Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Portable Classroom
I have found out that there is a possibility that Samuel's special education class will meet in a portable classroom next year. My gut reaction is to think that this doesn't sound like a very good idea, but I'm trying to approach this objectively. The room they are in right now is very small, so an advantage of a portable room would be more space. However, I don't like the idea of the class being removed from the rest of the building, both because of the proximity issues and because it seems to imply that they are "separate" from the rest of the school.
I'd like to know what others think of this.. I know portables classrooms are used in many places. My sister teaches in one at her school.
I'm going to call the principal of the school to further inquire..
I'd like to know what others think of this.. I know portables classrooms are used in many places. My sister teaches in one at her school.
I'm going to call the principal of the school to further inquire..
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Time to Pull out the Wright's Law Book Again
I spent an hour and a half on the phone tonight with the Mom of a special needs boy who had been in Samuel's class up until this school year. She has not had her son diagnosed with autism yet, and is facing problems with the services he is receiving at school because of it. For confidentiality reasons I cannot say any more about it, but our discussion reminded me that I need to once again start reading "From Emotions to Advocacy" and start questioning things that I see and don't see in Samuel's IEP.
Samuel has been very challenging the past few days. He is constantly scripting at home (I am told he has not been doing this at school). The last two weekends he would not get himself dressed on Saturday mornings (the only day I can leave him to dress himself). He also remains very unfocused when we do his homework. The token board, with its promise of an occasional bite of snack as a reinforcer, is not helping him the way it had been a few months ago. Maybe Samuel needs a new reinforcer. He may have been tired one or two of the days, but that isn't the only thing going on here. I won't let him watch "The Upside Down Show" anymore. However, his brothers still like to imitate things they see on it so it's been very hard keeping Samuel from imitating it himself. He also tries to watch it on Noggin's website during his computer playtime. We only made it through about 10 minutes of mass last Sunday, he kept screaming. He had only gotten a little sleep the night before so I knew it wouldn't be worth staying there.
He is starting to ask questions about school ending. There are only 5 more weeks!
I was very saddened by the shootings at Virginia Tech last week. I had to stop watching the news about it after a couple days because I was starting to get desensitized to the story. Early this past Monday morning, however, I watched a portion of CNN's show about the shooting victims. Although it was overwhelmingly sad, I was glad to hear about the real story in all of this, the senseless loss of such beautiful lives.
Samuel has been very challenging the past few days. He is constantly scripting at home (I am told he has not been doing this at school). The last two weekends he would not get himself dressed on Saturday mornings (the only day I can leave him to dress himself). He also remains very unfocused when we do his homework. The token board, with its promise of an occasional bite of snack as a reinforcer, is not helping him the way it had been a few months ago. Maybe Samuel needs a new reinforcer. He may have been tired one or two of the days, but that isn't the only thing going on here. I won't let him watch "The Upside Down Show" anymore. However, his brothers still like to imitate things they see on it so it's been very hard keeping Samuel from imitating it himself. He also tries to watch it on Noggin's website during his computer playtime. We only made it through about 10 minutes of mass last Sunday, he kept screaming. He had only gotten a little sleep the night before so I knew it wouldn't be worth staying there.
He is starting to ask questions about school ending. There are only 5 more weeks!
I was very saddened by the shootings at Virginia Tech last week. I had to stop watching the news about it after a couple days because I was starting to get desensitized to the story. Early this past Monday morning, however, I watched a portion of CNN's show about the shooting victims. Although it was overwhelmingly sad, I was glad to hear about the real story in all of this, the senseless loss of such beautiful lives.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Development Delays
Some thoughts I have regarding our area’s changes in geography and some pictures to go along with them…
I happen to live in an area that is experiencing a lot of development. In the next 3 months, about 3 ½ miles from my house, we will have a Target and later this year we will have a WalMart. We will also be getting one of the chain restaurants (Applebees, I think), and at least one home improvement chain store. Currently we have to drive about 15 miles to the nearest ones. As with just about anything in life, there are benefits to this and there are costs.
Benefits of development: Shopping for groceries, household necessities, and clothing will be easier. I’m also hoping for a pizza place that delivers. That might sound trivial, but it’s an adjustment for me to live somewhere that I can’t have a pizza delivered to my house!
Costs of development: Traffic will increase along the major road we use to get into town. In 3.5 miles of main road we travel on, 2 new traffic lights will be in operation within the next few months, a new traffic light was put into operation last year, and another is planned within the next
year or so. Where we used to have 2 traffic lights we will eventually have 6. Not that our area has ever been “rural” while we lived here, but all the traffic and other development that is going to eventually take place along the main road will bring more of the urban sprawl that many of us who moved here are trying to avoid.
