We went out to dinner, and it didn't go so well. The big guy was OK, but he had a few issues.
So mom got a few free coupons to chili's, and we went. The little guy was really good, and he was even flirting with a waitress, which was hilarious, and the big guy had the iPad. That is where the problems started.
As I've said in my earlier posts, he has a new iPad. We got him the WiFi only model as it was cheaper, and we would't have to have a data plan for it, just buy it outright. A while back I unlocked YouTube on his iPad, and yeah I know that may be a little dangerous because he may watch something we don't want him to watch, but that has not happened yet.
What has happened is he started watching videos about Super Mario 64 on it, which I find awesome. He is totally enthralled with the videos because they are game play videos, so it's as if he is playing the game, but not having to do anything. I thought it was cute at first, but now I really do not like it.
Anyone with an autistic child will know how they can focus on something to the point of killing it. He has killed this. Now if you don't know about YouTube you've probably been in prison since 2004, but if you watch a video it buffers before you can watch it, but once it has finished buffering and you don't look for a new video you can actually pull the slider back and watch the video again as many times as you want.
Herein lies the problem.
So we got to chili's and everything was fine, the video he had watched at the house was still on the device because it is a 20 minute video. Once we were there he decided to watch a different video, which did not happen. That is when he started having a problem. He loved the southwestern egg rolls, but did not want any of his real dinner (that's OK cuz it was free). Once he found out he couldn't find any more videos the big guy started having problems, getting mat at mom and I, trying to bite mom, screaming, and just generally being mad.
This wasn't a meltdown, just being mad that he can't watch any more videos. The bigger problem is both mom and I have an iPhone, and YouTube on our phone, but he did not want to deal with that at all. I think he didn't want to deal with it for two reasons. The first reason I think he had a problem with watching the videos on mom's phone is the size of the phone, it is a bit small. The second reason is YouTube has a different format on the iPhone as opposed to the iPad and because he's so visually oriented, it bothers him to see YouTube is a different way.
Ether way, we left in a bit of a hurry, he did eat, though probably not as much as I would have liked. He did not have a full on meltdown, though he was crabby. The one thing that was really cute, he was so tired when we were sitting in the booth, and I think that has some to do with the way he was acting.
I'm going to lock YouTube out on the iPad again and I know this will make him mad, but I don't like to see him so passive with the iPad. The apps he has designed for autism are engaging, and the games he plays he is also engaged with. It's just when he's watching things on it I don't like, I feel like he's zoning out and not participating, just letting things happen.
I don't want to look like the bad guy or anything, but I do want him to interact with things, not just sit and let them happen passively. I just feel like he's not learning like that.You think limiting his passive video watching is mean?
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