#1107 Friday 27 February

Hopefully the good long sleep she had last night will allow her to have a better day at school today.

Much later

She had a good day at school and after we went shopping.   ...... I learnt a big lesson!  You can't have exceptions when dealing with an obsession!

We drove past a sign saying "Dental Surgery" ..... I thought that it would be ok to let her discuss a dentist working there.     NO WAY!  It set her off on s new bout of obsessing for the next 30 minutes!  It was a good lesson for us all.

#1106 Thursday 26 February

What a day!  Last night Kaylia insisted on staying awake till Hannah and Callum arrived ..... and today she suffered.  We had a call from school at 10am to say that she had been crying all morning so we went to get her and she spent the day at home.   While this was going on I was also trying to fix an electrical problem ..... the bathroom light would not turn off!  I called an electrician and he eventually traced it to a fault in the wiring between the light and the switch.   

Plus we went to look at a possible school for Kaylia to enrol in for high school next year.

#1105 Wednesday 25 February

The way we're tackling the obsession seems to be working ..... by 8am when we left for school she hadn't said it at all! On the trip to school she had three sessions..... and the teacher told me that it hadn't been a problem yesterday.

On the way home she had a number of sessions and at home it continues.   ..... but it's progress!

The funny thing now lifts my hands up to cover my ears when she is "doing it".

10pm

Welcome to Hannah and Callum who arrived tonight.  They've been in Australia for two months and have already seen s lot!  On the drive from the airport, the kangaroos did the right thing too.

Kaylia insisted on staying up to meet them.

#1104 Tuesday 24 February

The obsession battle continues.   Kaylia doesn't like our tactics.... but it's reducing the problem.

#1103 Sunday 22 February

One of the effects of autism for Kaylia is a very low sensitivity to pain ....... things that are quite painful for me she doesn't notice.  This can be a problem when we're having our Sunday morning sleep in as she loves to play "footsies" ..... and with little awareness of pain to guide her, it can be very painful to be receiving her version!

Later

We're using a different approach to the "Doctor obsession" ..... when Kaylia starts the nag, we put on ear protectors and ignore her.  We keep this up for about 20 seconds till she stops.  ... and then she gets special attention after she has stopped.    Kaylia definitely doesn't like this and the obsessive behavior is reducing noticeably after just one day.  It feels good to find something that works!