has also added other words or phrases to his vocabulary/communication (both spoken and using P2G) as a result of playing around with the P2G on his own. Some we get tired of hearing ("youtube" or "What do you watch on TV?" come to mind!). Some are funny ("home chat" or "community chat" or "school chat"--we wonder who he's doing all this 'chatting' with!). Some are useful or make sense ("check this out"). Some are just plain weird ("Today at school, I . . . " and he of course never finishes the sentence because it has no meaning/context for him--it's just a pre-programmed phrase/sound he can make the P2G say, and I haven't bothered to take it off).
Jman has sometimes used other 'visual' ways of trying to communicate something to us if it's not available in his head or on the P2G. For example, he and I were leaving a store the other day, and he saw a restaurant and decided he wanted to us to go there. He pointed at it, and then spelled out to me: "R-Y-A-N-S" (the name of the restaurant). I told him how to SAY the word, and after a few tries, he could copy "Ryan's" (he clearly has auditory processing issues, because it DOES take him sometimes several tries PLUS watching my mouth for him to really say a word correctly that he has misheard/misprocessed). Later I was able to add an icon to his P2G for Ryan's, which gives him not only the option on the P2G, but more chances at practicing hearing the word pronounced over and over, without me having to pronounce it over and over (and over) myself. It's just terrific to be able to add words of HIS choosing to his P2G, thus giving him the chance for further practice without driving mom completely insane in the process! These are words that he clearly DOES want to communicate with, and this facilitates his own expansion of available verbal language.
Another interesting thing with regards to Jman playing around with the ProLoQuo2Go is that he is also teaching himself some spelling. For example, he will be trying to program in words for himself, using symbols included with the programming or using pictures/images that have been uploaded to the iPod or downloaded from the internet. He'll know what he wants to say, and he'll find the image he wants to use, but then he'll come to me for spelling help when he gets stuck. He is a very visual kind of reader, tending to spell by sight memorization rather than by 'sounding it out.' When he types into the P2G an incorrect spelling, the device doesn't say the correct word. He'll then come to me to have me tell him how to spell it correctly so the device will say the words he means for it to say. I think that's kind of neat. Sometimes he knows that he can't remember how to spell a word in it's entirety, and then he'll come to me sooner. He really seems to have fun playing around with adding and/or rearranging and/or deleting and then replacing words on his P2G, and it does seem to have an impact on his generally bizarre way of learning and processing and using language (both verbally, orally, auditorially, and written, and for both instrumental and experience sharing purposes).
I wish that I could say that I was seeing miraculous improvement in his experience sharing communication as a result of the P2G, but that's something that comes not as a result of having more words available but rather of having more shared experiences together and a better relationship overall. Thus the P2G is NO replacement for RDI/life, but it is a potential enhancement. We have much further to go in that arena, and hope to perhaps find a personal guide for US when we move in the not too distant future.
Now, on to "progress" updates from Jman with regards to his "words" on the ProLoQuo2Go. Jman still primarily uses the ProLoQuo2Go for "instrumental" or "means-to-an-end" communication, such as making requests ("Let's eat dinners." "Let's go to McDonald's." "I want to use the computer.") The "progress" is that he is both using the iPod/P2G to make more 'verbal' requests such as those, AND he is also making more 'verbal' requests such as those WITHOUT using the iPod/P2G. In other words, he is 'learning' and 'practicing' the language/statements/words on the P2G, and transferring them into his head. He is then better able to access those words/phrases out of his own head even if he doesn't have the P2G available at the time. It IS still very scripted, but at the same time it is reducing a 'frustration' factor from knowing what he wants but not being able to find the words in his head and get them out of his mouth. So, I still consider that progress.
Now, with regards to "experience sharing communication," or communicating with others just for sharing perspectives or letting each other know what the other is thinking (rather than trying to 'get' something from the other, such as food or the computer), Jman has made some noticeable progress as well, although the quantity is much less. In particular, P2G comes pre-programmed with a "feelings" section. Jman can select the "feelings" page, and from there contruct the simple sentence "I feel ______." His most commonly shared feelings have been 'hungry' and 'thirsty.' He will also tell us he feels 'scared' or 'sad.' But his newest shared feeling, and one that has come 100% from his own personal studying of the pre-programmed options on ProLoQuo2Go has been "FRUSTRATED!" Yep, he can now tell us (sometimes) when he feels "FRUSTRATED!" And when he tells us he's frustrated, he clearly IS frustrated. He apparently put together his internal feeling with the symbolstix icon/frustrated face, and learned the word from listening to it repeatedly on the P2G. So, I personally think that's pretty awesome. Not only is he recognizing and naming his own internal state, but he's found a way to share that internal state with us in ways other than just looking and acting frustrated. That means there's some improved levels of self-awareness and intersubjectivity going on up there in that head of his, despite his many obstacles.
Jman has also added other words or phrases to his vocabulary/communication (both spoken and using P2G) as a result of playing around with the P2G on his own. Some we get tired of hearing ("youtube" or "What do you watch on TV?" come to mind!). Some are funny ("home chat" or "community chat" or "school chat"--we wonder who he's doing all this 'chatting' with!). Some are useful or make sense ("check this out"). Some are just plain weird ("Today at school, I . . . " and he of course never finishes the sentence because it has no meaning/context for him--it's just a pre-programmed phrase/sound he can make the P2G say, and I haven't bothered to take it off).
Jman has sometimes used other 'visual' ways of trying to communicate something to us if it's not available in his head or on the P2G. For example, he and I were leaving a store the other day, and he saw a restaurant and decided he wanted to us to go there. He pointed at it, and then spelled out to me: "R-Y-A-N-S" (the name of the restaurant). I told him how to SAY the word, and after a few tries, he could copy "Ryan's" (he clearly has auditory processing issues, because it DOES take him sometimes several tries PLUS watching my mouth for him to really say a word correctly that he has misheard/misprocessed). Later I was able to add an icon to his P2G for Ryan's, which gives him not only the option on the P2G, but more chances at practicing hearing the word pronounced over and over, without me having to pronounce it over and over (and over) myself. It's just terrific to be able to add words of HIS choosing to his P2G, thus giving him the chance for further practice without driving mom completely insane in the process! These are words that he clearly DOES want to communicate with, and this facilitates his own expansion of available verbal language.
