Welcome back to Thursday, only one day away from Friday! This week I am thankful…
…that the snow finally stopped! I think one more snow day after 3 straight would have sent everyone over the edge. Snow days are great, but there is such a thing as excess.
…that Gus is doing really well learning multiplication! Not only does he grasp the underlying concept, but he really seems excited by it. He used to get these math drills for homework of addition and subtraction that were as bad as pulling teeth to get him to do. If he did 12-15 problems in a sitting, it was a big achievement. He got 2 sheets this week of multiplication problems – easily 30 on the page – and once he stopped fussing because I told him one was wrong, he breezed through the rest. It’s always nice when he enjoys his schoolwork!
…to my friend G who sent me an article on the new NBC series Parenthood. Apparently one of the main characters is an 8-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome. This seems to be a significant story line. The show’s producer has a teenage son with Asperger’s, so I’m hopeful that the portrayal will be accurate and dealt with sensitively. I believe the episode where the child is diagnosed will air next Tuesday. I’m looking forward to it.
What are you thankful for this week? Have a great weekend, and see ya soon!
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal carried an article on Temple Grandin, whom they refer to as, “the most famous autistic woman in the world.” I’m in the process (finally!) of reading Thinking in Pictures, in which she gives a very concrete glimpse into her mind and the mind of many individuals on the autism spectrum, so I jumped at the chance to read what she has to say. Some of the topics she comments on:
Vaccines - “you still vaccinate. Delay it a bit, space them out.”
Diet and medication, specifically, the GFCF diet and antidepressants, which have benefitted many.
High expectations – “Why don’t you talk about becoming a chemist, or a computer programmer, or a botanist?” – and not letting the disability rule.
The spike in autism – “You know the geeks have always been here…Now they’re getting labeled Aspergers.”
I recommend reading the article for yourself – Dr. Grandin holds much more wisdom than I can do justice to here. She’s an amazing individual, and I look forward to reviewing her book when I’m done. Have a great day!
How fortunate for me that our annual review and IEP meeting happened to fall on a Thursday. So I can cage two birds at once (I see no reason for violence and killing of innocent creatures). What is instilling gratitude this week?
I am thankful that we got all of Gus’s services renewed for next year without much of a fuss. Furthermore, by all accounts, he has shown a good deal of improvement since last year. He still (obviously) has some major issues to overcome, but he’s better than he was last year, and that’s all we can ask of him.
I am thankful that Gus’s evaluations came back with no surprises, even if the stark truth of the numbers is still a little saddening in areas: IQ and verbal ability in the superior range for his age; the social skills, pragmatic communication & self-care ability of a 3-5 year old. His math skills are age-appropriate. We knew all this, but it’s always good to see, in a concrete way, where his strengths and weaknesses are. We just have to keep plugging away at those challenges.
I am thankful for the advice of The Coffee Klatch on Twitter to bring some treats to the meeting. I don’t know how much goodwill the box of Munchkins established, but it was good that I had something to stuff in my mouth when the chairperson, again, inappropriately, tried to tell us that we should consider medicating Gus. It’s hard to punch someone in the mouth or cuss them out when you’ve got a yummy jelly donut in your gob. Fortunate for both of us, I would say. I don’t advocate violence, but I do get the impulse every once in a while – I’m only human – and this is the 2nd time in as many years as she’s pulled that. Schools don’t have the right to pressure parents into medicating their special needs children, period. She knows this. She prefaces her statements with an acknowledgment that she shouldn’t be making them, and then makes them anyway. I don’t think she’s ever even seen Gus in person, yet feels qualified to spout medical advice. Perhaps she’s been moonlighting as a psychiatrist, I don’t know. Whatever. Pass the donuts, please.
Now that my mini-rant is done, what are you thankful for this week?
After the past few snowstorms of late managed to miss us, we were starting to wonder if we were going to get another good snow. Well, we got it today! I took the kids out this afternoon, and we all had a blast.
