After weeks in the hospital and plenty of unplanned time, we asked for a schedule for Josiah. We asked for one because it was apparent there was no clear cut plan for his time.  All day, every day, he was permitted to lay in bed.

It was fine with me initially.  When they were tweaking medications Josiah clearly was not ‘himself’. He would not have willingly complied with much of anything at that point. But once we started seeing glimpses of our boy back, it seemed appropriate to change things up a bit.

We talked to the psychologist at the hospital and reminded her their website states each patient has 6-8 hours of individualized, scheduled activities and therapies per day.

The next day, we found a schedule hanging on the bulletin board in Josiah’s room. If you look closely, you will notice lots of Free Time listed, along with over 4 hours in the Activity Room. Josiah doesn’t last more than 5 minutes in that room.  He ‘plays’ with the keyboard for a bit, then tries to throw it to the ground.  One day I wheeled him in myself, which is the only way we’ve been able to even get him in there in the first place, and he started grabbing for things to throw.

Clearly, this schedule was not going to work. I came up with my own. Let me preface this by saying, I LOVE to create schedules.  I do not like to follow them, but there is something about planning everything out that greatly appeals to me.  In our homeschooling days, I created a master schedule for all 5 kids and me.  It started from the moment we each woke up and went clear through til each person’s bed time.  It took forever to create, was ridiculously complicated and virtually impossible to follow. There was no room for flexibility, something extremely important when raising a family.  It didn’t last long, much to everyone’s great relief.

Here’s are the changes I made to Josiah’s schedule. Notice it is extremely detailed, including notes for anyone who may be caring for him. The goal is to have consistency across the board.  He still has ample Free Time and some visits to the Activity Room but only for short periods.

I wanted to ensure his day was full and contained some activities that would require the use of the prompting sequence to gain compliance.  Who am I kidding? Many of these activities will require packets and packets of fruit snacks to gain compliance.

I left a copy with the Activity Director Wednesday afternoon.  When I arrived at the hospital the next day, this was hanging on the wall in Josiah’s room:

How cool is that?  She made it interactive for him, with pictures and velcro, much like the system we use at home.  The CNA’s are now using it to keep Josiah out of his bed as much as possible (one of my requests).

She still has some pictures to create and mount on Josiah’s schedule, but this is a good start. I thanked her and told her it was great.

Josiah is on his way to a more normal, full day with expectations placed upon him that he can definitely achieve.  It’s so necessary, in terms of getting him used to what his life will be like once he returns home.

You want to know the real truth though?  I think they will do WHATEVER it takes to get this bossy mom to just be quiet and leave them all alone.

Maybe I should reward them with fruit snacks.