Don't Quit

Don't Quit 

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must — but don't you quit!

Life is queer with it's twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don't give up, though the pace seems slow —

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man.

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor's cup,

And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out —

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you can never tel how close you are.

It may be near when it seems afar;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit —

It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit. 

A little poem from the Railroad Trainman.

My mind often wanders to all the things I hope I am able to teach my children before they leave my care. The list is indeed daunting, but apart from knowing and loving God, I would have to say sticking it out has to be at the top of the list.

I hope to teach all of my children not to quit, but I have to say I feel a stronger responsibility to impart this lesson to my Jackson (with PDD). My mother's heart can't help but wonder what kind of life awaits him. How will he grow and develop? Will he catch up with his peers? How hard will he have to struggle to get what might come naturally for his brother and sister? Will he play sports, make friends and go to college? Will he marry and have children of his own? Will he find and fulfill his calling or at least be gainfully employed? Will he ever leave my home?

Thinking on these things often makes that daunting list grow even longer, but when I'm still and quiet enough to listen I can hear a sweet, soft voice speaking peace to my troubled mother's heart.

"He belongs to Me, I love him even more than you do, and I have a plan"

While more often than not, I have argued with this voice, feeling that there is no one who can love and care for Jackson like me. After all, I am his mother. However, more and more I find myself better able to trust it really is true. God doesn't make mistakes, and He created Jackson exactly the way he is for a purpose.

If I can stick things out and never give up on him or what I've been called to do, I will be the mother Jackson needs. And, if I can help Jackson learn to stick things out and never quit, he'll be what God wants him to be. Whatever the answers are to my questions, he's going to be ok because God really does love him more than I do, and He really does have a plan.

Pot Roasting Like Granny

There are probably as many different variations on pot roast as there are grandmothers that cook. I don't remember all the details about my Granny's pot roast, but I do remember that it was my favorite meal to eat at her house. Melt in your mouth roast with juicy carrots, yummy potatoes and rice with gravy. My mom actually made a pretty good roast, too, but I'm almost positive she learned it from my Granny.

(Remember whatever the recipe, the key to a good roast is a good cut of meat. You want lots of marbling if you're going to cook it for a long time.)

Here's my attempt at putting her roast into a recipe.

Salt and pepper the roast. Coat in flour. Heat a dutch oven with about two to three tbsp of oil. Sear all sides. Remove the roast and let it rest while you prepare the veggies. To your hot oil, add a tsp or two of minced garlic and a medium chopped onion. Cook until fragrant. Sprinkle in a little rosemary and thyme, about a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. Add a couple of cups of beef stock and a couple Tbsp worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrin's Reduced Sodium Worcestershire sauce is corn free). Add half a small can of tomato sauce or a couple Tbsp diced tomatoes (to tenderize the meat). Add chopped carrots and potatoes. Cover and bake on 350 for 2-3 hours or until tender. Then she would make gravy from the pot drippings and serve it over rice.

My memaw started 'cheating' with her gravy and making it with cream of mushroom soup (the Campbell's kind), and I think it tasted better that way. So, I combined all that, give or take a few things, to my crock pot recipe.

How I do it.

If I have time, I sear the roast like she did. Let it rest while I saute the onions and garlic, too. I don't use the rosemary, thyme or the beef stock. I add a can of Health Valley Cream of Mushroom Soup (corn free, uncondensed, organic), the worcestershire sauce (Lea and Perrin's Reduced Sodium), tomato sauce, carrots and potatoes. Stick it in my crock pot and let it cook all day. I still cook rice to go with it, and (since I'm too lazy to make a good gravy) I just use the 'soup' it makes as a 'pot liquor' as they would call it in the old south. It tastes enough like hers to take me back in time, but I've made it mine, too.

Roasting a Chicken from the Freezer

My family really enjoys meals like this. Slow roasted, moist and yummy chicken with veggies is a crowd pleaser in our house any night. The only thing is it takes so much time and energy, it is usually reserved for days I have plenty of time. Well, I've been trying to figure out ways to use my free days to make more complicated meals work for busier days, and decided to try preparing the chicken and freeze it to see if it would work out. It turned out great!