I do have another option for my driving route into town, but it is not always available. It involves driving over a low bridge that crosses the Shenandoah River. After heavy rains or during periods when snow is melting it floods.
I’ll compare my two driving options:
Option A (driving along the main road) is a ten mile drive that takes about 20 minutes. There are 2 bridges over the forks of the Shenandoah River to take, and 10 traffic lights.
Option B (over the low water bridge) is about an 8 mile drive that takes 13 minutes. There are no (zero!) traffic lights, but this option is available only when the Shenandoah river's water level isn't high. It is a one-lane bridge, as the picture just below shows. This bridge is frequently covered with water after heavy rain or when
snow is melting.
The rhythm of my day is very much defined by having to drive Samuel in to school, driving home, then later in the day returning to school, driving home again. (Why I drive him in is a story for another time) All of this is done with my other 3 children in tow. While I currently can easily attach small grocery shopping trips to the trips I take into town to get Samuel from school, shopping for other household necessities is difficult, considering I have to spend my day teaching and caring for my other children. I do most of my clothing shopping on-line, I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have a retail clothing location within 5 miles of my house.
While I am willing to sacrifice a little of the quietness of our area for an increase in shopping convenience, I don’t yet quite know what to think of the increase in traffic this will bring. I wonder what I’ll think a year from now, when most of the new shops should be open and the new lights in operation.
I happen to live in an area that is experiencing a lot of development. In the next 3 months, about 3 ½ miles from my house, we will have a Target and later this year we will have a WalMart. We will also be getting one of the chain restaurants (Applebees, I think), and at least one home improvement chain store. Currently we have to drive about 15 miles to the nearest ones. As with just about anything in life, there are benefits to this and there are costs.
Benefits of development: Shopping for groceries, household necessities, and clothing will be easier. I’m also hoping for a pizza place that delivers. That might sound trivial, but it’s an adjustment for me to live somewhere that I can’t have a pizza delivered to my house!
Costs of development: Traffic will increase along the major road we use to get into town. In 3.5 miles of main road we travel on, 2 new traffic lights will be in operation within the next few months, a new traffic light was put into operation last year, and another is planned within the next
year or so. Where we used to have 2 traffic lights we will eventually have 6. Not that our area has ever been “rural” while we lived here, but all the traffic and other development that is going to eventually take place along the main road will bring more of the urban sprawl that many of us who moved here are trying to avoid.I do have another option for my driving route into town, but it is not always available. It involves driving over a low bridge that crosses the Shenandoah River. After heavy rains or during periods when snow is melting it floods.
I’ll compare my two driving options:
Option A (driving along the main road) is a ten mile drive that takes about 20 minutes. There are 2 bridges over the forks of the Shenandoah River to take, and 10 traffic lights.
Option B (over the low water bridge) is about an 8 mile drive that takes 13 minutes. There are no (zero!) traffic lights, but this option is available only when the Shenandoah river's water level isn't high. It is a one-lane bridge, as the picture just below shows. This bridge is frequently covered with water after heavy rain or when
snow is melting.The rhythm of my day is very much defined by having to drive Samuel in to school, driving home, then later in the day returning to school, driving home again. (Why I drive him in is a story for another time) All of this is done with my other 3 children in tow. While I currently can easily attach small grocery shopping trips to the trips I take into town to get Samuel from school, shopping for other household necessities is difficult, considering I have to spend my day teaching and caring for my other children. I do most of my clothing shopping on-line, I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have a retail clothing location within 5 miles of my house.
While I am willing to sacrifice a little of the quietness of our area for an increase in shopping convenience, I don’t yet quite know what to think of the increase in traffic this will bring. I wonder what I’ll think a year from now, when most of the new shops should be open and the new lights in operation.
Two of the new traffic lights, to be put into operation soon.
