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Childhood and hometowns
Every time I go back to Lethbridge, Alberta, I have this strange nostalgic feeling of “coming home” which is strange, because the last time I lived in Alberta was almost twenty years ago and my real home was 6 hours north in Edmonton. My parents have moved a few times from the place we first “landed” in the US and so every time I “come home” to visit them, I visit them in a place I’ve never lived before, in unfamiliar neighbourhoods that have now become familiar through grocery store landmarks (like the Dillons) or my heavy reliance on street names. I think that’s part of the reason why Lethbridge…
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What’s for breakfast now?
J stopped eating quesadillas for breakfast two weeks ago, and that’s sort of a problem, because I thought we had something going for us again. For as long as I can remember, J has had issues with breakfast. Normally, J isn’t a fussy eater–which is sort of atypical for autism. Many times kids with autism have very narrow food preferences which often relates to sensory issues (they can’t stand the smell or texture of the food so therefore they won’t eat it, or sometimes the flavour is too spicy or too sweet or too intense for them to handle). But J, for the most part, really doesn’t have a problem with…
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A little Christmas story
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are enjoying a lovely holiday season! I just thought I’d take a moment and post one of my favourite little stories of kindness we’ve experienced in the week or two leading up to the holiday. J has been a champ when it comes to his first season of winter running. Most of December has been pretty cold, and despite the wind, snow, and sometimes single digit temps (or below -15C), J’s done a good job sticking through it all. I’ve said this before–running is one of the greatest life lessons out there, and one of those lessons i that you keep running…
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Retrofitting
We live in a house that was built in the late 1960s. I love it. I love the neighbourhood we live in. I love that our house isn’t a cookie cutter bi-level or rambler like most of the new-builds in Fargo. I love that (even though it was built in the late 60s) the “bones” and materials of the house are solid. I love the mature trees and the large yards and how close we are to the Red River (but high enough on the floodplain to still stay dry in the spring). There’s lots to love about our little house. It’s when we’re trying to make it “our own” or…
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“Maturing” and these moments now
Winter has decided to visit Fargo and settle in for a while. Tuesday we had a blizzard watch and while NDSU got out out at 2pm, J and W still had school until the normal release time. The one schedule change for the kids came later that night–J and W were both supposed to have their choir concerts that night but because of weather conditions, all after school activities were cancelled and the concerts were postponed until Thursday later that week. Surprisingly, J was okay with that. Lately, J seems to be able to roll with things like everyone else. I’m always asking myself “why” when it comes to J,…
- autism, creativity, cross-country, exercise, home strategies, learning strategies, reading comprehension, strategies
Rehabilitation–or just “habilitation”
Sometimes I feel like J has been in rehab almost every day of his life, except that instead of relearning skills he once had, J has never had the skills. Like all the skills. Sometimes I feel like it’s just one big, impossible task. NOTHING is intuitive with J. There are some days where I feel like I am literally programming a human like I would be programming a computer. Every little skill, every little nuance has to be first modeled before he can learn it. Which makes it feel like the biggest task on the planet. It’s also why I feel really, really grateful for the people who send me little…
- autism, Education, helps, home strategies, learning strategies, reading comprehension, sensory processing, strategies
Back to Basics
Because of my recent observations while working with J, I’ve been seeing examples of J’s processing issues in real time. One of this week’s highlights of auditory processing flubs was when we were discussing the new Disney movie Moana. I don’t remember exactly what we were talking about, but we were making up scenarios and one of them involved W and Moana. All of a sudden J said frantically, “W shouldn’t use marijuana!” J really paid attention in health last year, and was really concerned with what he “heard.” This is a perfect example of some of the many processing issues J is dealing happening at once. He failed to…
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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
We’ve arranged J’s schedule around so that I can try to figure out and support some of the things that are breaking down in math and English. We’ve taken Social Studies out of his schedule and for now he’s auditing science. Now J stays home the first two periods of his day (except choir days) and I can work with J one on one where there are less distractions and anxiety triggers and we can work on some of these things at J’s pace. One thing I really, really have struggled to figure out is where things are falling apart in reading with J. Here are the things he can do: -sound out…
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For Those of You Who are Wondering
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How sci-fi and Seal got us through the week
Every November I have the chance to do the single mom gig while Steve travels to an academic conference for a few days. It sounds strange, but I kinda like that short time when Steve’s away. Sure, the getting-kids-to-school/homework battle is no fun solo, but conference week means not having to make real dinner and feeding the kids quesadillas and cereal. I get to have free reign over Netflix and can eat the whole Ben and Jerry’s without having to share. It means I can write or curl up with a book while the kids are in bed and not feel guilty about not interacting with anyone else for hours.…
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Hanging up the cape
I was trying to figure out the best way to break the news to J that this would be his last year trick-or-treating. I know J would be crushed about it, because, as I mentioned last year, it’s only been about three years since the whole trick-or-treating thing has worked out in his brain for him. Where the anxiety and social struggles finally settled to a point where he could function enough to let some stranger’s dog jump up at the glass door and bark its head off at him, to get the words “trick-or-treat” out, wait 30-60 seconds for someone to fish around in a candy bowl to come up with a…
