Got something to help with absent-mindedness/executive function

[Aspigander]

There was a thread recently about absent-mindedness and executive functioning. A few mentions made since then. I think I'm the type that needs reminders, but anytime I've tried to make lists, they haven't worked because either they're in a drawer somewhere and I forget to check them, or if I try to hang them somewhere, well, I can't tell from a distance that it's a list due to the VI and will notice a piece of paper there and give it no second thought.

Last summer though, I got an idea. My cell phone has a calendar, you can put events in and have it alert you. And you can have it recur as needed, so if I need to be reminded some something daily, just enter it in and have it alert me daily to do that task. It didn't last long. The way it works is each number on the phone's numpad is assigned like three or four letters (like on a landline phone), and to get the letter you want you have to hit the associated button however many times in rapid succession -- wait too long and the cursor moves for the next letter. Pain in the butt.

Yesterday I thought my mom's phone looked a bit different, and asked for a closer look. She handed it over, and what did I see but a QWERTY keyboard! Right then I had an "aha!" moment. I could enter reminders for stuff into the calendar to have it go off, without having to argue with the stupid numpad to do so. I had kind of played with it a bit this morning (my parents got back into town early this morning lol).

As it is Mother's Day, my mom and I headed to my grandparents for dinner. I knew my mom and I would be together Wednesday, and asked if we could then go look at cell phones so I could possibly get one with a keyboard. I certainly wasn't going to suggest inconveniencing her with that on Mother's Day, but we were in the area, and we wouldn't really be Wednesday, and, as she pointed out, she likes to do things when she is in the area. So we headed over.

There were a couple phones with keyboards (that weren't terribly expensive). Out of the two, I selected the one she has. We use Verizon which means we're due for an upgrade every 2 years, and mine was the only line that hadn't been upgraded. Of course I was pretty happy with my phone, and wouldn't have done it if I wasn't due anyway, but now I have a phone with a keyboard I might have better luck setting reminders for myself.

So we'll see how that goes. Maybe now that I have a simpler way of putting events into the calendar, I can actually perhaps have a little more success with the idea I had last summer. I think I might finally have figured out a system, and the appropriate technology, to actually have something reminding me to do what needs done.

[peglem]

That's great Lauren! Hope it helps you tons! Is that what you used to take the picture of the great enema-giving stick on the other thread?
I still don't know how to post a picture to a thread.

[Aspigander]

That's great Lauren! Hope it helps you tons! Is that what you used to take the picture of the great enema-giving stick on the other thread?
I still don't know how to post a picture to a thread.

Yep! That's the one!

Dataman might want to sleep with one eye open. That cane tip (called a marshmallow tip) doesn't look like it would be overly comfortable as an enema. :p

Image URL Goes Here

[roadracer]

I still don't know how to post a picture to a thread.

STEP 1 You have to have a photo sharing account, like flicker, smugmug, etc. Somewhere were you upload your photos for people online to look at.

STEP 2 Then all you do is click the little mountain icon for image and past the url for where your image is at

I have my own website, that I have my photos on, but any photo sharing site will work

[roadracer]

I used to carry around a PDA with me that had a special program for reminders. A PDA is pretty much like a smart phone, think of a apple Iphone (but without the phone part). Unfortunately the battery wont hold a charge anymore, and is not replaceable, and it cost $400+ to buy a new one. Plus, even with the touch screen it was a MAJOR pain in the but to try to put the info into it, and I cant do the little tiny keyboards on phones. The great part about it that might work wonders for people who are very verbal is that you could record a message for a reminder, bypassing the time it takes to type out a message for the reminder, avoiding using the tiny keyboard.
Was not to great of a tool for me.

What is a enema? or shouldnt I ask. I am thinking if it involves the rear end and that it must not be to enjoyable.

Also Aspigander, why does the cane have a big tip? I know you have vision, can you see the ground or where you are going?

