My Autism Insights

Thankfully, the weather has cooperated and everyone is back in school today!  That means I can actually make my post at a reasonable time.  So this week, I am thankful:

• For only having one casualty of the school cancellation yesterday: our trampoline.  DH made the mistake of jumping on it with MM and the rest is history (so is the trampoline).  But it could have been worse.  There was a sort of chair sculpture, very reminiscent of the one in Poltergeist II, that could have been a real disaster.  Gus was feeling particularly creative, but oddly he was not the destroyer yesterday.
• For being able to go work with my prenatal yoga client today.  After 2 weeks of Holiday break followed by school delays and cancellations, I really needed to get away for some adult time.
• For Gus learning how to meet some of his own needs even if he can’t always express them.  This morning, MM got a bad splinter stuck deep in her finger.  As soon as Gus heard this, he started looking for hiding places, because he knew she was going to be crying at some point.  When he realized his first hiding spot wasn’t getting him far away enough, he went up to his room, closed the door, and got into another of his favorite hideaways.  He’s grown enough to be proactive about avoiding the things that disturb him instead of waiting until he’s at the edge of his rope!  Go Gus!

What are you thankful for today?

P.S. Opinions on the new header would be greatly appreciated.  I won’t be able to change the layout because Today.com is going to a universal layout for all bloggers, but I can at least have my own header.  What do you think?

Hope you all enjoyed/are enjoying your holidays!  We spent Christmas day visiting family.  Although it was a long day involving a good bit of travel, it was lower-key than usual, which was a good thing.  The last leg of our journey was to my husband’s aunt’s house.

They have a collection of singing plushies: singing Christmas trees, snowmen and penguins, dancing Santas…the works.  There was even a tree that danced and walked toward you.  Gus is always fascinated by them.  He especially enjoys making them all sing at the same time!  So apparently, his noise sensitivity does not extend to lots of different toys singing different songs all at once!  But when his sister cries it’s like the end of the world as we know it.  As irritating as all the mixed songs were to me, the unabashed bliss on his face eventually made me keep my mouth shut and just let him have his fun.

Always interesting to note all the little nuances of Gus’s Asperger’s and Sensory Integration Disorder.

Did you notice anything new or interesting over this holiday?

image by Erik Drooker

This time of year, with snowstorms and vacations and being cooped up together, kids are bound to get under each other’s skin.  Gus and MM are no different.  We’ve been home together since last Friday and I’ve lost count already of all the petty arguments that are so inane and incoherent I can’t even tell what they’re about.  Last night was yet another of those lovely shouting matches, this one brought on by MM playing some repetitive made up game (loudly) and Gus being tired and belligerent.

Usually, I’d just separate them and get Gus to bed as quickly as possible because I know exactly what is bothering him - the constant sound of MM’s high pitched talking/singing.  But last night - it must have been the extra dose of St. John’s Wort - I was calm enough to push Gus a little further.

I separated them as usual, but then I went to Gus, sat him down (once he stopped tossing around insults about his sister being a ’shampoo mouth’ and a ‘pine toe’) and asked him what was upsetting him.  I got the typical, irrelevant, incoherent, off-topic response.  I persisted and insisted that he stop the jabbering because he is better than that.  He thought for a moment and, with some help, explained that he wanted her to play a different game and that he wanted quiet.  This was a HUGE step for him.  We were even able to talk a little about a better way he could have handled the situation - asking nicely that she play a different game.

Since the situation had 2 sides, I then talked with MM and reminded her that her brother often gets upset when he’s tired and that at night he needs a little more quiet.  We spoke about having consideration for people at different times of the day - early morning and evening when they are likely to want to sleep.  Then we discussed how she could have handled the situation differently: play a quieter game or close the door to her room.

Unprompted, they apologized to each other before bed and everyone is friendly again.  So it just goes to show me that I can’t always fall back on what I know Gus is trying to communicate, sometimes I have to push him a step further and make him use the pragmatic language skills that has developed.  It was a good lesson.

Everyone, have a wonderful holiday whatever you celebrate, and if you don’t celebrate anything, just have a great week!  I may or may not post over the next couple of days.  If I don’t, I’m still sending good wishes!  Thanks so much for  visiting and/or following!

Happy Winter Solstice!  In keeping with our family tradition, we got up early this morning and went outside to greet the sun.  From now on the days will start to gradually lengthen - what’s not to celebrate?  As we trekked through calf-deep snow (knee deep for poor MM) I realized what a sensory wonderland it was for Gus!

