Questions (this will later be REMOVED)

1. Describe the child's daily activities. Start from the time the child wakes up and describe a typical day until he/she goes to bed.

Waking up Sebastian is the morning is very tough, as he just started school this has been a large struggle to get him motivated to go to school. After he wakes up, I make sure he gets to the bathroom, then it is time to get him dressed for school, all dressing is done by me (his mother). After dressing him, we try to get him to eat something quick like a poptart and drink something, a orange drink. After this takes place, he gets his teeth brushed (by his mother).

Sebastian is drove to school everyday and walked to his classroom. At school he is in a normal classroom and according to the school, struggling daily with following the rules and doing what other children do. He is always at the front of the line so they can pay close attention to him, and he always has school issued headphones that help him cope with the loud noises that he is sensitive too. Often he ends up in the principals office because he is overwhelmed by the days events. Some days he lasts all day, other days the school calls me early to pick him up.

Sebastian and his brother are picked up from school, and he has his routine. He comes home from school and plays on the computer. He is able with help from his mother or brother to go to a website to watch videos of 'Mario'. His evening persists of spending time by himself or occasionally with his family. His speech is still very limited and repetitively sticks to certain foods, toys and routines of things he specifically enjoys.

Sebastian struggles with things like showers every evening, not everyday does he get a shower as he does not like water poured over his head. He is asked, but usually he is reluctant. Sebastian cannot handle most of his grooming. He can go to the bathroom by himself, but must be helped if anything other than peeing alone. He cannot brush himself or bathe himself, he needs help dressing and usually is a chore left up to family members, mostly his mother.

Routine is key, if routine is changed it often leads to a meltdown.

2. What does the child do when he/she is not in school? How long and how often does he/she do things?

Sebastian often keeps to himself, he has an older brother that wants to play with him, but usually Sebastian is happier playing by himself with his favorite toys, playing a game on the Wii by himself or watching videos on his current favorite things (cartoons, games, etc.). These tasks alone can persist for minutes to hours, very rarely does he want to participate in something such as watching a movie together or other things where he is with other members of the family.

3.Is the child expected to help with household chores? If yes, what are the chores, how often are they done, and how well are they done? How much supervision does the child require?

In short, no. He is not regularly asked to help in daily chores. He is occasionally asked to help pick-up his toys that are spread throughout a room, this depends greatly upon what mood he is in, which can differ from day to day. One day he will help on the days when he is not struggling with frustrated moods or being sucked into something resembling tunnel vision. Other days, he tunes his whole world, out and will not help with small tasks.


4. Describe the child's friends and playmates: their ages, activities, how often and how long they play together.

Sebastian has few friends outside of school, we have family friends who visit and Sebastian will play for a few minutes if at all and it is simultaneous play, not interactive play, but when they visit he would rather watch TV by himself in another room or be where the adults are. He is very excited to know they are coming over or showing up, but then when they visit, he plays by himself and no one rushes him to do anything, but they do gently try to persuade him to join in the fun.


5. How well does the child behave with adults (parents, other family members, teachers, neighbors? Please give examples:

This depends, greatly upon moods. One day interaction is minimal or very guarded, others can range from accepting until he becomes overwhelmed, or straight refusal.

If told to do something, he usually will not listen to many other adults beyond me (his mother) sometimes he will not listen to me. Sometimes I have to intervene in other people trying to get him to do something, such as his Grandmother or his brother and his interaction.

Teacher example: Today, he was picked up from school. He had a wonderful morning and arrived to school on time, but when I spoke with the teacher today. She relayed that he had a rough day, running around the classroom while the other students sat on the floor during a story reading and continued to run around the room, at one point pulling his pants down in class. Also, during lunch he kept getting up from his table and going to his brothers table to visit him.

Friend example: Due to routine, he likes to control things other people do. If they do not understand him or comply, he will get pretty upset and will metldown until someone can understand what he is saying or trying to do.

Parent example: Often times, as stated above, when Sebastian is misunderstood or told to do something he doesn't want to do or something is misunderstood, this becomes a safety issue. I speak for myself for not understanding something and being caught in a meltdown more than a few times, this results in throwing of items. Sometimes at me, sometimes in general, but I have been hit in the face a couple of times with items that result in a busted lip or a bruise here or there.


6. How many other children live with this child? What are their ages? Describe how the child reacts with them:

Sebastian has a older brother, Nickolas who is 10 years old. Day to day, this relationship struggles, his brother has ADHD and this is the opposite of what Sebastian can handle. Many times Nick wants to spend time with Sebastian and this ends up in a meltdown on Sebastian's part, throwing, screaming, crying and an occasional injury on big brothers part. Communication between them is very strained, some days are better than others. Often if they do play together, this does not last very long, 15 minutes give or take.

7. Is the child able to care for personal needs (bathing,dressing, toileting, toothbrushing, hair brushing, etc.)? Are there any special problems in this regard?