My dad has vision trouble he was born with and had surgeries before and can only see a few feet without his glasses, but with the glasses he sees good enough to be able to drive and do most things. There was one time when I was younger when we went to the ocean for a week on vacation. The first day we were there we went into the water and a wave came and my dad lost his glasses. It was a real eye opener (no pun intended) because without his glasses he can only see a few feet infront of himself, and because we never dealt with a situation like that before we had to learn fast. We ended the vacation short, but he ended up going without his glasses for a week because my parents couldn't find his spare set. Me, I am only slightly nearsighted and see double when I am tired (cant think of what its called), am supposed to wear glasses but I dont, but it is only minor. I am just trying to get a idea of what it is like living with a VI.

[peglem]

What is a enema? or shouldnt I ask. I am thinking if it involves the rear end and that it must not be to enjoyable.

You've got the gist. Let me just add that it usually involves liquid and is designed to clean out the colon.

[roadracer]

You've got the gist. Let me just add that it usually involves liquid and is designed to clean out the colon.

well, before I read your post I looked the definition up on wikipedia :eek: not really sure why a person wouldnt just take some exlax... (no need to answer that BTW) like the saying goes whatever floats your boat

[Aspigander]

Also Aspigander, why does the cane have a big tip? I know you have vision, can you see the ground or where you are going?

You can get different tips. A marshmallow is good, mainly because it has less of a tendency go get stuck in things, like cracks in a sidewalk. Another tip, I think it's called a ball tip, has that same advantage, though bigger.

I can pretty much see the ground/where I'm going, but here's a situation where I may have trouble, and using the right cane technique for the situation could have saved me an inconvenience:

My mom and I were leaving some place, I don't remember if it was a store or restaurant. But there was the sidewalk by the building, and then the curb into the parking lot. You know how part of a curb from sidewalk near a building into parking lot is a "step" and part is a "ramp", right? Well, the cane technique I usually use (don't recall the proper name for the technique), which I was using this time (keep in mind this was after dark, so my vision wasn't serving me quite as well as it usually does to begin with), is holding it right out in front, letting the tip glide on the ground in front of me, cane tip being right in front of my feet. This told me what was straight in front of me. And I mean dead straight in front. It was the ramped part of the curb, so I kept walking along like I owned the place preparing both feet to go down a ramp, and all of a sudden found myself horizontal on the parking lot.

What happened? Well, remember how I said I expected both feet to take the ramp? Had I been using the cane technique called "constant contact", where you have it extended way out in front and glide it back and forth, I might have picked up on the fact that I was in just the right spot that my left foot was actually approaching to go down the "step" part of the curb. So, when my left foot wasn't doing what I expected, I tripped.

I can see the ground in front of me pretty well (especially if there is still daylight left lol), but what's difficult is that fine detail of step vs. ramp on a curb. The bigger stuff I do pretty well with, but if there's something small like that, it can be a little tricky. That's where you really want to use the appropriate cane technique for the situation. lol

[Aspigander]

well, before I read your post I looked the definition up on wikipedia :eek: not really sure why a person wouldnt just take some exlax... (no need to answer that BTW) like the saying goes whatever floats your boat

Sometimes you need something a little stronger. One time a few years back, I had some MAJOR constipation that was not responding to any over the counter or prescription laxatives. I could eat a whole boatload of prunes and nothing would change. So they suggested I get one of those fleets enema things that can be administered at home and is OTC. I can't even say that was very effective...I pooped out the enema, but not much else.

Actually, I'm not sure if I ever did get cleaned out, or have just grown accustomed to a chronically full gut.

That was probably a little too much information for you, but just to illustrate that sometimes exlax doesn't quite clean you out the way you'd expect.

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

I'm going to chose to ignore the 'tangent' in this conversation and go back to the original idea :eek:

That's a great idea for reminders on your phone...clever idea!

Wanted to just mention Cogmed...there are other programs like this, but (brace yourself) this particular program has gone through peer reviewed studies and has been proven effective...

Anyway, Coley is using this, it's purpose is to build & strengthen working memory and executive functioning. It does seem to be helping a great deal.

The program was originally designed to help brain trauma victims, alziemers and things like that...it has since been expanded to treat ADHD and has proven pretty effective...more recently it has been expanded again to higher functioning autism and Drs are quite excited about how well it's proving to be. It seems the bigger the executive functioning deficit the better the person responds to the program...Coley played right into this theory, or has so far...