Another interesting thing with regards to Jman playing around with the ProLoQuo2Go is that he is also teaching himself some spelling. For example, he will be trying to program in words for himself, using symbols included with the programming or using pictures/images that have been uploaded to the iPod or downloaded from the internet. He'll know what he wants to say, and he'll find the image he wants to use, but then he'll come to me for spelling help when he gets stuck. He is a very visual kind of reader, tending to spell by sight memorization rather than by 'sounding it out.' When he types into the P2G an incorrect spelling, the device doesn't say the correct word. He'll then come to me to have me tell him how to spell it correctly so the device will say the words he means for it to say. I think that's kind of neat. Sometimes he knows that he can't remember how to spell a word in it's entirety, and then he'll come to me sooner. He really seems to have fun playing around with adding and/or rearranging and/or deleting and then replacing words on his P2G, and it does seem to have an impact on his generally bizarre way of learning and processing and using language (both verbally, orally, auditorially, and written, and for both instrumental and experience sharing purposes).
I wish that I could say that I was seeing miraculous improvement in his experience sharing communication as a result of the P2G, but that's something that comes not as a result of having more words available but rather of having more shared experiences together and a better relationship overall. Thus the P2G is NO replacement for RDI/life, but it is a potential enhancement. We have much further to go in that arena, and hope to perhaps find a personal guide for US when we move in the not too distant future.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Intersubjectivity and pill bottles
Several of my cyberfriends have written some fantastic posts on the concept of Intersubjectivity. Rather than reproduce their awesome work, check out these posts by Tammy, Niffercoo, Penny, and Kathy. For a very quick synopsis, I’ll just say that each person has a Subjective or personal view of something, and when we share our personal subjective views with each other (influencing our own and each other’s views as a result), that is called INTERsubjectivity.
For a quick word picture, intersubjectivity like an INTERstate: Interstates are roads that connect different states, making travel possible across state boundaries, vs an INTRAstate which would be entirely contained within the boundaries of one state, precluding travel across state lines. Similarly, Intersubjectivity allows for the sharing of personal subjective perspectives and experiences between multiple people, whereas intrasubjectivity (is there such a word? Hmmm.) would be keeping your perspective to yourself and NOT connecting or transmitting that idea to or with others (such as not commenting on my post). Clear as mud, right? Read my friends’ posts—they explain it better than I do!
What I really wanted to do was to share with you an example of the highly sophisticated Intersubjective development of a typical 19 month old—you guessed it—SB3. Yesterday afternoon, he had moved a chair over to the kitchen counter and was busy stacking pill and vitamin bottles (who said you need to spend money on blocks? Haha!). SB3 stacked them four bottles high, which was about as high as he could possibly reach. Then he turned and smiled at me, sharing with me his personal subjective thoughts—that he was proud of his good work--and checking out mine, making sure that I was as aware and proud of his accomplishment as he himself was (thus, he was being intersubjective).
Just a few minutes later, Habeeb got home from work. SB3 was still playing with the bottles. They’d fallen over and he was restacking them. He stopped to acknowledge Habeeb’s arrival, but then went right back to his very important work. In a few seconds he had his stack finished, and then the beautiful intersubjective dance began again.
First SB3 turned from his finished stack to smile with great pride at Habeeb, who was likewise enthralled with the architecture. Then, even though Habeeb was ‘with’ SB3 in the dance, SB3 quickly pointed at his stack of bottles as well, furthering highlighting his pride and joy. Then SB3 turned and looked at me again as well, still grinning from ear to ear and with a happy little chuckle to further highlight his great satisfaction and pride, making sure that I was in on the experience too, sharing his perspective and checking out mine (which he found matched his quite well—the proud momma and the proud boy!). I of course already knew that he was a good pill bottle stacker from moments before, but now SB3 wanted to share with me that daddy now knew it too, and that made it even bigger and better than before! SB3, even at just 19 months old, is already becoming a master of Intersubjectivity!
For some reason (or reasons), that development of Intersubjectivity breaks down somewhere early along the way for our kids on the autism spectrum. In fact, it’s more that lack of intersubjectivity that is “autism” instead of a set of specific and commonly listed behaviors (such as lack of eye contact or lining things up or having very short attention spans, all of which are behaviors common in autism, but far from universal in autism, whereas a lack of intersubjectivity is universal and is the contributing factor to all the varied behavioral symptoms, whether there is 'eye contact' or not).
The good news is that even though Intersubjectivity breaks down or fails to develop in the first place in autism, it IS repairable and can then continue to develop to higher levels and complexities, just as the brain continues to grow and develop throughout our lives. Approaches like RDI (Relationship Development Intervention) focus on helping the parents create opportunities for reestablishing the development of Intersubjectivity through repairing and working through the Guided Participation Relationship.
Most often that begins with re-establishing the first level of Intersubjectivity, a simple me-and-you-together or a we-go (as opposed to an ego), such as is seen in a first game of peek-a-boo with an infant just a few months old. By about a year old, infants have progressed to the second level of Intersubjectivity, often referred to as the beginnings of “joint attention,” where the child and the adult can both share their reactions with each other about some third and ‘outside’ object or event, such as the child pointing at a plane passing overhead to make sure mom sees it too. The child is aware that what he sees isn’t necessarily what mom sees, and that mom’s subjective perspective (whether she likes something or doesn’t) may not be the same as his own. Notice, the key is that both parties are sharing with each other their own personal subjective experiences and perspectives. A child with autism can be taught to point at something, or to look at something someone else points at, but that does NOT mean that the child is aware of and considering the other person's personal subjective perspective or feelings about the object pointed at. Following a point is a skill. Sharing perspectives the key to Intersubjectivity.