I’ve read that kids with ADHD and many on the autism spectrum do particularly well when they can spend some time out in nature.  I’ve found this to be true for Gus (Asperger’s and borderline ADHD).  I did some videotaping and tried to experience the moment from his perspective.  I’m not expert at video-making yet, but here’s a brief glimpse of our trip to the lake this morning:

• Trudging through the snow allowed Gus to use his large muscles providing proprioceptive sensory input and also strengthening the weaker core muscles.
• Being bundled in several layers of warm clothing gave him some deep pressure (squeezing) which tends to be calming for him.
• At one point, Gus lay down in the snow which also provided deep pressure with the added bonus of a snow angel thrown in with the deal.
• Early morning, cold, snowy day - very quiet and heavenly for a child with noise sensitivity.
• The rushing wind created a white noise that added to the soothing feel, especially when listening to it through a jacket hood.

On the way back, we decided to take the long scenic route, and I noticed that Gus was exuberant and loving the morning, but not in the manic way we typically see when he’s racing through the house.  That was a gift in itself!

Speaking of gifts, the kids were allowed to open a couple of gifts last night and this morning.  Celebrating both Solstice/Yule and Christmas helps to mitigate some of the craziness of Christmas day.  They get less overwhelmed by too much ’stuff’ and can take the time to enjoy their presents a little at a time.  He loved the mini Hot Wheels set and the new Leapster game; the MP3 player didn’t go over as well as I thought.  Perhaps when he learns to use it, he’ll warm up a little to it.

So that was our morning.  How does your special sensory needs child do with outdoor/nature time?

Once upon a time there was a woman named Mrs. Practical, and she had a friend named Stereo.  Stereo had always been a reliable and loyal friend, and so even though he grew old and obsolete (he even still had exposed speaker wires that had to be hooked up and a cassette player) she could never part with him.  He had been with her since she had her first home, and had survived two cats and three moves.  Mr. Married-To-Practical had often wondered why she kept him, but she just answered, “He may come in handy one day.”

Mrs. Practical eventually had a baby boy, named The Boy, who soon came to be nicknamed Destructo.  He was a sweet child, but had the uncanny power to destroy anything he touched, usually with little or no harm to himself.  He was like a living Tasmanian Devil, just without the ink or dust clouds.  At the age of two, The Boy maimed another friend of Mrs. Practical’s: Thirty-Six-Inch Television.  That was when he earned the name Destructo.

As Destructo grew, and the furnishings became shabbier and shabbier, his parents decided to give him a small radio – he loved music.  Destructo did rather well, and the radio lasted over a year, unlike the $80 globe that did not even make the year mark and is not permanently silenced.  Unfortunately, the radio was dropped one time too many and the CD reading mechanism joined countless other items in the black hole of their home.

Mrs. Practical debated.  Music was almost a necessity in The Boy’s life because of his noise sensitivity, but simply buying another radio for him would send a terrible message that he didn’t have to work to take better care of his things.  It was a terrible, hand-wringing dilemma.  Finally, she searched in the cupboard beneath the stairs (which is a perfectly acceptable home for anything that is not an eleven-year-old wizard) and found her old friend, Stereo.  They had a chat.  “Will you do it, old friend?  It will be dangerous.”  But he was a brave stereo, and he agreed to come out of his peaceful resting place to live in The Boy’s room.

All was well for over a month.

But then, at five a.m. one rainy morning, Mrs. Practical heard a crash coming from The Boy’s room.  Mr. Married-To-Practical rushed in.  The Boy was fine, but – Oh no! – Stereo lay in pieces on the ground!  Of course it was an accident; it was nearly always an accident.  But what to do for poor stereo?

Mrs. Practical knew Stereo better than anyone, and with deft fingers she patiently put him back together.  She tested his speakers and breathed a sigh of relief when everything was working.  But when she went to plug The Boy’s headphones back in, she saw with a sad heart that the headphone jack was gone.  They searched high and low – it was nowhere to be found.  Mrs. Practical wrapped up all Stereo’s wires and gently carried him back to her room, otherwise known as Cuba (because the children were not allowed to go in there alone without express, written permission in quadruplicate), where he is currently recovering peacefully.

She is now faced with the same dilemma she had before, and to this day, Mrs. Practical does not know what she is going to do.

Prompt by Mo over at Manic Monday !  Thanks, Mo!

The Mystery of the Ghost

as told to me by Gus

In a haunted mansion in Transylvania, on a Thursday, in March, there was a weird sound.  It was a ghost.

“What an emergency!” one of the people shouted.

First, it threw a rock.  The rock was almost thrown into deep space.  It wasn’t like it was elementary or something, but the ghost said, “WOOOOOOO!”

“One North America…two North America…” said a voice.

“What was that?” said another voice.

Then another voice went, “Ya ya ya!  Ya ya ya!”  That was just a bunch of people in daycare.  The ghost got confused and went back into the grave until all that, “Ya ya ya! Ya ya ya!” stopped.

The End

P.S. Have you seen Transylvania?

My son, budding mystery/suspense author…or comedian.  I swear, I did not change a single word.  I’m struck by the fact that the ghost didn’t like noise, and also very amused by the opening line.  If only I could remember to have that level of specificity in my own fiction…

Anyway, try having your kids make up some ghost stories & let us know how it works out!  Happy Monday, y’all!