Keepin' it Real
Truth isn't all gloom and doom around here. Two of my posts are up at Kicking Kittens.
In other news, GL's DVD player quit working Sunday night right before bedtime. For those of you who don't know, he has a particular sensitivity to CRT screens. So bad that, for several years, we removed all television and computer screens from all the rooms of our home that he has access to, and locked them in the basement. Things seemed to improve, but then he began having full-scale meltdowns every Monday morning, followed by aggressive behavior that gradually improved during the week. By Sunday morning, he was back to normal. We were puzzled until we found out the church we were attending at the time showed Veggie Tales during Sunday School. A half hour Veggie Tales video would result in violent behavior for a week afterward. They wouldn't bend on showing the videos, so we pulled him out of Sunday School and saw an immediate improvement.
We think it has something to do with the flicker, because higher refresh rates have a less severe effect. A couple of years ago, we found out the new LCD screens don't have the same effect at all. Last Christmas, we got portable DVD player with built-in LCD screen on sale for $50. It's opened up a whole new world for him, and made it much easier to get some school done with Brother Bear. It's also a good motivator for GL. As soon as he gets up in the morning, he wants to get right to work on school so he can finish and watch DVDs.
We tried the player again Monday. It worked--sort of. It plays some DVDs some of the time, when it feels like it. The only way to find out what will play at any given time is to keep putting discs in until you find one that will play. For GL, that's just as bad as not working at all, if not worse. This is our third day with a temperamental DVD player. We have a regular (non-portable) player, but no LCD screen to connect it to. The going rate for a portable player with LCD screen seems to be about $100. To put it in perspective, that's more than a day's pay. After withholdings, that's closer to two days' pay. So I'm searching online for the best deal. Maybe we'll hit another good sale Black Friday, if we can wait that long. Necessity never made a good bargain.
His OT had to reschedule today because of a death in the family. Of course, in GL's mind, that means he can never go to therapy ever, ever again. In short, GL was NOT having a good day today. After BB finished school, I took the boys on a bike ride. In this wind, it was a real workout for all of us. GL usually gives up the minute he finds something difficult, but he kept at it this time. We fought the wind for about a mile, then let it push us back home!
In other news, GL's DVD player quit working Sunday night right before bedtime. For those of you who don't know, he has a particular sensitivity to CRT screens. So bad that, for several years, we removed all television and computer screens from all the rooms of our home that he has access to, and locked them in the basement. Things seemed to improve, but then he began having full-scale meltdowns every Monday morning, followed by aggressive behavior that gradually improved during the week. By Sunday morning, he was back to normal. We were puzzled until we found out the church we were attending at the time showed Veggie Tales during Sunday School. A half hour Veggie Tales video would result in violent behavior for a week afterward. They wouldn't bend on showing the videos, so we pulled him out of Sunday School and saw an immediate improvement.
We think it has something to do with the flicker, because higher refresh rates have a less severe effect. A couple of years ago, we found out the new LCD screens don't have the same effect at all. Last Christmas, we got portable DVD player with built-in LCD screen on sale for $50. It's opened up a whole new world for him, and made it much easier to get some school done with Brother Bear. It's also a good motivator for GL. As soon as he gets up in the morning, he wants to get right to work on school so he can finish and watch DVDs.
We tried the player again Monday. It worked--sort of. It plays some DVDs some of the time, when it feels like it. The only way to find out what will play at any given time is to keep putting discs in until you find one that will play. For GL, that's just as bad as not working at all, if not worse. This is our third day with a temperamental DVD player. We have a regular (non-portable) player, but no LCD screen to connect it to. The going rate for a portable player with LCD screen seems to be about $100. To put it in perspective, that's more than a day's pay. After withholdings, that's closer to two days' pay. So I'm searching online for the best deal. Maybe we'll hit another good sale Black Friday, if we can wait that long. Necessity never made a good bargain.
His OT had to reschedule today because of a death in the family. Of course, in GL's mind, that means he can never go to therapy ever, ever again. In short, GL was NOT having a good day today. After BB finished school, I took the boys on a bike ride. In this wind, it was a real workout for all of us. GL usually gives up the minute he finds something difficult, but he kept at it this time. We fought the wind for about a mile, then let it push us back home!
posted by Daniel "Captain" Kirk at
7:04 PM
1 Comments:
I wonder if there might be a DVD player with an LCD screen, at a reasonable price, on eBay? Might be worth a look.
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