In SB3’s case, he was clearly demonstrating age appropriate levels of Intersubjectivity, making every effort to share his perspectives and experiences with us, making sure we understood where he was coming from, and making sure our personal perspectives and experiences made sense to him as well (for example, we could have been proud of his success, or angry that he was up at the counter again, or worried that he was playing with pill bottles—many possible reactions, any of which he could have understood, even if he didn’t agree with them himself—it just so happened we were proud and impressed with his towering building project too).
Now, if anyone would like to share their own personal intersubjective perspective with me and other readers of the blog, please leave a comment!
For a quick word picture, intersubjectivity like an INTERstate: Interstates are roads that connect different states, making travel possible across state boundaries, vs an INTRAstate which would be entirely contained within the boundaries of one state, precluding travel across state lines. Similarly, Intersubjectivity allows for the sharing of personal subjective perspectives and experiences between multiple people, whereas intrasubjectivity (is there such a word? Hmmm.) would be keeping your perspective to yourself and NOT connecting or transmitting that idea to or with others (such as not commenting on my post). Clear as mud, right? Read my friends’ posts—they explain it better than I do!
What I really wanted to do was to share with you an example of the highly sophisticated Intersubjective development of a typical 19 month old—you guessed it—SB3. Yesterday afternoon, he had moved a chair over to the kitchen counter and was busy stacking pill and vitamin bottles (who said you need to spend money on blocks? Haha!). SB3 stacked them four bottles high, which was about as high as he could possibly reach. Then he turned and smiled at me, sharing with me his personal subjective thoughts—that he was proud of his good work--and checking out mine, making sure that I was as aware and proud of his accomplishment as he himself was (thus, he was being intersubjective). 
Just a few minutes later, Habeeb got home from work. SB3 was still playing with the bottles. They’d fallen over and he was restacking them. He stopped to acknowledge Habeeb’s arrival, but then went right back to his very important work. In a few seconds he had his stack finished, and then the beautiful intersubjective dance began again. 
First SB3 turned from his finished stack to smile with great pride at Habeeb, who was likewise enthralled with the architecture. Then, even though Habeeb was ‘with’ SB3 in the dance, SB3 quickly pointed at his stack of bottles as well, furthering highlighting his pride and joy. Then SB3 turned and looked at me again as well, still grinning from ear to ear and with a happy little chuckle to further highlight his great satisfaction and pride, making sure that I was in on the experience too, sharing his perspective and checking out mine (which he found matched his quite well—the proud momma and the proud boy!). I of course already knew that he was a good pill bottle stacker from moments before, but now SB3 wanted to share with me that daddy now knew it too, and that made it even bigger and better than before! SB3, even at just 19 months old, is already becoming a master of Intersubjectivity!For some reason (or reasons), that development of Intersubjectivity breaks down somewhere early along the way for our kids on the autism spectrum. In fact, it’s more that lack of intersubjectivity that is “autism” instead of a set of specific and commonly listed behaviors (such as lack of eye contact or lining things up or having very short attention spans, all of which are behaviors common in autism, but far from universal in autism, whereas a lack of intersubjectivity is universal and is the contributing factor to all the varied behavioral symptoms, whether there is 'eye contact' or not).
The good news is that even though Intersubjectivity breaks down or fails to develop in the first place in autism, it IS repairable and can then continue to develop to higher levels and complexities, just as the brain continues to grow and develop throughout our lives. Approaches like RDI (Relationship Development Intervention) focus on helping the parents create opportunities for reestablishing the development of Intersubjectivity through repairing and working through the Guided Participation Relationship.
Most often that begins with re-establishing the first level of Intersubjectivity, a simple me-and-you-together or a we-go (as opposed to an ego), such as is seen in a first game of peek-a-boo with an infant just a few months old. By about a year old, infants have progressed to the second level of Intersubjectivity, often referred to as the beginnings of “joint attention,” where the child and the adult can both share their reactions with each other about some third and ‘outside’ object or event, such as the child pointing at a plane passing overhead to make sure mom sees it too. The child is aware that what he sees isn’t necessarily what mom sees, and that mom’s subjective perspective (whether she likes something or doesn’t) may not be the same as his own. Notice, the key is that both parties are sharing with each other their own personal subjective experiences and perspectives. A child with autism can be taught to point at something, or to look at something someone else points at, but that does NOT mean that the child is aware of and considering the other person's personal subjective perspective or feelings about the object pointed at. Following a point is a skill. Sharing perspectives the key to Intersubjectivity.
In SB3’s case, he was clearly demonstrating age appropriate levels of Intersubjectivity, making every effort to share his perspectives and experiences with us, making sure we understood where he was coming from, and making sure our personal perspectives and experiences made sense to him as well (for example, we could have been proud of his success, or angry that he was up at the counter again, or worried that he was playing with pill bottles—many possible reactions, any of which he could have understood, even if he didn’t agree with them himself—it just so happened we were proud and impressed with his towering building project too).Now, if anyone would like to share their own personal intersubjective perspective with me and other readers of the blog, please leave a comment!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Jman's Words, update 1--obstacles
I know it's been a LONG time since I posted anything about Jman and his ProLoQuo2Go. Oh well--such is life!
But it's time for an update of sorts. What with the holidays and some family and health issues, I have not created sufficient opportunity to work very intentionally with Jman on using the P2G. But that does not mean that he has not been using it, and even teaching himself some new language from it, and also developing some 'obstacles' to using the iPod/ProLoQuo2Go as well. I'll try to touch on some of all the obstacles here, and some of his progress in another post. Warning: This is long and wordy!
First, Jman LOVES messing around with "bird" or "Jman's Words." "Bird" because the ProLoQuo2Go icon is an owl. "Jman's Words" because he has HIS iPod and I have MINE, "Mom's Words." Jman would greatly prefer to have "Mom's Words" because "Mom's Words" still has access to the internet and therefore to not only the web browser but also YouTube. He has become a total YouTube junkie. Unfortunately, there are not any good parental controls on the iPod for blocking inappropriate YouTube videos, and there are so many lovely people out there taking kid's favorite characters and movies (such as Thomas or Wall-E) and creating some very NOT kid-friendly videos. We certainly don't want Jman running around echoing some of the lines he hears from some of the Thomas and Wall-E youtube videos he manages to find! Not to mention the fact that too much of even the 'good' videos mess with his brain anyway.
