5.09.2008

Leelo vs. His Giant Car Seat, Sleep, and Food Tolerance

Leelo vs. His Giant Car Seat, Sleep, and Food Tolerance

First of all: CISWY Live! in Redwood City: The Videos. Now you can see what you've missed.

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Leelo got put in lockdown today. Car lockdown. Back in the Britax Husky, a five-point harness car seat that accommodates kids up to 120 lbs and is so large that, when installed in the back seat so that he cannot reach/hit his sisters, nothing else fits in that space that normally accommodates three kids. Sigh.

Using the Husky is quite inconvenient, from a logistical/me having to go into the way-back seat to buckle/unbuckle Leelo perspective, so I put off installing it until yesterday. Then Leelo decided to leap out of his regular seat belt seat while I was driving down a 35 MPH street in busy traffic, and started smacking Mali. I almost drove into oncoming traffic. The car seat got installed within the hour.

I thought Leelo would view the Husky as aversive, but apparently he considers it to be a throne. But hey, if he's happy, everyone's happy. I'll go with it.

We've started his sleep study. Every night for the next eight, Leelo will wear a watch-like device that monitors his motion while he sleeps. He had it on when he went to bed last night, but when I went to check on him at midnight (he hadn't pooped before going to bed, so I knew his pants held a late-night surprise), the device was off his wrist. He did not wake up while I changed and wiped him (praise be to you, oh Flying Spaghetti Monster) so I got the device back on his wrist, where it stayed until he woke up at 6 AM this morning.

He started his food tolerance program today, at school. The goal is to get him to eat more than the seven not-terribly-healthy food items he currently eats (whole wheat croissants, PB&J sandwiches, bananas, veggie booty, pancakes, graham crackers, and fruit smoothies), and is one of his nineteen IEP goals for the year. Supervisor M and his Occupational Therapist (OT) were both on hand to assist with the program launch.

Basically, they're using the same approach we use to get him to take his rice milk/vitamin concoction and straight cod liver oil in the morning: Do what is asked of you re: the food, get a reinforcer. The goal is to get him to successfully comply with the each step below (and be reinforced; we're using a bite of veggie booty) many times before moving to the next. Repeat until he eats.

1) Tolerate having the food on your plate without throwing it across the room
2) Touch the food
3) Pick up the food
4) Smell the food
5) Touch the food to your lips (or "kiss" the food)
6) Touch the food with your tongue
7) Take a bite of the food

We're starting with oranges. Since the taste of orange rinds is aversive, the OT recommended that we take those off. Supervisor M called me to let me know that apparently Leelo doesn't hate oranges (otherwise they would have been stuck on step 1 for a loooong time), and that as of this morning he'd already progressed to "kissing" the orange. Excellent.

I figure a kid who takes his cod liver oil straight and unflavored can be taught to tolerate almost anything, with enough patience and persuasion. I wish I had more patience and persuasion.

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