A whole new golf course, adult community, and hotel/conference center is also being built along the same 3 1/2 mile stretch of road where the Target and Walmart stores are going to be. It has been a little sad watching the rolling hills that this area used to be get stripped, turned into a golf course, and now watching homes and townhomes getting built on it. The hotel just started going up in the last couple weeks where the large crane is pictured.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The Tree Didn't Make It; Pediatrician Visit
Things went from bad to worse with our tree. By Monday night 3 more large branch sections had broken off the tree. We'll have to cut the whole thing down. One of the sections fell towards the side of the house and pushed the pine tree away from the house a bit. I haven't looked at it too closely yet, but it won't surprise me if there are problems with that too. It also tore a bit of the rain gutter away. We have 5 Bradford Pear trees and this is the only one that was impacted. I suppose that is because it was in such bad shape to begin with. An avenue near where I lived in Virginia Beach years ago was lined with these trees and every year there seemed to be at least one that broke apart. That is about the worst that we have seen from the storm. We did not get the massive quantities of rain and flooding that states north and east of us received. Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures I posted, they are much too dark.
Our visit to the pediatrician went well. I used to think that these visits would bring startling revelations as to the path we should take with Samuel. Now I know better. The doctor I saw let me do a lot of talking. She took copious notes and didn't say very much. That made me feel like talking more, which I did. Finally, she turned to Samuel and tried talking to him. His behavior was the most "autistic" that I have seen it in a while. He would not answer her, but he had a humorous look in his eye. Of course he tried to play on her computer and he lunged at the keyboard several times. He picked up a container of crayons and played with them on the floor during much of the visit. At one point he told me "Tell her about how I do not like 'Cyberchase' and I get upset." Maybe in the future I should not discuss him in the third person in front of him like that.
I greatly appreciated that she did not bring up the subject of medication (I did tell her while it was my turn to talk that I was not considering it at this time and that the only reason I will would be if he develops a lot of anxiety). She said it sounded like things are going pretty well for Samuel (which I think they are too). We just need to watch his scripting, his access to television, computers and other things electronic. She also recommended an increase in the amount of speech therapy he is getting (he only receives 40 min/week at school).
We'll return for another visit in 6 months and she see what she thinks of his IEP. I told her that one of my current concerns for him is his educational setting and his academics. She told me rather than worry so much about his academics, getting his communication more up to speed should be what we focus on. Makes sense to me. I should get more interactive activities going with him here at home. I spend so much time on homework and worry about his academic progress. Both will be much easier if he is able to communicate better.
Our visit to the pediatrician went well. I used to think that these visits would bring startling revelations as to the path we should take with Samuel. Now I know better. The doctor I saw let me do a lot of talking. She took copious notes and didn't say very much. That made me feel like talking more, which I did. Finally, she turned to Samuel and tried talking to him. His behavior was the most "autistic" that I have seen it in a while. He would not answer her, but he had a humorous look in his eye. Of course he tried to play on her computer and he lunged at the keyboard several times. He picked up a container of crayons and played with them on the floor during much of the visit. At one point he told me "Tell her about how I do not like 'Cyberchase' and I get upset." Maybe in the future I should not discuss him in the third person in front of him like that.
I greatly appreciated that she did not bring up the subject of medication (I did tell her while it was my turn to talk that I was not considering it at this time and that the only reason I will would be if he develops a lot of anxiety). She said it sounded like things are going pretty well for Samuel (which I think they are too). We just need to watch his scripting, his access to television, computers and other things electronic. She also recommended an increase in the amount of speech therapy he is getting (he only receives 40 min/week at school).
We'll return for another visit in 6 months and she see what she thinks of his IEP. I told her that one of my current concerns for him is his educational setting and his academics. She told me rather than worry so much about his academics, getting his communication more up to speed should be what we focus on. Makes sense to me. I should get more interactive activities going with him here at home. I spend so much time on homework and worry about his academic progress. Both will be much easier if he is able to communicate better.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Northeaster Storm Effects
We have had some amazingly strong winds since late last night. The pictures above show the damage they did to one of our Bradford Pear trees in the front of our house. This poor tree lost an equally large section of branch a couple years ago. That time the branch hit the house and dented up the rain gutter. It is a much skinnier tree now. It might be hard to see the detail in the upper photo, but the stability of the tree really looks like it is compromised, it broke off so far into the trunk. These trees are notorious for having entire sections of branch break off like this.
Samuel has an appointment with a developmental pediatrician tomorrow. I have not taken him to one since 2002, partly because of being busy with babies since then and partly because I was so discouraged after the last visit. The doctor immediately began discussing medication, something I will consider if necessary but not as a first treatment option, and she was more interested in talking about my older son who was five at the time. He was drawing a picture of a thunderstorm and she thought this might be a sign that he had Aspergers Syndrome! I know, this might not sound like a big deal but this was the first time I had been able to convince my husband to go to an appointment with me and he left it feeling like it wasn't a very worthwhile experience. We will be seeing a different doctor this time and won't have nearly as far to travel to get there.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Aahhh..Saturday Morning!