No, Sebastian cannot handle these tasks on his own. He can go pee by himself, but needs assistance in wiping himself after a BM. He on a rare occasion will help to dress himself, but this is very minimal if at all. His teeth are brushed by his mother as is his hair, his hair is a complicated thing. His hair must be cut at home, twice I tried to take him to a place to do this and it was very stressful for him, wiggling, screaming, crying, trying to escape, this became a safety issue on his and others parts, I opt to do this myself. This is still a struggle for me to do at home, but it's much safer and tolerable every 3 or so months. The same goes for things as grooming his nails, he will not let me do this while he is awake, this is something I must do while he is sleeping. Brushing his hair is a struggle in the morning, and bathing is a struggle. Sebastian does not like cold water, or hot water it must be the right temperature. He is still struggling to wash his hair, this is often when he wants to get out of the bathtub, we use a tear-free shampoo, but when the water hits his face, he freaks out and cannot take this and does not understand the concept of laying down in the tub and washing out the shampoo, you must always dump water on his head, calmly talk to him and give him a towel to dry off his face. Usually after one of those, this gets worse and is more of a struggle to get any shampoo out of his hair.


8. Describe fully any "problem" behaviors (for example: serious fighting, stealing, bedwetting, withdrawl from others, etc.) and describe how frequently these behaviors occur.

Withdrawl from others: Sebastian would much rather play alone than interact with others in public or at home often times. Sebastian has minimal communication, many adults struggle with understanding his speech and behaviors/interactions.

Throwing: During a meltdown, this is a danger to anyone in throwing distance, for example. All family members have been hurt with items in the heat of a meltdown, he does too hit his brother when he is frustrated.

Meltdowns: Often he is easily overwhelmed by situations and meltdowns are a way of "coping" with everything that is going on around him. This happens rather often, but depends greatly on what is going on and if communication is strained.

Repetitive behaviors: His cartoons, his foods, his routine. Straying from any of this is a real struggle.

Noises: He is very sensitive to noises, during an outing even family related. To Chuck E. Cheese for a birthday party, or the 4-H fair for family fun, he will often cover his ears because these type of things are too loud for him, recently we have implemented headphones since we seen how much this helps him at school, it works to make him feel a little more comfortable and able to enjoy some outings a little more, but he gets bored easily and still shuts down.

Running: This is a safety issue, at school and under family care he is known to run. Our home now has a special lock on the door where he cannot escape in the day or night without our knowledge as it has happened a couple of times before installing this device. In public, he does not realize the dangers of trying to run from an adult, whether it be down a hallway to something or in a parking lot walking back to a vehicle, it's always a type of "race" where you have to quickly catch him. If we go out, we hold his hand/wrist, he is trying to be independent, but does not understand the dangers of say, the parking lot.


9. If the child is in school, preschool or daycare, does the child miss days? How often and why?

Yes, Sebastian is in Kindergarten at Cedar Hall School, he was enrolled, but was a week late starting while I communicated with the school Social Worker, Ms. King. We was trying to figure out if he should attend a regular Kindergarten classroom or if a more specialized classroom setting would be better for him. He has been late, most days this year because of the morning struggle to get him going, additionally I refuse to send him to school on his more complicated mornings where meltdowns are normal (these have been fewer recently) or if he is sick, he stays sick for a while due to refusal to take medications, even forced. He also has therapy, on what I plan to keep to every Thursday, he will be taken out in the early afternoon and will not return because it is too complicated to get him to return to school, then is counted absent for taking him out at 11 a.m. for an 12:30 p.m. appointment (I must supply his lunch on these days) the appointment ends at 1:30 p.m. and by the time we arrive home, it is 2 p.m. and school lets out at 2:40 p.m.

The school is in the works of setting up a better schedule for him, we are unsure if this is half day or trying to get a teacher's assistant that just works with Sebastian in the classroom. This should take place sometime this week or next week.

10. When speaking, can the child be understood by family? Friends? Strangers? If the child cannot communicate his or her needs by speaking, how well can he or she express needs with hand gestures and/or sounds?

Sebastian does not have the vocabulary of a normal 6 year old, he functions much lower maybe 3 1/2 or a 4 year old. Many words are still slurred and often times, I am asked what he says, sometimes even I cannot understand it. He will try to communicate by showing you or if you ask him to show you, sometimes we still cannot understand what he is wanting. He has made some things his own, such as "orange drinky" which means he wants a glass of the only thing he will drink, which is orange in color.


11. Describe anything else that you feel might be important or helpful for us to know.

Sebastian is in therapy for PDD-NOS to high-functioning autism. Anything that we do is from the PCIT (Parent-Child interaction therapy) and is an on-going thing. Many of his behaviors remain the same. Sebastian's care at this point and time is almost like a full-time job, between monitoring his moods, dealing with the sensory issues, his interaction with others, and making it to and from appointments and this is very difficult emotionally for the family at times. He is a very special child with issues that take a lot of time and patience at this current time. We love our son/brother with all our heart and cherish him as he has blessed us and helped us to better understand what the autism spectrum is and have blessed us with such a wonderful person to get to know.