You may want to give a little look see at this, might help you too...

[Aspigander]

Kristen, I googled, got on the Cogmed website, and didn't get beyond where it said you do it under the guidance of a cogmed coach or whatever it said. Implying it's not something where you just get the software and have at it. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I'm pretty sure that won't be feasible for the same reason RDI isn't (as in, I imagine not only the Cogmed software, but having the coach, would be pretty expensive). That's just my guess, I'm not sure, but when I read that I didn't want to get all fired up about another thing that's not going to be an economical solution for me, so I stopped there. Is it as bad as I'm imagining economically?

Just an aside, about this phone, there's another thing I found. Actually I found it while I was playing with my mom's phone, but didn't play with it until just this morning as I was setting speed dials for contacts (they transferred my contacts from my old phone, but I still had to set speed dials). Anyway, there's this thing in contacts called "In Case of Emergency". You go into that and you can enter like three contacts, and there's an area for personal info. I think it is for if something happens to you, whoever comes to your aid (police, paramedics, whatever) can go through there and find who you want them to make aware of the situation, as well as make some notes about personal info (I'm assuming like medical info and stuff). I just found that in there.

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

That's pretty cool!

Well the couch is a psych. His servie didn't really cost. You can see the list of Drs that use it to see if there is someone in your area. The psych that did Coley's neuro-psych eval recommended it to us, I looked into it and found this other dr near by that uses it. I talked to him on the phone, he described it, and sorta 'assessed' whether it would be viable for Coley. This is how I got the info about it's patient use...as he mentioned that with Coley's 'lingering' ASD issues that there is a good chance that we would see more wide-spread progress.

We had 1 face-to-face with him. He talked a little with Coley, showed us how the program works, it cost us $750 (yup a lot) and we were on our way.

There are 2 stages, first stage lasted 5 weeks (I think that varies by age) and was a daily 30 minute exercise. Stage 2 he called calestenics where it basically keeps the condition up, but that becomes less and less necessary as time goes on...the idea is that once the 'connections' are made normal everyday use keeps those connections strong...but it doesn't hurt to target them for a while to be on the safe side...anyway, stage 2 is 10-15 minute exercises 2-4x/week. Sometimes Coley will do 2/day.

During stage 1 the doc called 1x/week to check on us, answer questions, etc.

I didn't tell school about it, and at our last IEP meeting we got loads of good progress updates on his attention & focus.

There are other programs out there too...some can be accessed on the computer without purchase, I think....google memory training.

[roadracer]

I have good attention and focus, with certain things, like I can site for a couple hours playing a game of chess on the computer on the hardest level, but I cant make toasted cheese without risking burning the house down.

The cogmed seems like it would be a great program and I will put it on my to do list, along with the RDI.
till then I found this site with free memory training games, and there is one where they flash a deck of cards and you try to recall what order they where in, I have to say I could only remember the first 5 cards, but I would love to meet the person who can actually remember the whole deck, as I would like to take a trip to vegas with them, lol.

http://www.memorise.org/index.htm

[Aspigander]

I have good attention and focus, with certain things, like I can site for a couple hours playing a game of chess on the computer on the hardest level, but I cant make toasted cheese without risking burning the house down.

The cogmed seems like it would be a great program and I will put it on my to do list, along with the RDI.
till then I found this site with free memory training games, and there is one where they flash a deck of cards and you try to recall what order they where in, I have to say I could only remember the first 5 cards, but I would love to meet the person who can actually remember the whole deck, as I would like to take a trip to vegas with them, lol.

http://www.memorise.org/index.htm

Roadracer, I just found that exact site a couple hours ago (or whenever it was I googled after Kristen posted). I played around with the flashing numbers thing.

[roadracer]

The only one I was good with was the flashing dots, and oddly enough there was a setting for it above hard called "I THINK I'M RAIN-MAN", I am wondering if it confirms it for me cause I could get most of them correct on that setting with it set to 4 sec, lol.
I have a odd ability to be able to count things just by looking at them and coming up with the correct amount, without actually counting them number by number. I can go up to about 50-60 no problem. I think it is a visual thing, because I am great with visual stuff and the pictures in my head. The number and letter games I am no good at, I could only remember about 4 or 5 at a time

[Aspigander]

Wow! 50-60 without counting individually? I'm not sure how many I could do that way, but I'm guessing I could count that on one hand.