It's 7am and it's quiet in the house. The boys were up pretty late last night, well past 10:00, so I'm almost guaranteed they'll be asleep until 9:00. Baby girl woke up at dawn and I fed her so she should sleep in even later than the boys. I could conceivably have 2 more hours of peace and quiet!
In a moment here I'll be typing up some lessons for Samuel. I received some information from Samuel's teachers about what he is working on in Math and Science. I got some library books yesterday that cover what he is learning in Social Studies (Ancient China and Egypt). I need to get back on track with his Religion lessons. It's good to sit down and feel like I have something to work with! My oldest son has a Science exam to take today. My youngest son is learning to write the upper case letters of the alphabet. I've been printing out pictures from Writing With Symbols that correspond to the particular letter he is working on. It's time to print out more pictures, we've worked up to the letter "O".
Later today we'll be going to the library, something Samuel is eagerly anticipating. Tomorrow we are going to visit some friends who live an hour away. They have 5 children, so with our 4 plus the 4 grownups our visits are quite lively. I expect it could get downright chaotic tomorrow because we will most likely have to stay indoors, rain and snow are forecasted. I am going to type up a social story for our visit to remind Samuel that he should not invade their collection of videos and that he should play where the other children play. The daughter of our friends has a dollhouse that Samuel likes to play with. It's fragile and delicate and my friends have made attempts to hide it and one time he found it. The children of our friends, without them knowing it, are helpful in giving me the hint about what I need to watch for with Samuel. The daughter complained about him getting into it and I wouldn't have known about it if she hadn't said anything.
Time to get to work!
In a moment here I'll be typing up some lessons for Samuel. I received some information from Samuel's teachers about what he is working on in Math and Science. I got some library books yesterday that cover what he is learning in Social Studies (Ancient China and Egypt). I need to get back on track with his Religion lessons. It's good to sit down and feel like I have something to work with! My oldest son has a Science exam to take today. My youngest son is learning to write the upper case letters of the alphabet. I've been printing out pictures from Writing With Symbols that correspond to the particular letter he is working on. It's time to print out more pictures, we've worked up to the letter "O".
Later today we'll be going to the library, something Samuel is eagerly anticipating. Tomorrow we are going to visit some friends who live an hour away. They have 5 children, so with our 4 plus the 4 grownups our visits are quite lively. I expect it could get downright chaotic tomorrow because we will most likely have to stay indoors, rain and snow are forecasted. I am going to type up a social story for our visit to remind Samuel that he should not invade their collection of videos and that he should play where the other children play. The daughter of our friends has a dollhouse that Samuel likes to play with. It's fragile and delicate and my friends have made attempts to hide it and one time he found it. The children of our friends, without them knowing it, are helpful in giving me the hint about what I need to watch for with Samuel. The daughter complained about him getting into it and I wouldn't have known about it if she hadn't said anything.
Time to get to work!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
School Work Update
Samuel came home with some low Science Test scores. He took the tests late last week. I'm still trying to work out a good system of communicating with his teachers about what to study. I don't see all that much of his work come home in some of his subjects, science being one of them. I rely on study sheets, and this past time one came home at the beginning of the quarter, but it didn't cover everything. I got a second one 2 days before the test and that wasn't enough time to go over everything. I am able to look up on-line the general topics covered in each class for the quarter, but it does not give details about what he is being taught. We're still trying to figure out exactly what Samuel can and cannot comprehend, and how he communicates this to us.
I spoke with Samuel's teacher for a while yesterday afternoon about this. It was time for us to touch base about how he is doing anyways. He is doing much better now, 2 months after we relaxed his curriculum requirements, on Spelling and Reading tests. I think Samuel does much better when I take the time to go over his work at home with him.
I'm a little nervous because he will have alternate assessments done next year (instead of taking the same standardized tests that other 3rd graders take), and I'm wondering to what standards he will be held. After talking with his teacher I'm left with a vague understanding, like there might not be a lot of accountability. Add all this to the list of things for me to keep up with and research a bit!
I spoke with Samuel's teacher for a while yesterday afternoon about this. It was time for us to touch base about how he is doing anyways. He is doing much better now, 2 months after we relaxed his curriculum requirements, on Spelling and Reading tests. I think Samuel does much better when I take the time to go over his work at home with him.
