Tonight’s Halloween. While my neighborhood isn’t really the hub of all activity for such things – Orthodox Jews don’t really “do” Halloween – there’s neighborhoods close enough by that will have trick-or-treating galore.
My only thought is whether or not I really feel a need to take the kids trick-or-treating. Continue reading
On one of the many fora I visit, a parent recently asked what “non-verbal” really means.
The line between verbal and non-verbal is a difficult one, I think, when it comes to Autism. To most folks, “non-verbal” implies “no speech”… which isn’t the truth of the matter. Most of our kids make some kind of noises, after all, which may or may not be words… Continue reading
I’d be inclined to say that quiet is good, and the last few days, it’s been quiet around the house. Continue reading
The Monster likes baths.
Rather, the Monster likes to play in the bath. Unfortunately, when we’re on a tight schedule before school, bath time’s not really an option, so the Monster gets stuck with a shower… which he hates. Continue reading
As I’ve mentioned a lot of times around here, R seems to be skewing towards the NT end of things based on the milestones we’re seeing. We’ve recently made the decision that he’ll go to pre-school starting in January so that he gets more interaction with other NT children, rather than simply holding him out till next September.
One of the weirdest parts of it is watching how R’s progress is rubbing off on the Monster. Continue reading
As the Monster is getting older, we’re trying to find new ways to teach him independence from us.
When he was first diagnosed with Autism – back when he was wholly non-verbal – we were struggling with getting him to express his needs so that folks could help him. In the years since, he’s slowly acquired the scripting to have a simple phrase, “Can I have [x], please?”, to get himself past some of the stumbling blocks. Continue reading
I suppose on some level, I’m not all that surprised that at some point, the Monster’s behavior has shown a few more violent tendencies.
We’ve been dealing for a while now with the fact that he’s inclined to throw himself on the floor and be otherwise difficult if we’re trying to move him to non-preferred activities. This has moved into flailing about, since that makes it harder to manipulate him into position to do said activities… Continue reading
Yesterday afternoon, I got a note from the school psychologist at the Monster’s elementary school, letting us know that they’re setting up a group for parents of children with Autism and Developmental Disabilities at the school. It’ll meet the last Thursday of the month (on the same day as my Dads’ Talk meeting in the evening) at the school.
Problem? I work, and the meetings are planned for 10 AM. I’d skip work to go to the meetings, but at the moment, I have a standing meeting at that time.
For about two months now, we’ve been going on a decent schedule vis-a-vis the Monster’s school. He has some predictability with regards to his morning routine, followed by school, followed by homework, gymnastics or therapy…
And then this morning, the bus had to go and screw things up. Continue reading
Yesterday was another of our trips to Sesame Place, making the most of our season passes by trying to take in the Halloween festivities at the park before it closes for membership year.
We already knew before going that it was going to be difficult compared to our other trips – without the water activities being open, the Monster isn’t quite as set on doing much of what the park has to offer. Continue reading