In social situations Samuel often pleasantly surprises us, but every now and then I am faced with a harsh reminder of how limited we are in our activity because of him.
I took dinner to a family that lives near us a few days ago. At the family's request my children came in with me when I delivered the meal. It was a lovely warm day and I had visions of my boys and theirs playing together outside.
I should have know I was in trouble when his first question to them was ,"Where is your VCR?" He ended up finding their videotape collection and it was very difficult to redirect him. While doing so I had to pass my baby girl to someone else so I could manage Samuel. We ended up with her screaming and Samuel not cooperating at all! At the time I did not want to offend this family by leaving quickly, but now in hindsight I realize that we should not have stayed. They were very gracious and I'm sure didn't mind all that much, but I was supposed to be there to help out, not cause a commotion!
This is yet another reminder that I need to be working the social stories with Samuel! I cannot continue to take the risk of him being disruptive or possibly even dangerous. As situations arise I need to better assess the risk of taking him along. Perhaps I need to stick with the situations we have worked on already: the library, a couple of restaurants, a grocery store, church, some friends' houses.
5 comments:
Beauty does exactly the same when we visit anybody, straight to the VCR. Though since her ability to use the computer has developed so well I am sure that if they had a computer she would go straight to that.
We've had that dilemna (going to the computer)as well! Pretty much anything electronic is on Samuel's radar!
Hi there,
I am homeschooling K.C. as well. The last school he was in wanted to send him home everytime he head banged. His Big Brother goes to school.
I know how hard it can be to redirect, boy oh boy do I ever know. K.C. gets fixed on something and will not budge once he gets an idea in his head. He loves videos and logos especially the logos such as MGM and Dreamworks. I want to try social stories with K.C. but I don't know where to start as it is extremely hard to tell what he does understand and doesn't.
When Big Brother wants to go somewhere we always have to say, "what will K.C. do, will it be noisy, what kind of distractions are at the place were going to?" It's tough that's for sure and certain.
Samuel is such a beautiful name:)
Our sonhas asperger's and is older than your Sam. He was always pretty good at other people's houses and so to encourage social interaction we got a Game Cube. Unfortuately he is not able to play with anyone or against anyone without him going ballistic.
You are doing a tremendous job with your son.
Thanks for your compliments and for sharing how your children behave with electronics. Samuel is crazy about logos too. His favorite part about going to the library is looking at videos. He pulls them out and sees what logos (like MGM or Dreamworks) are on the back. Columbia Tri-Star is his favorite!
Do you have any books about creating social stories? I have found them to be very helpful in giving ideas, and what words to use.
Just to clarify, I homeschool my neurotypical son, not Samuel. I really wish that I could homeschool him. If I had a nanny or some regular help I would do it. I'd love to hear more about your experiences homeschooling K.C., maybe if I look more at your blog I'll find something.
We also face having to explain things to my oldest son when it is time to go somewhere. He is so amazingly helpful and very understanding. My oldest and my husband race go-karts, and I'm so glad that he has a chance to get away and have so much fun without worring about Samuel. Having him at home while Samuel is at school allows me to devote some time to him. I was going to say "without interruption" but we still have a 4 year old and a one year old!
Too bad the Game Cube didn't help your son to socialize more. We gave Samuel a Gameboy and he threw it. This was about a year ago. We took it away, but maybe we'll try returning it soon, though I do have to find it first. We have to hide everything and it's so easy to misplace or lose things!
Samuel must be a rather popular name, I know another Samuel who is autistic and I see there are several others here in Bloggerland!
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