I'm a little nervous because he will have alternate assessments done next year (instead of taking the same standardized tests that other 3rd graders take), and I'm wondering to what standards he will be held. After talking with his teacher I'm left with a vague understanding, like there might not be a lot of accountability. Add all this to the list of things for me to keep up with and research a bit!
Monday, April 9, 2007
The best-laid plans of Moms and Dads often....
...get blown out of the water!
We all planned to go to Easter morning mass together. I carefully laid out everyone's clothes the night before (including the adorable pastel-floral flouncy dress for the baby, with her new white shoes and cardigan, along with my now 3 year old outfit - I refuse to buy myself any new church clothes until I lose some weight!). All children were bathed and put to bed at a decent hour. My husband awoke about 15 minutes before my alarm clock was due to ring (I wouldn't have to wake him up, unimaginable happiness on my part!). I woke the boys up and dressed them. Samuel was a bit unhappy that we were ALL going to mass. He has gotten used to just the two of us going. After a few minutes, however, he was okay with the idea.
We were now down to 15 minutes before departure time. All I had to do was wake the baby up, feed her, and dress her. When I opened the door to her room I noticed a strange odor. She had thrown up in her crib the night before! After a quick re-strategizing session with my husband ("Honey, looks like you'll be going to church without baby girl, Samuel, and me"), I had to explain to Samuel that our plans had changed.
Once again, I was thankful that I had EWTN, on which I could watch Easter mass. It certainly is not the same thing as being at mass, but it is the next best thing when you cannot go. What was awesome was that the priest celebrating mass, Fr. Francis Mary, started off his homily (sermon) by remembering everyone who was home-bound that day. That made me feel a bit better!
The baby threw up 3 more times that morning and I was so afraid that I had made a big mistake in letting the rest of my family go to church, thinking they would either get sick or spread whatever was probably going to go around the rest of the family. My husband and I didn't feel particularly well, but nobody else got sick the rest of the day. I wonder if perhaps the baby just had a bad reaction to the strange combination of foods she had eaten while we were travelling the day before.
I spent much of my day doing laundry to clean up the messes the baby had made. I never did cook our Easter dinner, and we didn't get around to doing our family Easter Egg Hunt until early in the evening. Baby girl is my first baby that we did not have to teach egg hunting to! As soon as we put her in the room we had "hidden" her eggs she went right to them! Then as the boys did their hunting she busily followed them around trying to find more eggs as well!
We watched a wonderful show on the Discovery Channel which, I believe, started airing in just the past few weeks. It's an 11-part mini-series called Planet Earth. We watched the "Shallow Seas" and "Great Plains" episodes last night. It's on a bit late for all my children to stay up, but I let my oldest son watch it. I highly recommend checking it out, the footage of animal life is amazing, I've never seen anything like it!
I have changed my "display name," so when I visit you I will now be "LAA and Family." I have made this change because I have started helping my oldest son post a blog of his interests. After we completed the first post I saw "posted by Mom Embracing Autism" and that sounds a bit strange for a boy to be signing with. Besides, although "embracing autism" is a term that very much defines my life right now, there is a lot more to me than that. "Mom Embracing Autism" is a good title for this blog, my "identity" needs to cover a bit more than that!
Baby girl will have to make her debut in her new dress another day!
We all planned to go to Easter morning mass together. I carefully laid out everyone's clothes the night before (including the adorable pastel-floral flouncy dress for the baby, with her new white shoes and cardigan, along with my now 3 year old outfit - I refuse to buy myself any new church clothes until I lose some weight!). All children were bathed and put to bed at a decent hour. My husband awoke about 15 minutes before my alarm clock was due to ring (I wouldn't have to wake him up, unimaginable happiness on my part!). I woke the boys up and dressed them. Samuel was a bit unhappy that we were ALL going to mass. He has gotten used to just the two of us going. After a few minutes, however, he was okay with the idea.
We were now down to 15 minutes before departure time. All I had to do was wake the baby up, feed her, and dress her. When I opened the door to her room I noticed a strange odor. She had thrown up in her crib the night before! After a quick re-strategizing session with my husband ("Honey, looks like you'll be going to church without baby girl, Samuel, and me"), I had to explain to Samuel that our plans had changed.
Once again, I was thankful that I had EWTN, on which I could watch Easter mass. It certainly is not the same thing as being at mass, but it is the next best thing when you cannot go. What was awesome was that the priest celebrating mass, Fr. Francis Mary, started off his homily (sermon) by remembering everyone who was home-bound that day. That made me feel a bit better!