First, I have to point out that it’s very rare for me to take both kids out in the snow by myself, but DH was trying to get home from work and the neighbors had stopped by to invite us out, so I went for it. Turned out I was the only adult out there with about 7 kids in all, but everyone was having such a good time, and behaving so nicely, I almost could have let my kids hang out on their own. The best part about it was that even though Gus usually chose to keep to himself, they all interacted with him and kept trying to include him.
At one point when Gus was laying in a sled in the center of the bottom of the hill, and not moving when people were hurtling toward him, there was the typical, “What’s wrong with Gus?” But it wasn’t said (as it has been in the past) in a nasty way; it was more a tone of incredulous good humor.
Other highlights included MM getting hit with one of the tubes (the green one at the top of the photo) and landing right on top of it and the rider, who caught her like an expert. It couldn’t have been better timed if we had stunt-man choreography and wires. No one was hurt, but all the boys out there were pretty impressed with her “bravery.” The fact that she picked up a snowboard for the first time and managed to stay up for a few seconds didn’t hurt either. Hell, I was impressed by that!
We were all soaked and freezing by the time we came in, but it was a good afternoon all around.
This weekend, I made a few updates to the site. I remembered that I had my affiliate bookstore set up on my old site (Blogger), so the recommendations have been updated and moved here. You can click on the My Autism Insights aStore page link in the sidebar to check for new recommendations. If there are any books recommendations you have that aren’t there, please feel free to let me know and I’ll add them.
Also, you might notice a new layout! It’s a little more flexible and intuitive for me to tweak as needed. What do you think of the look?
Finally, a word on comments. Comments are very appreciated. I read every comment left on this site. However, not many get published. I always encourage people to comminucate here onsite, but if you are going to leave a comment, please keep some guidelines in mind:
Only comments that are relevant to the topic will be posted. This means that no matter how much you say you love the site, I will not post your 500 Viagra links.
Comments need to be in English because if I can’t understand the comment, I can’t gauge its relevance to the topic.
You don’t have to agree with me, but if you are going to comment, please be respectful toward me and anyone else commenting here.
I hope you enjoy the changes & additions! Have a great day!
I am thankful that Gus was found and none the worse for wear last week when he decided to squeeze himself into a locker at school. I had a long discussion with his teacher and counselor, and he faced the unpleasant consequence of losing all video games for the entire weekend. He’s been on track this week, which I am also glad for.
I am thankful that we got some snow this week, including a snow day. Even though the house always looks like a tornado hit when everyone is home, it’s nice to be able to relax with everyone and come up with fun things to do. The kids spent most of the day playing with knights & castles in Gus’s room, probably because DH and I are starting to teach them the actual rules of Dungeons and Dragons (yes, they have character sheets and everything). We also did some homework, but when we can do ‘instructional’ activities on our own timetable, the work flows much smoother. Snow days rock.
I am thankful that all our friends to the south, who were slammed by those 2 nasty snowstorms, are all fine. I hope everything gets back to normal for you as soon as possible!
Something very ironic happened today. I was looking at affiliate programs and came across the Amber Alert GPS system (see right sidebar). The irony is that last Friday, Gus just got in big trouble, again, for wandering off. With all the progress he’s made this year, this is the behavior that doesn’t consistently improve. In a way, it’s gotten worse. He was supposed to be putting his coat and backpack in his locker, which is immediately outside the classroom door; instead, he went down the hall and closed himself inside an empty locker. I’m not clear if he could have gotten himself out. The point is, it was a dangerous thing to do, and he doesn’t get that. He can spit back some version of a reason why he shouldn’t do it, “I’ll burn up in a fire,” (which by the way has NOT been said to him, he’s just extrapolated that from any sort of reasoning that everyone’s tried to give him), but it’s painfully clear that the messages have not sunk in at all.
Gus has always had a tendency to wander and often can be found pretty quickly in his usual haunts. The problem is that because of his impulsiveness, there’s no way of knowing when he might do something completely unexpected – like stuff himself in a locker that he may not be able to get out of.