So, we have the two iPods--one WITH internet access and one WITHOUT.
But I must say, that's not entirely accurate. Jman's iPod still DOES have internet/wifi, and Safari, and YouTube. What he does NOT have is the Key Code for logging on to the secure wifi at home. We found that when we restricted the apps for Safari or YouTube, Jman would completely freak out. He KNEW the buttons were supposed to be there. And of course every iPod case/accessory out there shows the icons for Safari and YouTube as well, resulting in him wanting to purchase every case, in the hopes that the buttons on the stickers would work. Sometimes it was funny, and other times it was annoying! So, we decided to leave Safari and YouTube ON his iPod AND leave the wifi turned ON as well, BUT Jman doesn’t have the Key Code to be able to log on to the secure wifi at home. Thus, he doesn’t have internet access at home on HIS iPod, but doesn’t melt down at the missing buttons on his iPod. Instead, he asks me to connect him to the wifi, OR he tries to steal MY iPod from my pocket. Now THAT gets really annoying! But it’s the ‘happy medium’ we have at the moment.
There is one more aspect to the “Jman’s Words” vs “Mom’s Words” issue. Jman HAS figured out how to spy on me when I log on to my iPod with the 4 digit passcode. Then when/if he is able to get his hands on my iPod, he logs himself on and has his beloved YouTube. So, I’m now having to cycle through a series of pass codes, trying to stay one step ahead of him. Again, it’s annoying, but on the other hand, I’m kind of proud of him figuring out how to be that sneaky and successfully pulling it off (more than once, no less!).
Well, aside from the general iPod/YouTube/Safari obstacles, we also have Jman using his iPod to listen to music. At first we put on some Jman favorites, but they quickly became stimmy obstacles interfering with not only communication and interaction, but also LIFE. So, we removed some of the ‘cool’ albums we had initially installed on there, including Garfield (the comic) and Bugs On Broadway (as in Looney Tunes). We also never put any of his VeggieTales albums on there, OR any of the Sing The Word albums from Sonlight Curriculum (Bible verses set to song, which he has stimmed on for years). Instead we put only instrumental music on his iPod, so he couldn’t stim on the lyrics like he’d been doing. He has a definite favorite with, of course, “Linus and Lucy” (as in The Peanuts/Charlie Brown) as performed by George Winston (solo piano). The album is fabulous, and he listens to IT over and over again, with a couple favorite songs in particular. But being just music instead of lyrics, it really does fade into the background most of the time and doesn’t interfere with his ability to communicate or engage with us, even while his music is on (most of the time).
About a week ago, though, Jman did something totally new: He sat down at the piano, with his iPod playing the end of a particular favorite Charlie Brown song, and tried to imitate what he was hearing on the piano! Was he successful? Well, not exactly. He was successful enough that we could clearly recognize what he was TRYING to do, even though he wasn’t exactly pulling it off.
Also particularly interesting were the facts that, 1) He didn’t ONLY try to imitate the part he was listening too. He also played around on the keyboard in general, alternating between trying to learn the passage he wanted to imitate and just exploring the piano in general; and 2) he did NOT freak out when Habeeb was recording him on video at one point (though he did later delete the video and we haven’t been able to recover it yet! Darn!).
One other aspect about the music on the iPod before I move on. We later added an album that includes acapella vocals (only voices, no musical instruments) with some fabulous harmonies. Jman has spent a lot of time ‘studying’ this music, listening to it intently. He seems fascinated by the complex vocal harmonies he hears. Kind of funny—we’ve given him albums with NO vocals and albums with ONLY vocals, but the albums with both instruments and vocals create huge stimmy obstacles. There’s got to be something profound about that observation with regards to auditory processing or something, but I don’t know what it is exactly. In any case, the music has become not so much of an obstacle with his current selections, and yet he still enjoys listening.
The next obstacles revolve more around ProLoQuo2Go in specific rather than the iPod in general. First is the fact that when Jman is really upset about something (such as YouTube not working sometimes), he will express his displeasure by deleting ProLoQuo2Go. I know I’ve mentioned that before. I still wish there was a way to prevent him from deleting that app. He goes through phases of that, not deleting it for a couple weeks, and then deleting it 4 times in a single day. Sometimes he’ll be upset (with me, because I won’t log him on to YouTube, or whatever he’s upset about at the time), he’ll delete ProLoQuo2Go , and then immediately hand me the iPod and say, “Oh No! Where’s Bird?!?” When he does THAT, I’ll usually say, “Bird’s GONE. All done!” and NOT reinstall it right away. At that point, he’s wordless/birdless until I decide to go ahead and reinstall for him, which may not be until the next day or later, it just depends. Such is life. When he’s being THAT deliberate, there are consequences, and Mom not fixing it right away is certainly one very natural consequence!
At other times, Jman will just be stimming with the buttons on P2G. For example, he’ll have it say a single word over and over and over again just because he thinks it sounds hysterically funny. Sly thought he’d broken the iPod, but Jman just had it saying “our” about 75 times in a row, just to hear the funny sound. Jman will also push every button in a category just to hear the iPod say the words, sometimes several times in a row. Even funnier, Jman has of course memorized the sequences and will say them himself just for fun sometimes.
Now, I know what many folks out there must be thinking—“That’s SO bad! That’s so not constructive! You shouldn’t let him do that! He should be using this for functional communication, not for stimming! Stimming, after all, is BAD! You’ve even been talking about stopping bad stims in this very post! Why would you let him DO that?????”
