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Today’s Victory
J has been “shadowing” the high school cross-country team and tonight marks J’s fourth cross-country practice. I can’t shout louder from the rooftops how proud I am of how hard he’s been working. It’s been a hard week. A lot of learning curves. But he keeps going back, and the high school kids are so great with him. The coaches are so willing to work with us. And he ran the best he’s ever had so far today. Today, he actually said, “no breaks now mom, I want to make it to the next (traffic light, stop sign, road sign, etc) without stopping.” Who’d have ever thought that J would love to run? We started…
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My $64,000 Question
It’s the third day back into school and I’m exhausted. Some of it has to do with my wrestle with the Neti pot and the lack of sleep I got last night due to allergies, but most of it has to do with the emotional up and downs of starting a brand new school year with a middle schooler with autism. You think I’d learn this by now, being a somewhat seasoned adult (right?), but I’m constantly forgetting transitions happen all the time. I think most of us think of the big transitions: weddings, baby births, high school graduation, empty nesting, retirement, etc, but I know I’m forgetting the ones that seem to…
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W, Teen Vogue, and New Territory
This week a fuschia envelope arrived in the mailbox, addressed exclusively to “W,” inviting her to sign up for a year’s worth of Teen Vogue and I thought W? Our W? Teen Vogue you’ve got this girl all wrong. This girl is into dirt and butterflies and sap samples. She loves books and her microscope kit. I have to remind this girl to brush her hair every morning before she leaves our house or else she won’t do it. Her mind is nowhere near fashion, beauty, and celebrities. This girl doesn’t even have her own cell phone. She’s turning 11 this week. But Teen Vogue’s calling card made me realize that things are changing. W starts middle…
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That Time at the Dentist
Thursday we took the whole family to the dentist and it was hard. Really hard. But not necessarily in the way you might think. J had the first appointment. We did this because we knew this was going to be hard. But we also knew that J had been a few times before, and we know that with J, the more times he does something, the better he’ll do. He’s been to a few cleanings before. He never makes it to the end, but usually the hygienist can get a little something done before he squirms to much or takes a full on anxiety attack. Thursday went okay–at least us…
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The Standard Procedures of Getting Dressed
For weeks I’ve been trying to figure out how to teach J to pay more attention when getting dressed. Too many mornings he’ll come down with his shirt inside out. Workout shorts on backwards. He always has one sock on the right way and one on upside down. Our camping trip to Banff and Jasper was really the last straw for me on this. He would dress in the tent only to come out looking like a mismatched hobo (to be fair we were wearing grungy camping clothes). It was such a pain to have him go back in the tent to “fix it.” Or worse, his left sock would be…
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Autism in Banff National Park
We had Bush’s Hickory Smoked Baked Beans last night, and said to Steve, “I feel like we’re eating a campfire.” Because everything in our house now smells like campfire–our tent, sleeping bags, and clothes are all holding the smells of our camping trip hostage. I love it. Steve and I went to Banff two years ago, just the two of us. It was Steve’s first “real” trip to Alberta–the province I grew up in. He fell in love instantly. The Canadian Rockies will do that to you. A few months ago, Steve announced he wanted to do the trip again–this time with the kids. It’s a fourteen hour trip up to…
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What’s on our iPad: Reading Comprehension Edition
I used to think that we are all inherently good or bad at things. But after hearing Temple Grandin speak in Fargo a few years ago explain her strengths and weaknesses in math (how she was terrible at algebra and fantastic at geometry), it made me see “subjects” and “challenges” in a whole new way, and it helped me understand J a little bit better. J is an amazing speller–he always has been. Before he could really talk, he could spell words, not just easy words like “cat” and “dog.” He could spell “dinosaur” and “Hy-Vee-Food & Drug” and “Old Navy” and “octagon.” When he was three. He loves grammar and…
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When Family Can Help You Settle Your Glitter
I feel like the summer is flying by and we’ll be starting school again in no time. I was talking to a co-worker last week and we both decided that the fourth of July is the halfway mark of summer. After that it’s just a fast downhill descent to the beginning of fall semester. That means J will be soon starting grade seven and I’m not ready for that. We’ve got so many things to learn and work on before that happens. We’ve been working on handwriting, but I want that to be at a better place before school starts. We’ve been working on reading comprehension but not as much as I’d like.…
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Working With the Handwriting Enigma
Through the last few months of school, I’ve been itching to work on J’s handwriting problems. With school going on, I couldn’t squeeze in the time or afford another homework battle when we had so many other things to do. Ever since he was three years old, J’s worked with an OT on his fine and gross motor skills. At three years old, he had already started Handwriting Without Tears (http://www.hwtears.com/hwt). He loves handwriting. He’s the only kid his age that I know who actually chooses cursive over printing. In fact, when I have my college students write in-class assignments, every single assignment comes back to me printed. Printed. Apparently kids these…
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Rites of Passage, Milestones, and Lawnmowers
I have a love hate relationship with rites of passage and milestones. Most of the time I hate them. They remind me of how “behind” J is, or how he’s just not like every other kid his age. I remember going to playgroups watching some babies walk and talk at ten months, their mothers proudly boasting their prodigy child’s accomplishments and then going home thinking, “My baby’s smart too. I know it. He’s just not doing those things right now.” Milestones, physical abilities, rites of passage. They’re all really big things. Some parents hold their children back in school so their kids can have an almost full year advantage over…