You'll need

1 turkey size oven bag
kitchen twine
metal roasting pan

1 whole roasting chicken
1 bag whole golden or ruby gold potatoes (small enough you won't have to cut them, helps them freeze better)
1 bag baby cut carrots
1 medium onion, cut into large chunks
1 head garlic
1 lemon
1 bunch fresh thyme
about a stick of butter
1 Tbsp or so of olive oil
1/2-1 cup chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove and discard organs. Rinse and dry chicken. Generously salt and pepper the cavity of the chicken. Set aside about 5 sprigs of thyme and insert the rest inside the chicken. Cut lemon in half and place one half inside chicken. Cut head of garlic in half horizontally (skin on and all, you want to open up the cloves but not cut it small enough to burn) and place one half inside chicken. Melt a couple tbsp of butter and brush the outside of the chicken. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken to your taste. Tie the legs of the chicken with kitchen twine.

Put the onions, carrots and potatoes into the oven bag. Strip the thyme from the sprigs you set aside. Coat the veggies in olive oil. Sprinkle veggies with salt, pepper and thyme. Place the oven bag with the veggies into a roasting pan with the open end facing one of the short sides of the pan. Fold up ends of bag opening. Put the chicken in on top of the veggies. Tuck the wings under the breast. Depending on the size of your chicken and your roasting pan, put enough stock to barely cover veggies.

Tie up the oven bag and set everything in the freezer. Once it's frozen you can reclaim your roasting pan, but you'll need it to hold the shape. For something this big, I use my chest freezer.

When you're ready to cook. Pull out the chicken, put it in a roasting pan (or if you keep the roasting pan and chicken together in the freezer like I did, just stick it all in). Cook in your oven on 350 degrees for about 2-3 hours or until the juices run clear when you cut between the thigh and the breast, about 160 degrees on a meat thermometer. Depending on the brand of chicken you buy, a roaster might have one of those pop up gauges that will tell you when it's done. About half way through, I cut and pulled out the oven bag to brown the chicken better.

Love the Little Children

Although it took about 15 minutes into our ride home from church to reach the full fledged tantrum stage, the meltdown began just before pick-up from Sunday school. By the time we reached our destination it had grown into red-faced, screaming, flailing craziness. Absolutely nothing satisfied the madness, not even a lolly pop (Yummy Earth Organic of course). The screaming had affected every one in the car, and soon my other children were whining about hunger pains and dehydration. I had run out of tricks and treats and should have been ready to scream myself, but inside there was peace.

I've been convicted lately about loving my children for who they are (all the good, bad and ugly), not for who they make me, or I guess I should say not loving them for who I want them to make me look like.

The tantrum was not a reflection of my parenting style or an indication I had failed to perform some vital motherly function. Kids go nuts sometimes, and you can't always love or discipline them out of it. Sometimes you just have to endure and love them anyway.

No one could be blamed, as if that would have helped. This was just one of the wonderful bundles of joy God gave me reacting to the usual Sunday struggle with violent self-expression. Discipline and correction are a vital part of my job as a mother, but they don't work without love and acceptance.

I'm very thankful for the peace God gave me during that long car ride home. It felt like a special gift from my heavenly Father just to show me He loves me and understands. (I'll save the comparison between child and parent, woman and God for another day.)

And, by the way, the best behaved in the car was Jackson. The one with the biggest excuse to throw a tantrum was holding his ears and trying to watch the movie. The big screamer was my 19 month old daughter with extremely powerful lungs. I'm thinking opera, something on stage at least, for her eventual vocation. She can hit pitches only dogs can hear, and I love her beautiful voice whatever volume she chooses.

If I Could Just Touch the Hem of His Garment

"A certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing better, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." Mark 5:25-28

This past week has been especially harried and busy. The new school year, baseball, new therapies and a new schedule along with more personal and family struggle has left me once again trying to find my way through the maze that is my life. This week I have often felt like I was running just to catch myself. In a moment of overwhelming desperation, I cried out to God for intervention. In this prayer I found myself asking to touch the hem of His garment. If I could just get close enough to touch Him, I knew I would be be ok.