Well, because he’s learning from it. Seriously. Yeah, he’s playing, and stimming, and not being ‘functional’ or ‘communicative’ when he does that. But on the other hand, show me the child learning language that doesn’t play around with sounds and words, stringing silly stuff together and driving those around him absolutely batty when they keep saying the same thing over and over again! Jman is doing something kind of like that. Yes, it’s annoying. Yes, sometimes I DO stop him, because I simply don’t want to hear it anymore. But, for the most part, he’s actually organizing some of these words in his head, and surprisingly enough they’ll pop up in real ‘functional’ communication later on. But that’s getting into the next post. I’m still talking about obstacles.
Another Jman P2G obstacle is when he edits the vocabulary installed on his iPod. He does this regularly. Sometimes it’s just playing, sometimes stimming, and sometimes it creates problems, like when he deletes categories and wants them fixed back again. It’s a minor obstacle. Usually I can restore to a previous backup on his iPod, but sometimes I have to hook up to the wifi and actually reinstall a ‘master’ backup of vocabulary for him. The main problems with that are 1) the general inconvenience, and 2) if I forget to have his iPod ‘forget’ the Key Code for the wifi, he then disappears with his iPod for extended periods and inhales YouTube videos until I find him and get him offline again. What a stinker!
Well, I expect I’ve bored you to tears with some of our iPod and ProLoQuo2Go obstacles. I could sit here and think of others, but these are the biggies, though there IS one more that must be shared: Jman broke the screen (glass) on his first iPod somehow (probably when he was frustrated at not having YouTube!). Fortunately, when we bought his iPod, we bought with it a 2 year replacement contract, including replacement due to accidental damage for whatever reason (such as autistic boys breaking the glass, for example). So, we sent it back for the full refund and then ordered him a new iPod. And yes, we bought the replacement contract for the new iPod as well! Hopefully, though, this 2nd iPod will last longer than his first!
But it's time for an update of sorts. What with the holidays and some family and health issues, I have not created sufficient opportunity to work very intentionally with Jman on using the P2G. But that does not mean that he has not been using it, and even teaching himself some new language from it, and also developing some 'obstacles' to using the iPod/ProLoQuo2Go as well. I'll try to touch on some of all the obstacles here, and some of his progress in another post. Warning: This is long and wordy!
First, Jman LOVES messing around with "bird" or "Jman's Words." "Bird" because the ProLoQuo2Go icon is an owl. "Jman's Words" because he has HIS iPod and I have MINE, "Mom's Words." Jman would greatly prefer to have "Mom's Words" because "Mom's Words" still has access to the internet and therefore to not only the web browser but also YouTube. He has become a total YouTube junkie. Unfortunately, there are not any good parental controls on the iPod for blocking inappropriate YouTube videos, and there are so many lovely people out there taking kid's favorite characters and movies (such as Thomas or Wall-E) and creating some very NOT kid-friendly videos. We certainly don't want Jman running around echoing some of the lines he hears from some of the Thomas and Wall-E youtube videos he manages to find! Not to mention the fact that too much of even the 'good' videos mess with his brain anyway.
So, we have the two iPods--one WITH internet access and one WITHOUT.
But I must say, that's not entirely accurate. Jman's iPod still DOES have internet/wifi, and Safari, and YouTube. What he does NOT have is the Key Code for logging on to the secure wifi at home. We found that when we restricted the apps for Safari or YouTube, Jman would completely freak out. He KNEW the buttons were supposed to be there. And of course every iPod case/accessory out there shows the icons for Safari and YouTube as well, resulting in him wanting to purchase every case, in the hopes that the buttons on the stickers would work. Sometimes it was funny, and other times it was annoying! So, we decided to leave Safari and YouTube ON his iPod AND leave the wifi turned ON as well, BUT Jman doesn’t have the Key Code to be able to log on to the secure wifi at home. Thus, he doesn’t have internet access at home on HIS iPod, but doesn’t melt down at the missing buttons on his iPod. Instead, he asks me to connect him to the wifi, OR he tries to steal MY iPod from my pocket. Now THAT gets really annoying! But it’s the ‘happy medium’ we have at the moment.
There is one more aspect to the “Jman’s Words” vs “Mom’s Words” issue. Jman HAS figured out how to spy on me when I log on to my iPod with the 4 digit passcode. Then when/if he is able to get his hands on my iPod, he logs himself on and has his beloved YouTube. So, I’m now having to cycle through a series of pass codes, trying to stay one step ahead of him. Again, it’s annoying, but on the other hand, I’m kind of proud of him figuring out how to be that sneaky and successfully pulling it off (more than once, no less!).
Well, aside from the general iPod/YouTube/Safari obstacles, we also have Jman using his iPod to listen to music. At first we put on some Jman favorites, but they quickly became stimmy obstacles interfering with not only communication and interaction, but also LIFE. So, we removed some of the ‘cool’ albums we had initially installed on there, including Garfield (the comic) and Bugs On Broadway (as in Looney Tunes). We also never put any of his VeggieTales albums on there, OR any of the Sing The Word albums from Sonlight Curriculum (Bible verses set to song, which he has stimmed on for years). Instead we put only instrumental music on his iPod, so he couldn’t stim on the lyrics like he’d been doing. He has a definite favorite with, of course, “Linus and Lucy” (as in The Peanuts/Charlie Brown) as performed by George Winston (solo piano). The album is fabulous, and he listens to IT over and over again, with a couple favorite songs in particular. But being just music instead of lyrics, it really does fade into the background most of the time and doesn’t interfere with his ability to communicate or engage with us, even while his music is on (most of the time).
About a week ago, though, Jman did something totally new: He sat down at the piano, with his iPod playing the end of a particular favorite Charlie Brown song, and tried to imitate what he was hearing on the piano! Was he successful? Well, not exactly. He was successful enough that we could clearly recognize what he was TRYING to do, even though he wasn’t exactly pulling it off.
Also particularly interesting were the facts that, 1) He didn’t ONLY try to imitate the part he was listening too. He also played around on the keyboard in general, alternating between trying to learn the passage he wanted to imitate and just exploring the piano in general; and 2) he did NOT freak out when Habeeb was recording him on video at one point (though he did later delete the video and we haven’t been able to recover it yet! Darn!).
