WEBKINZ!
Cuddly, adoptable, animal friends that have a virtual life on line where you can take care of them.
Furball the Lab, Sticky and Herman the Tree Frogs, Thomas the Frog, Peekaboo the Elephant and Funny the Gorilla.People on the Autism Spectrum often have what are refereed to as "special interests." I heard a quote recently that said "Nurotypical people have interests that go a mile long and an inch deep. People with Aspegers have interests that go an inch long and a mile deep." From the time Cameron was 18months old, he has had one special something that occupied most of his attention. When a new special interest hits him, it is a little bit consuming...and can effect the entire family. Luckily we have turned what started as a really rough week into something great for all of us (even MOM!)
Cameron spent almost every waking moment at the start of the week, begging, crying, pacing, obsessing about when he was going to go to the store and get another WEBKINZ for his collection. With some great advice and a little ingenuity, we turned it around.
We made a chart for Cameron to show exactly what jobs he could do and how much he could earn per job. We mapped out how much he already had saved and how much he needed and then we scheduled a day on the calendar as "WEBKINZ Day" (or in other words, a day you can go to the store and get a new WEBKINZ if you have earned it.) Organization and predictability like this are the key to a happy Cameron. Not only did it work like a charm, my younger children thought it was just the cool thing to do to help mom clean the house!
2 comments:
I can't wait to meet the newest member of you family. You'll have to post it. You're doing great things with them Becca.
Love Mom
rebecca, i just read your two posts, the one about cameron too.
you are SUCH A GOOD mom. when i think about moms that i want to be like.....i think of you , and a few other people. you have been given such a trying situation with having to explain so many things to cameron, but you are sooooo good at it. and so patient. i wish i was like that.
just the fact that you made a little chore chart that he had to earn money for his little webkins. most moms would just cave , and buy their kids millions of those things. that is awesome.
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