That's when I went back to this story and read it again. I needed to know how. This is what God laid on my heart.

Forget all you know and all you've learned about your situation. Come to Jesus with empty hands seeking not to bargain or purchase His favor. Seek Him as your only hope knowing that seeking answers in yourself and other people will only make you worse. Push through the crowd, through their judgment and opinions. Reach for Him not caring if you get trampled in the process. You are not too insignificant for Him to care. Your problem is not too small for Him to notice. He is here. Reach out and touch Him.

Falling Through the Church's Cracks

Every mother of a preschooler knows the struggle you face just trying to attend a church service, let alone worship. The hassle getting them dressed in 'itchy' stiff clothes, fed and out the door is just the first hurdle. Then there's getting them to their class room or the nursery. Then you have to make the decision (depending on the size of your church) will they sit with you in 'big church' or go to a children's church. Inevitably you're there during nap time or snack time or some other time that makes them act like they've been neglected their whole lives. Then you can feel the glares from what seems like everyone, some in judgment, some in pity, and you're not sure which glare feels worse. The stress is enough to make you want to just stay home and listen to the sermon podcast while they're snuggled in their beds taking a nap.

I've spent many Sundays that way, arriving home feeling like I've just fought a huge battle, and I don't know if I won. An old friend of mine once told me, "It can't all be easy. God expects a little effort on our part." And, I agree. It can't all be easy. We do have to go through those battles to raise children that love the Lord and want to serve Him. We've got to show them that it takes more to stop us than start us, and loving God is the most important thing in our lives. After all, they grow out of it, right? It's just a couple of years of struggling, right?

What if you had to fight a similar but tougher battle EVERY time you went to church, what if there was little hope of it ever getting any better, what if the rest of the church seemed to merely tolerate yours and your child's presence, would you still go? I know many families of children with special needs that have fallen out of church and fallen through the cracks because it just got too hard.

Mother's of special needs children are much more likely to develop severe depression than mothers of healthy, typically developing children. They tend to fall into patterns of isolation only adding to the problem. When you have to fight and struggle to accomplish simple tasks like going to the grocery store or getting a shower, you lose the will and the energy to fight those bigger battles.

Comparing the difference to taking my typically developing children and my special needs child to church, I can say it is definitely harder. I had gone to church my whole life, went to Christian college and intended to have my children in church their whole lives, too. But, things got so hard with Jackson that I felt forgotten and discouraged. I eventually just gave up, and we didn't go to church for months. There are so many emotions involved that it would be hard for me to explain, but I was crying out to God for help. Was there anyone who would identify with my struggle and help me carry this load?

Two years ago, we started attending a church with an amazing special needs ministry, Green Light.

One of the preschool children's ministers at our church will forever be one of my heroes. When she found out about Jackson's condition, it seemed like she would look for us to walk in the door. She made friends with him, and started a ritual with him for the first several weeks we were there. She would take him to the resource room and get him a special toy to play with. She would walk him to his class and stay with him until he was settled. She was compassionate toward me and paid attention to every one of his issues. It is no surprise that he LOVES it there. I believe it had everything to do with her taking the time to meet his special needs and break through that barrier.

Jackson doesn't need that kind of attention anymore, but he still remembers her. She's busy every Sunday doing what she does, but every time we run into each other in the hall, she greets us with hugs. She was a direct answer to prayer, a provision from God for all my tears. Because of her, I was able to actually attend a service and worship worry and distraction free. I was finally able to connect and be fed. Leaving the service now, I feel energized and encouraged, the way I used to feel before I had kids.

It's so easy for special needs families to fall through the cracks and fade away lost and forgotten to the local church. I know because I nearly did.

If you are a family with special needs, take heart, there are churches that will help you carry your load. If you are a member of a church, please take the time to reach out to those that seem to be carrying a heavier burden.

Eggsperiment Conclusion

It took a little while to get here, to the conclusion of my eggsperiment.