So we may be back to considering a GPS for him. There have been others on the market in the past, but we’ve decided against them for any number of reasons. However, as Gus gets older and bolder, unless we medicate him and hope that helps his impulse control, it seems that we may need some way to give him the freedom to develop while having the safety net of a GPS to make sure he’s not getting into too much trouble.
What are your thoughts on GPS devices for tracking your kids?
I’ve been very remiss about my updates since the holidays. Life has been keeping me quite busy, but I thought it time to reinstate my favorite post topic: Thursday Thankfulness. Here’s my list for this week:
I am thankful that the paint color Gus picked out for his room came out so great! I was nervous that it would make the room too dark, but it’s his room and he should have a say in how it looks. Also, it seems that the dark color is soothing on his senses. He’s actually been sleeping a little later since we finished painting. MM’s room came out quite nice as well, and she’s pleased with that it’s “so girly.
Screenshot of Olympic Paint color selection tool - Caribbean Splash
MM room swatch - looks lavender or pink depending on the light.
I am thankful for our good friends J and J who were an enormous help last Saturday with the painting project. It would have been A much bigger strain without them, and probably would not have been finished yet. Thanks, guys!
I am thankful that Gus is enjoying his bowling league. He’s been feeling a little out of sorts because he’s starting to realize that he’s the older brother, but his sister gets more freedom. So the fact that he gets to stay out a little late – past bedtime – has given him an esteem boost. I notice he’s trying to be more independent, like he wants to prove that he can handle more responsibility. He’s not ready for mainstream activities on his own just yet, but it’s good to see him working toward it.
What are you thankful for this week? Have a great one!
Today was a sort of surprise snow day. The buses were already on their runs when first a delay and then a school closing enacted. Luckily, I had gotten a call from Gus’s bus driver to tell me that the roads were bad. I decided then to keep both kids home despite whatever the schools decided.
Since everyone was dressed, we went out with one of the neighbors around 8 this morning, just for a little while. Gus had homework to do, and we played Wii for a little while. Then we decided to do something a little different.
Gus has been asking for a while for me to teach him to cook. The only problem I have with that is that whenever he says he wants to help make something, he can’t focus long enough to stick with a dish. Last week, when he was sick, he wanted to buy some rice pudding. I told him we could try to make some. So guess what we did this afternoon?
I used this rice pudding recipe as a basis, but made some significant changes. I made sure the rice was completely cooked before mixing it in with the milk and sugar. I used sweetened vanilla almond milk (we don’t buy cow’s milk anymore) and used brown sugar instead of white (we are almost out of white). In retrospect, I’d use 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 1/3. Finally, we left out the raisins, and added in cinnamon. Gus did measuring, added in the first portion of milk, and mixed a bit. MM helped as well with beating the egg & also doing some stirring. We passed about an hour and got a snack out of the deal.
Well, MM and I got a snack. Gus doesn’t like foods with this type of texture (which I kind of knew, so I was surprised he was asking for rice pudding to begin with). But at least he got to cook!
Do you have any recipes that you’ve tried with your child to share? Have a great & safe day (especially if you’re out in that snow)!
Welcome back to Thursday, only one day away from Friday! This week I am thankful…
A Few Notes
This weekend, I made a few updates to the site. I remembered that I had my affiliate bookstore set up on my old site (Blogger), so the recommendations have been updated and moved here. You can click on the My Autism Insights aStore page link in the sidebar to check for new recommendations. If there are any books recommendations you have that aren’t there, please feel free to let me know and I’ll add them.
Also, you might notice a new layout! It’s a little more flexible and intuitive for me to tweak as needed. What do you think of the look?
Finally, a word on comments. Comments are very appreciated. I read every comment left on this site. However, not many get published. I always encourage people to comminucate here onsite, but if you are going to leave a comment, please keep some guidelines in mind:
I hope you enjoy the changes & additions! Have a great day!