• autism,  middle school

    This Mid-Semester Slump

    This past week was sort of a bummer week for my middle school kiddos. After two months of working really hard, J started up with some disruptive behaviors at school again. We still aren’t sure why; we’re still trying to figure that out. His principal, teachers, paras, and Steve and I have tried to pool ideas of what it might be. Have there been any changes in routine? Could his mouth be bothering him? (he gnaws cankers into his cheeks and lip like nobody’s business) Could it be daylight savings? (I swear it’s dark by 5 here in Fargo) We’re coming up on the holidays (and once again a change…

  • middle school,  teen years

    Ape Brains and the Middle School Boy

    Because we walk after school from the middle school to the high school every day, I’m getting a refresher of what the real middle school population looks like. Not the one that you see in the halls, following school rules, responsibly exchanging books from their lockers to be prepared for the next class. The population who is headed home from a long day of school, letting out that bottled energy, true colors showing. The pushing, shoving, jeering, girl flirting kind of middle school population. More specifically, the ape-brain middle school boy population. Like the kid who pushes 30 miles an hour on his moped, circling the block a few times to impress the girls…

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