The baby threw up 3 more times that morning and I was so afraid that I had made a big mistake in letting the rest of my family go to church, thinking they would either get sick or spread whatever was probably going to go around the rest of the family. My husband and I didn't feel particularly well, but nobody else got sick the rest of the day. I wonder if perhaps the baby just had a bad reaction to the strange combination of foods she had eaten while we were travelling the day before.
I spent much of my day doing laundry to clean up the messes the baby had made. I never did cook our Easter dinner, and we didn't get around to doing our family Easter Egg Hunt until early in the evening. Baby girl is my first baby that we did not have to teach egg hunting to! As soon as we put her in the room we had "hidden" her eggs she went right to them! Then as the boys did their hunting she busily followed them around trying to find more eggs as well!
We watched a wonderful show on the Discovery Channel which, I believe, started airing in just the past few weeks. It's an 11-part mini-series called Planet Earth. We watched the "Shallow Seas" and "Great Plains" episodes last night. It's on a bit late for all my children to stay up, but I let my oldest son watch it. I highly recommend checking it out, the footage of animal life is amazing, I've never seen anything like it!
I have changed my "display name," so when I visit you I will now be "LAA and Family." I have made this change because I have started helping my oldest son post a blog of his interests. After we completed the first post I saw "posted by Mom Embracing Autism" and that sounds a bit strange for a boy to be signing with. Besides, although "embracing autism" is a term that very much defines my life right now, there is a lot more to me than that. "Mom Embracing Autism" is a good title for this blog, my "identity" needs to cover a bit more than that!
Baby girl will have to make her debut in her new dress another day!
Friday, April 6, 2007
More About the Oprah Interview - a 9 year old's thoughts
My oldest son watched the show yesterday and after watching it he told me that he was glad he saw it but that he didn't really like it. I asked him why and he said, "because it didn't seem real." I probed a little further to find out why. I wish I could remember our dialogue better, but the gist of it was because they did not talk to any autistic people!
Isn't that interesting? While there have been a few direct conversations on television with autistic people (Amanda Baggs and "Sue" from "Autism is a World"), most media attention regarding autism is given to the emotional rantings of distraught parents and medical professionals.
I found the excerpt with Andrew, the "almost 12 year old" boy on Oprah yesterday interesting. My oldest son reminds me a lot of him. Like Andrew and David, his brother, my oldest is 16 months older than his autistic brother. He is an immense help to me, and as they have gotten older, he is wonderful about trying to engage Samuel in playing. He understands that Samuel is autistic and he will always be different. While much of our family life is affected by and perhaps consumed with autism, I feel no guilt for how we are living and for the help that I ask of from my son. There are plenty of moments that he gets individual attention from me because he is homeschooled while Samuel goes to public school. He also gets to travel with his Dad for his go-kart racing and other occasional trips they take to my husband's hometown, Rochester, New York. Unlike Andrew, my son does not have such a negative view of autism. I'm sure there are times that he wishes things were different, but he does a wonderful job of accepting our life as it is and accepting his brother as he is. I liked seeing the video of Andrew trying to play with his brother. I'm sorry that he feels lonely and has a hard time that David often won't respond. In our family we have the added benefit of Samuel having a younger brother. He doesn't yet understand what autism is, and he is relentless in his attempts of getting Samuel to play with him. I think that this is invaluable experience for Samuel. My oldest and youngest boys also have the benefit of playing with each other when Samuel decides he is going to ignore them.
I don't mean to offend anyone who has made the decision to have only one or two children by saying this and I know not everyone can have the set of circumstances that I do and I know there is a certain paradox in this, but having several siblings that are both older and younger than my autistic child is a HUGE benefit for us and I think it makes living with autism easier.
Well, today is Good Friday and I need to spend my day appropriately so I better end the blogging for now. We cannot participate in the various services and masses at church because of Samuel, at least for right now. We are fortunate to have EWTN, a Catholic television station, on which we can watch Good Friday services so we will have that on for most of the day. Based on how Samuel is behaving in church, I do envision a day, several years up the road, in which we can start participating at church during Holy Week again.
Isn't that interesting? While there have been a few direct conversations on television with autistic people (Amanda Baggs and "Sue" from "Autism is a World"), most media attention regarding autism is given to the emotional rantings of distraught parents and medical professionals.