The problem: Jackson develops severe digestive problems and a rash after ingesting eggs.

The hypothesis: Jackson's intolerance of eggs might be linked to the corn protein passed from hen to egg.

The test: Give Jackson eggs from free range, oat fed hens.

The conclusion: I gave Jackson something yummy and homemade using the farm fresh, free range eggs from my parents' farm. Each day I tried to increase the amount of egg he received. He remained symptom free throughout the trial. On day eight however, he was accidentally exposed to corn syrup. He reacted as he normally does, and we went back to our previous diet restrictions while his system recovered. Before he fully recovered, however, he got a stomach virus (along with the rest of the family), and we had to postpone any further experimentation a few days. Once he had bounced back and his system had reset, I made him some pancakes using regular store bought eggs. He reacted within 20 minutes (severe diarrhea and a rash that lasted for about a day). By the end of the day, his stomach had emptied itself of the allergen and he was feeling just fine. I do intend to test store bought eggs again, but I'll have to wait until the next school break (just in case the next reaction is worse).

So, once again, I'm no scientist or food allergy expert, but my Doctor Mom conclusion is that it is the corn protein or at least the stress hormones in the store bought eggs that cause his reaction.

My mind has been drifting recently to holiday cooking and birthday cakes WITH EGGS!!! That is, if my parents can figure out what to do about the gigantic snake that has become quite fat raiding their hen house after the chickens leave to scratch for their breakfast. They don't want to kill it, and are trying other ways to prevent its thievery. We'll see.

Chicken Pot Pie

Eager to get back to basics and learn to cook from scratch like so many women did long before me, I bought an out of print cookbook that contained all kinds of neat information and old recipes. Most of the recipes were from The Country Kitchen Cookbook published in 1894. There was one called Chicken Pie that listed as it's ingredients, 1 boiled chicken and broth, flour, milk, salt and pepper and biscuit dough. It had four steps and no measurements. I decided though there was something to the biscuit top, and set to work on creating my own version.

This recipe makes a very large pie or two medium sized pies. I usually make two medium pies and freeze one before baking.

My kids LOVE the biscuit crust, and this is also one of those sneaky recipes that gets my kids to eat veggies without noticing.

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into cubes (4-6 cups, I prefer to roast the chicken, but boiling works just as well.)
1 32 oz package chicken broth (I use Progresso's 100% Natural) or about 4 1/2 cups homemade broth
1 1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 cups chopped onions (two small or one large)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cream
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 12 oz pkg frozen peas and carrots (I like the flavor of the soup mix with corn better, but since Jackson can't have it, we use the simple peas and carrots)

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken broth. In a large pot or dutch oven (this is the one you'll be adding everything to), melt the butter and saute the onions until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth. Simmer over low heat for another minute or so, stirring until thick. Add the salt, pepper and cream and stir until well combined. Add chicken, carrots and peas. Mix well. Allow to simmer until peas and carrots are heated through.
While the filling is simmering prepare your crust.

1 1/2 cup unbleached self-rising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp butter, softened
1 - 1 1/2 cup buttermilk

In a medium non-metal mixing bowl, whisk together salt, sugar and flour. Cut in butter until there are no lumps bigger than a pea. Add buttermilk to the flour until you get a thick but spreadable consistency.

Pour your filling into two 1.5 quart casserole dishes or 1 2.5-3 quart dish. If you're freezing the pie, you'll want to use a metal pan since a glass dish might crack or split in two, and you'll want to let the filling cool before the next step. Carefully spoon your biscuit dough over top of the pie and spread evenly. It will rise and spread together in the oven. If you're freezing, place the pie uncovered on a level shelf in your freezer (I use my chest freezer). Check on it in about an hour or so, then cover with foil, label and wrap well. It should keep for a month or two in a regular freezer and 3-4 months in a chest freezer.

