Thomas has started to go, "Eh, eh, eh, ehhhh..." sometimes. It seems like he does it when he's irritated. He had done it before, but it seems like he had stopped for six months. Now he's starting up again. It either has to do with his new school environment and feeling stress as he adjusts, or it has to do with another reason. He might have randomly started up again because of, perhaps, reading a book, hearing a sound somewhere, or just remembering he used to do it.

One really great rather peaceful method I have found to get Thomas to comply or stop undesired behaviour, besides offering him something he really wants (i.e. bribing), is giving him a bear hug. I hold him with my arms, body, and legs, so he becomes immobile, I tell him to fix his behaviour, and if he doesn't say, "Yes, Daddy" right away, I say, "Say, 'Yes, Daddy,'" until he says it. After two or three times of this, I've noticed he does not do the unacceptable behaviour.

So this morning, I gave him two big bear hugs and since then he has not made the sound. We will see if this sticks!

Christine and I both firmly believe that Thomas is adjusting to school much better than we expected. He is getting thumbs up from his teacher on the way out the door at hometime, and we are hearing that teachers are enjoying him in class. Wonderful!

Keep it up, Thomas! :D
 

Thomas likes the anticpated.

That’s why he prefers media. After listening to or watching something repeatedly, he knows what to expect. This makes him comfortable. It could be why he doesn’t like conversation. He doesn’t know what to expect. 

During dinner to get Thomas to sit down and eat fish, we sometimes play the audio of a show through external speakers and hide the video. He listens for a while, we stop it so he does what we want, and then we resume playing. He sometimes forgets that the music has stopped and we enjoy a conversation at the table as family of four, and when he stands up, we go back to using the audio as a reward.

  

So when this one song ended, I stopped the speaker and said, “Let’s sing the song together!” I had understandably gotten to know how the song went, but Thomas said, “No!” We realised, Thomas likes the original version. He doesn’t want to hear my screwed up take on it. We really love his conversation, and several times every day we get to talk together. Those are beautiful moments!

That almost went over my head

Thomas walked by a lady walking her dog on the path yesterday. I had asked Thomas if it was a fat or a skinny dog, Thomas said, "Skinny," and I walked out of earshot. Thomas and the lady talked for about a minute as we arrived at the playground. She stopped her dog and said Thomas was really brilliant, he's so advanced for his age. He said something that almost went over my head. For the next ten minutes we talked about Thomas and she said he is at a different level then other kids. I just read an article in Forbes of all places: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/07/05/research-shows-three-distinct-thought-styles-in-people-with-autism/#28b1454d221e

I say Thomas is a verbal/logic thinker:

"Verbal/logic thinkers tend to be good at learning languages, and have an affinity for words, literature, and speech. They love to make lists, and will often memorize (mundane) things such as train timetables & routes, stories in alphabetical order, and software product codes."

The other types of are visual and pattern thinkers!

A hole in the clouds - the way to discipline?

Thomas loves to disobey. Not listen to instructions. We can't say no a hundred times anymore, bribe him immensely to come to the dinner table, or pull our hair out as we try to get him to stop pinching Nathan after he gets teased or when something is not given to him - curse you and love you, Lego car wheels! We need to be firm when telling Thomas no. Keep a steady tone, no need to raise voices, but say the direction consistently until it's obeyed. Facial expressions should say you mean business. He can be told to go brush his teeth and follows that - he has demonstrated that several times. If Thomas develops discipline as fast as he develops reading or memorisation skills, he could really put his time to good use. My goal for Thomas is to stand and recite something he's memorised to his peers in grade 6.

Twice Exceptionality

 We believe Thomas may have twice exceptionality. According to Silverman (2013), this occurs when giftedness is combined with a disability. Thomas seems very good at some things such as distinguishing between 2D and 3D shapes, memorising lists, stories, and dialogue, and reading. Thomas has hyperlexia as well. He has been able to read since the age of two. His decoding skills surpasses by far his comprehension of what he is reading. And now at age 6, his comprehension is constantly trying to catch up. Of course Thomas' disability relates to socialising mainly. He does not carry on normal conversation. And although he is quite athletic, his younger brother figured out much more quickly how to climb to the top of the jungle gym.