I found the excerpt with Andrew, the "almost 12 year old" boy on Oprah yesterday interesting. My oldest son reminds me a lot of him. Like Andrew and David, his brother, my oldest is 16 months older than his autistic brother. He is an immense help to me, and as they have gotten older, he is wonderful about trying to engage Samuel in playing. He understands that Samuel is autistic and he will always be different. While much of our family life is affected by and perhaps consumed with autism, I feel no guilt for how we are living and for the help that I ask of from my son. There are plenty of moments that he gets individual attention from me because he is homeschooled while Samuel goes to public school. He also gets to travel with his Dad for his go-kart racing and other occasional trips they take to my husband's hometown, Rochester, New York. Unlike Andrew, my son does not have such a negative view of autism. I'm sure there are times that he wishes things were different, but he does a wonderful job of accepting our life as it is and accepting his brother as he is. I liked seeing the video of Andrew trying to play with his brother. I'm sorry that he feels lonely and has a hard time that David often won't respond. In our family we have the added benefit of Samuel having a younger brother. He doesn't yet understand what autism is, and he is relentless in his attempts of getting Samuel to play with him. I think that this is invaluable experience for Samuel. My oldest and youngest boys also have the benefit of playing with each other when Samuel decides he is going to ignore them.
I don't mean to offend anyone who has made the decision to have only one or two children by saying this and I know not everyone can have the set of circumstances that I do and I know there is a certain paradox in this, but having several siblings that are both older and younger than my autistic child is a HUGE benefit for us and I think it makes living with autism easier.
Well, today is Good Friday and I need to spend my day appropriately so I better end the blogging for now. We cannot participate in the various services and masses at church because of Samuel, at least for right now. We are fortunate to have EWTN, a Catholic television station, on which we can watch Good Friday services so we will have that on for most of the day. Based on how Samuel is behaving in church, I do envision a day, several years up the road, in which we can start participating at church during Holy Week again.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Mobile Chaos!
Baby girl just started walking this past week. She is the latest to walk of my four children, at 16.5 months. She can hear me open the dishwasher door from the other side of the house and she toddles over immediately to "help" me unload it, whether I'm in the process of loading it or unloading it.
The basement playroom is her favorite place in the house. She was motivated to learn to maneuver the stairs so that she could get down there to play. The toy pile on the stairs was a creation of Samuel's. It stayed around for a few days and Samuel wasn't very willing to clean it up.
I watched Oprah's interview today "The Faces of Autism". A few of the families from the "Autism Every Day" video were there. I'm glad there were some hopeful, encouraging comments about living with autism in the family, bit I'm still left with the same impression after watching this as I was after watching the interview on Larry King Live. I don't like how those who are getting media attention are portraying autism. They are very negative and make autism sound like a death sentence, as I've heard others say. As I said before, those of us who do not have this view need to get our voices out there as well.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
"Awesome Day"
The title of this post was in the subject line of an e-mail from Samuel's special education teacher yesterday afternoon. I like seeing those kinds of words as opposed to "behavior log" ! Samuel did not script at school yesterday! He is given some time to do so during breaks, but during class time he did not! His aid mentioned the good news to me when I picked him up and I was just logging on to e-mail Samuel's teacher to ask her "Did you do anything differently yesterday?" Her e-mail to me asked the same question!
I find that when Samuel has had a good day I start analyzing it very closely to see what details must have contributed to the "good" results. Eventually I end up remembering that I need to give things a few days to look for patterns and trends in these "good" things. I also try to remember that sometimes, no differently than for you and me, Samuel just has a "good day". Yes, it's helpful to know the things that contribute to it, but I shouldn't analyze it to the nth degree thinking I'll be able to duplicate all the conditions on another day. It doesn't work like that for Samuel and life doesn't work that way for me either (as much as I want it to sometimes!).
While the scripting challenge has been with us for a little while, around that challenge good things are happening. Samuel's handwriting has improved remarkably. At the beginning of the school year it was a struggle to get him to write lower case letters. Now he is doing so without prompts most of the time. His letter size has also gotten much better. He is also starting to share his thoughts verbally with us. Sometimes he is teasing us, saying things like "Mommy, I'm going to script "Cyberchase". He tells me this with a grin on his face. Other times, however, he tells me about something he did at school. He told me yesterday "Mommy, we are going on a trip tomorrow." I asked him "Where are you going?" and he told me "On a egg hunt." They are travelling to a nearby town for a special needs Easter Egg Hunt today.
He really was in a good mood after school yesterday. He followed his visual schedule quite well and when it was finished for the afternoon he filled in some things himself, which he proceeded to do until I had to interrupt it with a short homework session before dinner. Then after dinner he and his brothers got to play outside and baby sister joined them.
I need to remember this day the next time we have a tough one!
