Transitions, especially getting on and off the bus, have
been tricky for my son, Garrett, who was born with Smith-Magenis Syndrome. I have written about getting on the school
bus (see this blog post here), but the getting home part has been much harder (see
Part I and Part II ).
Just like the prize box, the sticker eventually lost its
appeal. Finding something “enticing” enough to get
Garrett to (1) walk down the bus steps, (2) out the bus door, (3) turn and wave
to the bus in a gentlemanly manner, (4) walk down our driveway and (5) open the
front door while keeping said door on its hinges is key to the whole process. If left to his own devices, the daily bus
return looks like a scene out of The Exorcist.
Like all my best ideas, the last (still working!) trick came
from another SMS mom. We were talking
about the difficult issues with our kids during a “Mom’s Tea” at the PRISMS
conference. This brilliant lady bought
the pre-packaged hot coco mixes and gave them to the bus driver. Each day, the driver would give her son one package
that he carried into the house,
heated up water and made his own hot chocolate drink. And,
best of all, no words had to be exchanged.
Genius!
Garrett does not like hot drinks, but he is obsessed with
chocolate milk. So much so, that we no
longer keep it in the house or he will drink the entire gallon in a few
hours. It is a real treat for him to
have chocolate milk and this would be the perfect “new trick”.
My first purchase was the chocolate straw.
This would be a double treat because I do not
keep straws in the house (too many episodes of overflowing bubbles). I bought 5 packs, enough to last a whole
month and I slipped them out to the driver when Garrett wasn't looking.
First day, it worked like a charm.
Garrett came running down the driveway.
“Look what Heather gave me!” he shouted.
“Get a glass of milk and let’s see what happens,” I
answered.
He went straight to the kitchen and poured a tall glass of
milk. He took a big gulp. And, turned around and spit it out all over
the counter.
“Too crunchy! Too
crunchy!” He rubbed his tongue with his fingers.
“I don’t like it! I
don’t like it!” He told me…just in case I misinterpreted the disgusting milk
spit on my counter.
I looked at the straw.
It was full of tiny milk chocolate powder that was formed into
balls. When the white milk was sucked up
in the straw, it would turn chocolaty.
Garrett would not taste the powder at all.
“Look, Garrett. The
balls stay inside the straw.” I picked
up the straw and squeezed it.
“Too loud! Too loud!” He covered his ears.
His mind was made up.
The chocolate straws were a no go…and there was no getting around
it. (Good thing I knew he would love it and bought a whole month’s supply.)
The only other option was to create my own chocolate milk
pack.
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I bought the snack sized bags and
put 2 scoops of Quick powder mix in each bag.
It has gotten to the point where I no longer have to give
the baggies to the driver. Garrett is doing pretty well at getting off the bus. Most days, Garrett will come to the kitchen and
make his own drink with the liquid Quick mix (which is kept locked in the fridge).
However, we are still working on the "appropriate" amount of syrup….
