Making Friends? 01-21-08

Hello all!

This weekend was grand in a way. My son has made a friend! He is also on the spectrum - its amazing to see a child do some of the same things as my son. He is a good boy like my son. But he is a bit more mature and much more verbal. He can ask questions and converse VERY WELL. Like at least 1 hour straight after arrival. He is delightful and very smart.

It is wonderful to see my son enjoying company and even a few phone calls. Unfortunately our phone ran out of battery during one call.

he spent the night Friday and they were up at 4:44 am Saturday to play etc.. There is no sense in trying to force them back asleep once they are up thats for sure _ I did try, but they couldn't fall back asleep.

Making friends has always been hard for him. He is parallel, but aware you are there and when you go away.

When we first moved to one place he was invited to every party, but soon the invitations stopped coming and none of the children were persistent.

I have seen children make fun of him and THANK GOD he doesn't realize it really or the emotional response is not really there for. On occasion, he has been known to tell people though its rude, but that came later.

When he was in preschool a child came to me at pick up time and told me he was very glad i was there to pick up my son because he "hated" him - but that was in part a few of the teachers fault. I think now the child picked it up from them and their "reactions" to him. He did not like attending there except for the director and student - that adored him.

It should be mandatory that teachers go back and get training - ALL teachers, not just Special Ed.

I wonder sometimes if our world will somehow evolve into a society where we are all parallel. - scary thought at the rate things are going - 1 -in 150 is now the current stats.

Eileen
Hopeezinetoday.com
Be autism aware

Autism Days 01-14-08

This is life with an 11 year old with high functioning autism.

Today is monday. An off day because 45 minutes of band extra in the afternoon throws off the whole evening.

My son gets up and has to eat right away after going to the bathroom, nothing else can take its place. If it takes to long to make breakfast its, "I'm hungry,"- "I'm hungry," - "I'm hungry,"- "I'm hungry,"- "I'm hungry,"- "I'm hungry,"- "I'm hungry,"- Until he starts eating. So I try to have something ready before I wake him up. Next is the task of brushing his teeth which takes two brushes one for each side. (Hey at least he is brushing), When he combs his hair, he will not brush the top or back just the front and using adds water so it is plastered down to his head. he has to put his clothes in in order, underwear, t-shirt, socks, pants, shirt - almost everyday I have to turn a pull over around because it backwards. He will most days get lost in the tag if there is one and pull it off. Thank good ness there are now tagless undershirts. Cutting it out leaves some of the tag. In between putting on items there are comments about school, a book, video game, or ten questions, they all begin with the word "mom". If he is lucky to be ready a good 15 minutes before he has to leave he can watch a cartoon or something, most days he is not

Oatmeal is the easiest to prepare and have ready. If he has toast he has to have butter on it and it ALL HAS to be melted completely. he used to just eat it if it was cut into shapes, especially circles, but does not do that any more.

He bathes at night so he doesn't have to in the morning - that is another whole long thing. He has to have a little bottle of wash because if he has the big bottle he uses the entire bottle. He has to wash his body then his hair then his body again. He will not ever stand front ways in the shower. It took years to get him to shower but now he has been doing it for the last year.