One other aspect about the music on the iPod before I move on. We later added an album that includes acapella vocals (only voices, no musical instruments) with some fabulous harmonies. Jman has spent a lot of time ‘studying’ this music, listening to it intently. He seems fascinated by the complex vocal harmonies he hears. Kind of funny—we’ve given him albums with NO vocals and albums with ONLY vocals, but the albums with both instruments and vocals create huge stimmy obstacles. There’s got to be something profound about that observation with regards to auditory processing or something, but I don’t know what it is exactly. In any case, the music has become not so much of an obstacle with his current selections, and yet he still enjoys listening.
The next obstacles revolve more around ProLoQuo2Go in specific rather than the iPod in general. First is the fact that when Jman is really upset about something (such as YouTube not working sometimes), he will express his displeasure by deleting ProLoQuo2Go. I know I’ve mentioned that before. I still wish there was a way to prevent him from deleting that app. He goes through phases of that, not deleting it for a couple weeks, and then deleting it 4 times in a single day. Sometimes he’ll be upset (with me, because I won’t log him on to YouTube, or whatever he’s upset about at the time), he’ll delete ProLoQuo2Go , and then immediately hand me the iPod and say, “Oh No! Where’s Bird?!?” When he does THAT, I’ll usually say, “Bird’s GONE. All done!” and NOT reinstall it right away. At that point, he’s wordless/birdless until I decide to go ahead and reinstall for him, which may not be until the next day or later, it just depends. Such is life. When he’s being THAT deliberate, there are consequences, and Mom not fixing it right away is certainly one very natural consequence!
At other times, Jman will just be stimming with the buttons on P2G. For example, he’ll have it say a single word over and over and over again just because he thinks it sounds hysterically funny. Sly thought he’d broken the iPod, but Jman just had it saying “our” about 75 times in a row, just to hear the funny sound. Jman will also push every button in a category just to hear the iPod say the words, sometimes several times in a row. Even funnier, Jman has of course memorized the sequences and will say them himself just for fun sometimes.
Now, I know what many folks out there must be thinking—“That’s SO bad! That’s so not constructive! You shouldn’t let him do that! He should be using this for functional communication, not for stimming! Stimming, after all, is BAD! You’ve even been talking about stopping bad stims in this very post! Why would you let him DO that?????”
Well, because he’s learning from it. Seriously. Yeah, he’s playing, and stimming, and not being ‘functional’ or ‘communicative’ when he does that. But on the other hand, show me the child learning language that doesn’t play around with sounds and words, stringing silly stuff together and driving those around him absolutely batty when they keep saying the same thing over and over again! Jman is doing something kind of like that. Yes, it’s annoying. Yes, sometimes I DO stop him, because I simply don’t want to hear it anymore. But, for the most part, he’s actually organizing some of these words in his head, and surprisingly enough they’ll pop up in real ‘functional’ communication later on. But that’s getting into the next post. I’m still talking about obstacles.
Another Jman P2G obstacle is when he edits the vocabulary installed on his iPod. He does this regularly. Sometimes it’s just playing, sometimes stimming, and sometimes it creates problems, like when he deletes categories and wants them fixed back again. It’s a minor obstacle. Usually I can restore to a previous backup on his iPod, but sometimes I have to hook up to the wifi and actually reinstall a ‘master’ backup of vocabulary for him. The main problems with that are 1) the general inconvenience, and 2) if I forget to have his iPod ‘forget’ the Key Code for the wifi, he then disappears with his iPod for extended periods and inhales YouTube videos until I find him and get him offline again. What a stinker!
Well, I expect I’ve bored you to tears with some of our iPod and ProLoQuo2Go obstacles. I could sit here and think of others, but these are the biggies, though there IS one more that must be shared: Jman broke the screen (glass) on his first iPod somehow (probably when he was frustrated at not having YouTube!). Fortunately, when we bought his iPod, we bought with it a 2 year replacement contract, including replacement due to accidental damage for whatever reason (such as autistic boys breaking the glass, for example). So, we sent it back for the full refund and then ordered him a new iPod. And yes, we bought the replacement contract for the new iPod as well! Hopefully, though, this 2nd iPod will last longer than his first!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Snow Day!
A week ago last Friday, it SNOWED! That's worthy of resuming the blog! (Yeah, it still took me this long to convert and upload a video, and the video sucks, but hey, it's a start. And btw, I HATE blogger!)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Same but Different
Folks on the autism spectrum have difficulty with changes. Because they are not very good at reading other people's perspectives or intentions, they are at a great disadvantage at dealing with differences or changes when they happen. Most of us will look around to see what others are doing, make a judgement call on why they may be doing that, and will tend to adjust our own behavior and thoughts accordingly, perhaps match what others are doing so as to blend in or maybe occasionally to go against the flow intentionally. But folks on the spectrum don't read others well, and thus don't have that extra info to help them process changes or challenges very well and adjust their actions and thoughts in relation to what others are doing or thinking. As a result, they will usually find one way of doing something, and do it that same way every time, regardless of what everyone else is doing or thinking because they aren't really understanding what everyone else is doing or thinking in the first place, or why. It's safer and more predictable to just do things the same way over and over. That's one of those processing differences for folks on the spectrum that lead to repetitive behaviors such as little kids lining up toy cars instead of playing out various games or scenarios with them.
Thus, I found it especially interesting last night when Jman began communicating to me about wanting some popcorn. Up until now, when using the ProLoQuo2Go, he has punched in a sequence in which he uses a short cut button for the phrase "I want" which takes him to a new page with choices such as a button for "to use the computer" or a category button for "something to eat," which in turn takes him to the "Foods and Drinks" page.
However, last night, Jman did it differently. First, he navigated to "Word Spaces," which includes categories for "Actions" (verbs), "I, You, They, plus" (pronouns), "Describers" (adjectives), etc--basically all the words accessible through their various grammatical parts of speech rather than group by topic (food, clothing, etc).
