Quote:
Originally Posted by Scorpion
I didn't mean to be negative about how you and Chemda responded. If it honestly came across that way I'm sorry. You are both very nice and I did like what you two both wrote.
ABA therapy, he's autistic and it helps him focus and relate better. It has really been remarkable how much it has helped him. It is about 150k a year and without health insurance it would not be something we could do. We just started working on feelings, he seems to think he should always be happy. So when he is sad or angry he doesn't want to deal with it and tries to laugh and seem happy. You can't get an answer about what is wrong because he can't admit he is not happy. He has also taught himself to play the piano by simply watching his cousins play. He loves it and really is good for a 7 year old. Trying to get a piano teacher who can work in a non traditional way that he needs is not easy.
He's the best.
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My son is on the spectrum too and ABA therapy works a dream for a lot of kids. I can't believe how incredibly expensive it is for you though.
Don't get down on yourself for having a short fuse after a long day at work. Try to do some mindfulness before bed or on the commute home to center yourself so that when you walk in the door you can react, hopefully, a little calmer. It won't happen every day, you're a human, but it might help.
I can relate to the way you are feeling a lot, you have a lot on your plate and you are doing your best.
Re: Identifying Feelings
Look up Superflex. It's a program my son started on late last year and it is pretty good:
https://www.socialthinking.com/Resea...Help/Superflex
Do the High/Low game with him at dinner or before bed to encourage you to talk about the good and bad of each day. Use different words to describe how you are feeling to model to him how he can do the same. Just saying you had a good day or a bad time on the train doesn't really do much to associate the feelings that come with those experiences (butterflies in your stomach when you are nervous - though he could take that literally
- or feeling warm inside when you are happy)
You could say: "I had a really bad day at work today."
or
You could go into a bit more detail and pose a question back to him (not too much detail, he's only 7): "I had a really bad day at work today which made me feel frustrated and made my tummy feel yuck. I needed to take some deep breaths to calm down. Have you ever felt like that before?" and hopefully he can relay to you a similar scenario where he can identify those feelings. Or if not, he will at least start to see how that when he is
actually happy, he shouldn't feel yuck in his tummy or something.
Not sure if that made sense but you aren't alone mate. I hope this post makes you feel warm and not yucky in the tummy...