Bake on 350 degrees F for about 30-45 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Apple Fritters

My oldest son and my daughter act almost like it's Christmas when they get an apple fritter from the bakery. Jackson hasn't ever acted like it bothered him that he couldn't have one (I usually have something else special for him), but he's asked a couple of times if they would make him sick. One of the last couple of times we got them, my oldest, Jacob, asked me if Jackson could have one. I told him that he couldn't because at the very least the baker probably uses regular powdered sugar (with corn starch) for the glaze. So, he matter of factly said, "Oh, well then, you'll just have to make them." Then over the past few weeks, whenever I was cooking or testing a recipe, he would ask me if I had made a recipe for apple fritters yet.

I started feeling the pressure, and got up the nerve to at least check into it. All the recipes I found were for the quick bread type. I know the ones from the bakery are made from a yeast dough.

I got brave and decided to take a basic yeast doughnut recipe and tweak it to create my version of apple fritters. I had no idea how it would turn out, but the dough looked good, felt good and rose well. When I started frying, the house smelled like I was frying apple pies, and I had all noses in the kitchen while I cooked. Everyone was so excited, but no one as excited as Jackson. I guess it bothered him more than I realized that he couldn't have the same yummy treat as everyone else.

The final product turned out really good. They taste like apple doughnuts. My daughter can't get enough, and Jackson got to sit and enjoy his first apple fritter ever. He loved it!

Fritters:
3/4 cup scalded milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 quarter ounce packet)
1/4 cup warm water
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups chopped apple (tart, crisp apples, not the kind you put in a pie, I used Galas because I had them on hand)
oil for deep frying

In a small bowl, combine yeast and warm water with a pinch of sugar. Set aside until foamy.
In a small sauce pan, scald the milk and melt the butter.
In a medium mixing bowl stir together the scalded milk, butter, sugars and salt. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, stir cinnamon and 2 cups of the flour.
Combine milk mixture with flour mixture. Add beaten eggs and yeast. Mix just until smooth.
Add chopped apples.
Mix in the remaining 2 cups of flour 1/2 cup at a time using more or less to get a nice firm dough.
Knead for about 5 minutes.
Coat dough in melted butter and place in a covered bowl to rise until doubled, usually about 45 minutes.
Punch the dough down and knead again for a couple of minutes. Return to the bowl to rise again for about 30 minutes.
While you're waiting for it to rise, add oil to stock pot (I used my dutch oven) or fryer, about an inch or two deep. When your dough is almost done rising, heat the oil to about 375 degrees F.
Grab about a tablespoon or two size dough ball. Roll and flatten in your hands, flat as a pancake. They will rise considerably. So, start small to get the right size. (You don't want burnt crust and doughy centers.) Fry fritters a few at a time. Cook on each side until golden brown then remove to a towel to drain.

Glaze:
1/2 cup butter, melted
2-3 cups powdered sugar (I use Whole Foods' or Trader Joe's brand, organic and corn free)
2 tsp vanilla
5-6 tbsp hot water

In a medium mixing bowl, melt the butter. Add vanilla. Sift sugar and add slowly to butter. Keep adding until you have a stiff ball of sugar. Run your faucet until water is as hot as you can get it. Add hot water to the butter mixture 1 Tbsp at a time until you get a nice glaze consistency. You want it to be relatively thin. Dip fritters in glaze on both sides and lay on a rack or sheet pan to dry.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Forgetting the Good Stuff

The house needs cleaning. The laundry is piling up. There are chocolate fingerprints on the walls and windows. All this cooking is hard enough, but then come the dishes. Ugh. Then there’s therapy and school, shopping and church. The list grows faster than I can cross things off. So much I NEED to do, and it seems like I’m always behind, always disappointed in my own performance, struggling to be the perfect mother and never measuring up.

When I get like this, I start telling myself, “You’re turning into Martha.” You know, the infamous Martha from Luke 10. I haven’t always been this way. For the better part of my childhood, I would say I fit more into the Mary category, able to ignore the details for fellowship. Then somewhere in college, I felt like I was developing a split personality, part Mary, part Martha. The Mary part of me has since lost precious ground with every burden and responsibility I have taken on.