I find that when Samuel has had a good day I start analyzing it very closely to see what details must have contributed to the "good" results. Eventually I end up remembering that I need to give things a few days to look for patterns and trends in these "good" things. I also try to remember that sometimes, no differently than for you and me, Samuel just has a "good day". Yes, it's helpful to know the things that contribute to it, but I shouldn't analyze it to the nth degree thinking I'll be able to duplicate all the conditions on another day. It doesn't work like that for Samuel and life doesn't work that way for me either (as much as I want it to sometimes!).
While the scripting challenge has been with us for a little while, around that challenge good things are happening. Samuel's handwriting has improved remarkably. At the beginning of the school year it was a struggle to get him to write lower case letters. Now he is doing so without prompts most of the time. His letter size has also gotten much better. He is also starting to share his thoughts verbally with us. Sometimes he is teasing us, saying things like "Mommy, I'm going to script "Cyberchase". He tells me this with a grin on his face. Other times, however, he tells me about something he did at school. He told me yesterday "Mommy, we are going on a trip tomorrow." I asked him "Where are you going?" and he told me "On a egg hunt." They are travelling to a nearby town for a special needs Easter Egg Hunt today.
He really was in a good mood after school yesterday. He followed his visual schedule quite well and when it was finished for the afternoon he filled in some things himself, which he proceeded to do until I had to interrupt it with a short homework session before dinner. Then after dinner he and his brothers got to play outside and baby sister joined them.
I need to remember this day the next time we have a tough one!
Monday, April 2, 2007
Mara Rockliff, author visit at school
Last Thursday Samuel's school had a visit from author Mara Rockliff. She did a 40 minute or so presentation about a book she wrote, Pieces of Another World, and gave an inspiring description of her job as an author: what inspires her, how she got the idea to write her book, other books she has written, the experience of trying to get a book published, pseudonyms she uses and why. Her presentation was both informative and entertaining and the students enjoyed it.
The book Pieces of Another World is about a girl who goes to see a meteor shower with her dad late one night and it brings in all the magic that a child experiences when they get to go out late, the things they see in their town, and the wildlife they see. There are 4 pages at the end of the book with information and some fun activities related to comets and meteors. The illustration in the book is lovely as well, it goes along nicely with the "magical" feeling you get from the story.
Parents were invited to attend this event at the school and after checking out the author's website I was intrigued. I wanted to take my oldest son, who loves the subject of outer space and who likes to write stories. I knew that it wouldn't be possible to attend this when Samuel went because he gets very agitated when he sees us at school. Fortunately I was able to take him and two of his friends to another session. It was great, I think her presentation not only reached my son for the outer space part, but also in her discussion of her experiences as an author. She had a slide show from her computer along with her talk and she did a great job getting the children to participate by asking questions.
Later in the day when I asked Samuel about seeing this he seemed to enjoy it based on the comments he made. The things that made a lasting impression for him were two pictures she showed in her slide show of Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers - she wrote to him when she was a child), and The Berenstain Bears (she met the authors when she was a child).
My little plug for her is not nearly doing her or her presentation justice, so check out her website: mararockliff.com. Maybe your child's school would like to have her visit. I highly recommend it and I highly recommend her book Pieces of Another World!
The book Pieces of Another World is about a girl who goes to see a meteor shower with her dad late one night and it brings in all the magic that a child experiences when they get to go out late, the things they see in their town, and the wildlife they see. There are 4 pages at the end of the book with information and some fun activities related to comets and meteors. The illustration in the book is lovely as well, it goes along nicely with the "magical" feeling you get from the story.
Parents were invited to attend this event at the school and after checking out the author's website I was intrigued. I wanted to take my oldest son, who loves the subject of outer space and who likes to write stories. I knew that it wouldn't be possible to attend this when Samuel went because he gets very agitated when he sees us at school. Fortunately I was able to take him and two of his friends to another session. It was great, I think her presentation not only reached my son for the outer space part, but also in her discussion of her experiences as an author. She had a slide show from her computer along with her talk and she did a great job getting the children to participate by asking questions.
Later in the day when I asked Samuel about seeing this he seemed to enjoy it based on the comments he made. The things that made a lasting impression for him were two pictures she showed in her slide show of Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers - she wrote to him when she was a child), and The Berenstain Bears (she met the authors when she was a child).
My little plug for her is not nearly doing her or her presentation justice, so check out her website: mararockliff.com. Maybe your child's school would like to have her visit. I highly recommend it and I highly recommend her book Pieces of Another World!
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