Jman then selected "I" from the pronouns section. I watched as he began searching for another word, first in Actions, then Describers, then Linkers (conjunctions), then back to Actions. I interrupted him and asked him, "What are you looking for?" He kept browsing, but said (just like P2G says it, of course), "want." So, his first inclination was right--it WAS in Actions, but he just missed it when he looked. I scrolled down with him and pointed it out, and he quickly punched in "want." Then he navigated his way back to the home page and through categories to foods and drinks, where he began searching through Desserts. I figured he was looking for popcorn, and offered that that would be under Snacks, not Desert. He quickly took that advice, jumped over to snacks, and plugged in "popcorn." Thus, he had his complete messgage: "I want popcorn."
Now, there's nothing new about Jman wanting popcorn. What is new is that he found a new way to put the sentence together, finding each word individually instead of relying on cheater buttons. It's also the first time he's ever used a pronoun as an individual word instead of part of a rote phrase. There have been a few times when I was messaging something to him that I have used the pronouns section with him looking on, but only because that was what I needed at the time, rather than having in mind a direct teaching of pronouns. It was also new for him to use a word from the Actions category as well. All together, Jman, despite his autism and despite having one way that works for asking for popcorn, created a different way to ask for the same thing last night, purely for the fun and challenge of doing it differently! That is AWESOME! (Note, I'm tilting my head back and to the left, with a huge smile and two thumbs up, just like the symbolstix icon for 'awesome' on P2G--Jman imitates the poses of the stick figures, and the 'awesome' pose is becoming a family favorite!)
But wait--there's more!
After Jman told me "I want popcorn" the new and different (but still the same words) way, he took his 'same but different' one step further. He cleared out the first message and punched in the sentence starter button for "Let's." Then he punched in the Actions button for "eat." Then he jumped back over to Snacks where he again selected "popcorn." His new same-but-different message: "Let's eat popcorn." That's when it REALLY struck me and reconfirmed that Jman was actually playing with language and finding different ways to get across the same meaning or thought. He wasn't falling back on just the same one rote expression that he always used in the past, "I want popcorn." He wasn't relying on one way of saying that expression via ProLoQuo2Go either, using the starter phrase button "I want." No, Jman was branching out into new territory, discovering adn sharing that there's 'more than one way to skin a cat,' and best of all, he was making that discovering on his own because HE wanted to, and not because someone else was drilling yet another rule into his head.
Last night really got me to considering how the ProLoQuo2Go is helping him to break language up into component words that can be rearranged and reorganized rather than as longer units of stock phrases. When you simply hear someone talking, it's hard to know sometimes where the 'breaks' are, particularly when you have difficulty with the language being spoken (which can be the case for your 'first language' if you have language processing issues or auditory processing issues). When things are written, it's easier to see the breaks in words because there are spaces between words, and other punctuation between sentences and phrases. But with ProLoQuo2Go, there's the added advantage of 'context' associated with the written word, because the little pictures with each word convey additional information that abstract letters of course lack. By fooling around with ProLoQuo2Go (or 'babbling' with it, as I term it), Jman is discovering 'words,' and he's discovering how to put them together to communicate thoughts, and that there's more than one way set of words or one arrangement that you can use to express the same thought. He's got the sound, the letters, the pictures, the organization/categorization of the spaces, and the physical motion of moving through the pages all working together for him to turn his brain on to communication and to make his own effective discoveries about 'same but different.' That is just AMAZING.
Thus, I found it especially interesting last night when Jman began communicating to me about wanting some popcorn. Up until now, when using the ProLoQuo2Go, he has punched in a sequence in which he uses a short cut button for the phrase "I want" which takes him to a new page with choices such as a button for "to use the computer" or a category button for "something to eat," which in turn takes him to the "Foods and Drinks" page.
However, last night, Jman did it differently. First, he navigated to "Word Spaces," which includes categories for "Actions" (verbs), "I, You, They, plus" (pronouns), "Describers" (adjectives), etc--basically all the words accessible through their various grammatical parts of speech rather than group by topic (food, clothing, etc).
Jman then selected "I" from the pronouns section. I watched as he began searching for another word, first in Actions, then Describers, then Linkers (conjunctions), then back to Actions. I interrupted him and asked him, "What are you looking for?" He kept browsing, but said (just like P2G says it, of course), "want." So, his first inclination was right--it WAS in Actions, but he just missed it when he looked. I scrolled down with him and pointed it out, and he quickly punched in "want." Then he navigated his way back to the home page and through categories to foods and drinks, where he began searching through Desserts. I figured he was looking for popcorn, and offered that that would be under Snacks, not Desert. He quickly took that advice, jumped over to snacks, and plugged in "popcorn." Thus, he had his complete messgage: "I want popcorn."
Now, there's nothing new about Jman wanting popcorn. What is new is that he found a new way to put the sentence together, finding each word individually instead of relying on cheater buttons. It's also the first time he's ever used a pronoun as an individual word instead of part of a rote phrase. There have been a few times when I was messaging something to him that I have used the pronouns section with him looking on, but only because that was what I needed at the time, rather than having in mind a direct teaching of pronouns. It was also new for him to use a word from the Actions category as well. All together, Jman, despite his autism and despite having one way that works for asking for popcorn, created a different way to ask for the same thing last night, purely for the fun and challenge of doing it differently! That is AWESOME! (Note, I'm tilting my head back and to the left, with a huge smile and two thumbs up, just like the symbolstix icon for 'awesome' on P2G--Jman imitates the poses of the stick figures, and the 'awesome' pose is becoming a family favorite!)
But wait--there's more!
After Jman told me "I want popcorn" the new and different (but still the same words) way, he took his 'same but different' one step further. He cleared out the first message and punched in the sentence starter button for "Let's." Then he punched in the Actions button for "eat." Then he jumped back over to Snacks where he again selected "popcorn." His new same-but-different message: "Let's eat popcorn." That's when it REALLY struck me and reconfirmed that Jman was actually playing with language and finding different ways to get across the same meaning or thought. He wasn't falling back on just the same one rote expression that he always used in the past, "I want popcorn." He wasn't relying on one way of saying that expression via ProLoQuo2Go either, using the starter phrase button "I want." No, Jman was branching out into new territory, discovering adn sharing that there's 'more than one way to skin a cat,' and best of all, he was making that discovering on his own because HE wanted to, and not because someone else was drilling yet another rule into his head.