I should try to see how many of the numbers I can do, I did four consecutive numbers, but that's as high as I tried. I should try something I'm sure I couldn't do and go lower until I find the highest I can do. I think I'll do that.

I started at one, then two, then three, then four, didn't go higher because I was finding it irksome that I had to redo the settings the way I wanted them each and every time I was about to do it. Like set it from default 5 sec to 2 sec, from default 1 number to 4 consecutive numbers, you'd do it, then type in what you remember, and it resets back to default so if I want 4 numbers at 2 seconds I have to specify that all over again.

[roadracer]

okay, I didnt have that problem, all you have to do is hit "start", so after you set it, just hit start, fill in the answer, hit check, then hit start again. You hit begin again when you want to change the settings.

[Aspigander]

okay, I didnt have that problem, all you have to do is hit "start", so after you set it, just hit start, fill in the answer, hit check,

Hmm, okay, interesting. That's about the point it resets to default for me.

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

Guys, keep doing the ones you have trouble with. Especially if you really hate it.

The idea is to make new connections...so you need to get good at it and then move on, K.

So if you don't want to sit there for 10 hours straight (and who would) just make a plan to do it 15 minutes everyday or something.

There are lots of different programs too. The reason we did Cogmed was, well first I didn't know about all those available for free, but the program itself tracks and reports on progress in various areas as the 'player' gets better.

But you don't really need that, I could see it getting easier for Coley, I could see his level improve, I could see him getting better with certain games faster than others, etc. I hadn't the foggiest what it all meant...but I could tell it was working because as he improved he enjoyed it more...

Anyhoo, I found a program once (I'll see if I can find it again) that worked your auditory memory too...it was so cool...you had to match sounds of animals. The screen had a bunch of barn-type windows and you'd click onto them (like flipping cards in that game 'concentration')...the shutters would open and reveal an animal and it would make a sound...not the sound it should make either.

So you could get a duck mooing, and a cow cockadoodle-doing, a bird barking, etc. The idea was to match the mooing...and the matching mooer, was not another duck. So you had to abandon your visual recognition, and ignore the cow and the duck and just listen....that was HARD! But fun...

I'll see if I can find it and post the link...I think there were other programs on the site too...

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

OMG! I can't believe I found it:

http://www.brainconnection.com/teasers/?main=ma/ffmemory

[Aspigander]

Guys, keep doing the ones you have trouble with. Especially if you really hate it.

That was my idea. On the flashing numbers game on memorise.org, I figured out that I'm great with 5 consecutive numbers, but hit and miss with 6. So, I'm figuring I'll do 6 until I'm no longer hit and miss, then go to 7, etc. I think I'm about to do that now, actually.

[roadracer]

OMG! I can't believe I found it:

http://www.brainconnection.com/teasers/?main=ma/ffmemory

I couldnt get it to work, not sure if it is a problem with the site or my browsers adobe shockwave player, could you get it to work aspigander ?

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

Did you try this?

http://www.brainconnection.com/med/thirdparty/logos/shocked.gif (http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download)This game is powered by Macromedia's Shockwave (http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download). If you see a broken icon instead of a game, download Shockwave now (http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download).

[roadracer]

yep, I am thinking my shockwave player is not working, I tryed reinstalling it and it did not work, so I will have to figure it out and fix it

[Aspigander]

I couldnt get it to work, not sure if it is a problem with the site or my browsers adobe shockwave player, could you get it to work aspigander ?

Yep. Worked for me.

[Aspigander]

Kristen, that memory game is easy, even at its hardest level. lol

[Aspigander]

WARNING!

On the memorise.org site, do NOT go to the flashing words part if certain words might be offensive to your sensibilities. It gave me a word that...how do I put this delicately...um, isn't exactly family friendly. Could be worse, but...

[Kristen (ColeysMom)]

That's awesome Lauren...try some of the other games.