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good part, and it will not be taken away from her.” (from Luke 10:41-42)

Mary and Martha’s story was about Jesus and their relationship with Him, but I’d like to step out of the box and apply it a little differently than you would likely hear in church or a Bible study. I want to share the way I often use it to remind myself what is really important. 

Jackson’s autism is a daily challenge. There’s potty training (which is beginning to look like it will be a lifelong battle), teaching him to dress and groom himself, preparing his food, providing order and consistency in his routine, teaching him manners and how to control himself around others, and teaching him proper language and communication. Teaching a child on the spectrum these things is nothing like teaching a typical child. Jackson doesn’t make those intuitive leaps you can count on in typical children. Everything I teach him must be deliberate and intentional, and I have to be literal in what I say (that’s not easy for an abstract thinking creative mommy). Besides what I need to teach him, there are things like brushing, therapeutic listening, and the things we do to alleviate his sensory discomfort.

Since I lean more toward the Martha side of the spectrum these days, it’s easy for me to lump all these activities into a list of things to do, crossing them off as I go, moving forward to the next item on the list. It’s easy to focus on the things I need to do for him while neglecting his most basic need, a relationship with me.

Jackson won’t notice if the laundry piles up. He doesn’t see the chocolate fingerprints on the wall. He’ll eat yogurt, bananas and hot dogs for every meal if I let him. But, he does notice when I’m too busy for him. His behavior digresses when we miss therapy, or when I forget to brush him, and it’s not always pretty, but his reaction to not getting enough time from me is exponentially greater than missing any other therapy or exercise we practice.

So, when I get bogged down in my never ending to do list, and I tell myself, “You’re turning into Martha.” I could just as easily be telling myself, “You’ve forgotten your children.”

There are so many things a mother must do to run her home and raise her children, but there is only one truly necessary thing, only one thing that can’t be neglected, her relationship with her children.

My kids love it when I read to them, build lego towers, play board games, dance to their favorite kiddy songs (Jackson’s are Going on a Bear Hunt and Bare Necessities), making up new sports to play, and so much more. I like to play like I cook. It has to taste good but it’s great if it’s healthy, too. So, I like to have fun with them, but I want them to learn or benefit from our play as much as possible.

Here are some play suggestions I got from Autism Speaks’ 100 Day Action Plan.

Ideas for Purposeful Play

From the University of Washington Autism Center Parent Care Book 

Imitation: Object and Motor

• Sing finger play songs such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider, 5 Little Monkeys, Zoom down the Freeway

• Utilize musical instruments: “Let’s make music”, play Simon Says, have a musical parade, slow down, speed up, “Follow Me Song”

• Figurines: know on barn door, follow the leader to the schoolhouse

• Block play: make identical block structures

• Painting and drawing similar pictures, strokes, circles, lines, dot art

• Dramatic play: feeding babies, pouring tea, driving cars or trains on tracks, hammering nails, stirring 

Receptive and Expressive Labeling 
Embed labeling into activities such as:

• House (cup, spoon, plate, door)

• Grocery store (orange, apple, banana)

• Dolls (body parts, brush, clothing)

• Barn (animals, tractor)

• Art: Colors, scissors, glue, markers, big crayons, little crayons

• Books: pointing and labeling objects, letters, numbers, shapes, etc.

• Sensory Table: put different colors of animals, shapes, sizes, common objects

• Park/Playground: slide, swing, ball

• Play Dough: use different colored play dough, animal shaped cookie cutters 

Receptive Instructions

• Songs: “Simon Says” clap hands, tap legs, etc.

• Clean up time: put in garbage, put on shelf

• During activities request items, “Give me ___”

• Ask child to get their coat/backpack on the way outside or at the end of the day

Matching • Lotto matching game

• Puzzles with pictures underneath

• Picture to object matching can be done as activity during play (have the child match the picture of a cow while playing with the barn) 

Requesting

• Utilize motivating items (i.e. bubbles, juice, trains) to address requesting/communication

• Swing: wait to push until child makes the request

• Door: wait to open until child makes a request

• Lunch/Snack withhold until child makes request

• Art: child can request glitter, glue, stickers, paint, etc.