Last night really got me to considering how the ProLoQuo2Go is helping him to break language up into component words that can be rearranged and reorganized rather than as longer units of stock phrases. When you simply hear someone talking, it's hard to know sometimes where the 'breaks' are, particularly when you have difficulty with the language being spoken (which can be the case for your 'first language' if you have language processing issues or auditory processing issues). When things are written, it's easier to see the breaks in words because there are spaces between words, and other punctuation between sentences and phrases. But with ProLoQuo2Go, there's the added advantage of 'context' associated with the written word, because the little pictures with each word convey additional information that abstract letters of course lack. By fooling around with ProLoQuo2Go (or 'babbling' with it, as I term it), Jman is discovering 'words,' and he's discovering how to put them together to communicate thoughts, and that there's more than one way set of words or one arrangement that you can use to express the same thought. He's got the sound, the letters, the pictures, the organization/categorization of the spaces, and the physical motion of moving through the pages all working together for him to turn his brain on to communication and to make his own effective discoveries about 'same but different.' That is just AMAZING.
Monday, November 16, 2009
bizarro world at the barber shop
Today a bizarre thing happened. Habeeb and Sly were getting their military reg haircuts on base after we all ate lunch. When they were finishing up, Jman walked into the barbershop. He then climbed up into the barber's chair that Habeeb had just vacated. Then he tried to put on the barber's smock, and I helped him snap it in the back. We were all BAFFLED. This kid does NOT do haircuts, and especially not in a hair cutting place! I asked Jman if he wanted a haircut, including programming it into his ProLoQuo2Go, and he said yes. ????!!!!???? The problem was he still had his 'ears' on, and didn't really want to take them off (it'd be awfully hard to cut his hair with hearing protection on!).
Someone else came in for a haircut, and the lady barber, who was being AWESOME with letting Jman do his thing (what a rare and special treat to find someone so good!), asked Jman to move over to the next chair. It took him a couple times of hearing to understand, and then he moved on over. Into another barber's chair. Still amazing.
After another go at taking his 'ears' off, Jman decided to get up and move on out. Habeeb and Sly were done and ready to go. They started to head up the corrider to leave the building, but Jman decided to go back in. He sat down in the 2nd chair again, and put the smock back on. I asked again if he wanted a hair cut, and he said yes. Still not believing it, I pulled the leatherman micra out of my pocket and opened up the scissors. I gave his bangs a few snips, and he was liking it. ???!!!???
Then the lady barber (who was so awesome) suggested we let Jman hold her clippers with them turned on. Like I said, she was awesome! She was completely naturally tuned in to supporting Jman, allowing him freedom, increasing the opportunities for him to learn just enough without challenging him to 'behave' and without overwhelming him. What a rare and special gem!
So, anyway, Jman didn't want to hold the clippers. He wanted me to cut his hair with them. He tried to get me to cut higher toward the top of his head, but that would have been committing us to REALLY giving him a SHORT hair cut. Instead, I just clipped a few more bits from his bangs, leaving him a nice little wedge cut out right in the front. He wanted more, but I again told him the 'ears' would have to come off, and he finally decided he'd had enough hair cutting for one day. He took the smock off, and was ready to leave then.
Habeeb, Sly, and I are still in total SHOCK at Jman's adventures in the barber shop today! We're going to have to find out when the awesome barber lady is working again, and take Jman back and see what he does next time. Who knows--maybe someday the boy will actually get a REAL haircut! Wouldn't that be something?!?!
PS--Jman was having fun looking at his iPod/ProLoQuo2Go which he had turned on under the barber's smock. I suppose it was neat how the lit up screen showed through the smock. He really likes having his 'words' (though he still tries to take my iPod with the youtube not restricted!).
Someone else came in for a haircut, and the lady barber, who was being AWESOME with letting Jman do his thing (what a rare and special treat to find someone so good!), asked Jman to move over to the next chair. It took him a couple times of hearing to understand, and then he moved on over. Into another barber's chair. Still amazing.
After another go at taking his 'ears' off, Jman decided to get up and move on out. Habeeb and Sly were done and ready to go. They started to head up the corrider to leave the building, but Jman decided to go back in. He sat down in the 2nd chair again, and put the smock back on. I asked again if he wanted a hair cut, and he said yes. Still not believing it, I pulled the leatherman micra out of my pocket and opened up the scissors. I gave his bangs a few snips, and he was liking it. ???!!!???
Then the lady barber (who was so awesome) suggested we let Jman hold her clippers with them turned on. Like I said, she was awesome! She was completely naturally tuned in to supporting Jman, allowing him freedom, increasing the opportunities for him to learn just enough without challenging him to 'behave' and without overwhelming him. What a rare and special gem!
So, anyway, Jman didn't want to hold the clippers. He wanted me to cut his hair with them. He tried to get me to cut higher toward the top of his head, but that would have been committing us to REALLY giving him a SHORT hair cut. Instead, I just clipped a few more bits from his bangs, leaving him a nice little wedge cut out right in the front. He wanted more, but I again told him the 'ears' would have to come off, and he finally decided he'd had enough hair cutting for one day. He took the smock off, and was ready to leave then.
Habeeb, Sly, and I are still in total SHOCK at Jman's adventures in the barber shop today! We're going to have to find out when the awesome barber lady is working again, and take Jman back and see what he does next time. Who knows--maybe someday the boy will actually get a REAL haircut! Wouldn't that be something?!?!
PS--Jman was having fun looking at his iPod/ProLoQuo2Go which he had turned on under the barber's smock. I suppose it was neat how the lit up screen showed through the smock. He really likes having his 'words' (though he still tries to take my iPod with the youtube not restricted!).
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