My Autism Insights

  image by John Haslam/foxypar4 on Creative Commons

The clocks are ’springing forward’ tomorrow - brighter days ahead.  It’s a strange time right now: I hear birds signing outside, but the early mornings are still cold and uncomfortable.  All around the ground is a muddy quagmire topped with greenery.  We’re expecting temperatures near 60 today, but since there’s still snow on the ground, many of us parents are still dressing the kids in snowsuits so they don’t get soaked and chilled.  Even the geese have made a couple of cameos, but have decided against signing any contracts just yet; they’re gone again.  It’s the messy ‘in-between’ stage.

It has seemed lately that in some ways Gus has been going backwards; regressing.  In other ways, he has merely stagnated.  He’s still having difficulty with doing independent work in school.  And he’s been wandering the school halls or doing dangerous things like climbing on school furniture.  Why?

Nearly eight years of observation provides a hopeful answer - I try not to worry about these setbacks any more.  It seems that before he can jump forward, he’s got to take a few steps back.  The progress always outweighs the regressions.  I don’t know why exactly this happens. But when I look at nature, it seems that many transitions are less than pretty.  If you’ve ever seen a baby bird hatch, at first they’re all twisted, discombobulated, upside down…and quite unattractive (in a cute, my-mom-just-sat-on-my-head kind of way).

Baby Robin Hatching video by Youtube user JSitube

Gus woke up this morning (at a reasonable hour), dressed himself (in matching clothes even), went downstairs and set his Pokemon game up until everyone else got out of bed.  Clearly, he’s gaining independence.  He’s already gone through a physical growth spurt, and now his mind is following along with a developmental surge.  The regressive behaviors are already starting to fade along with the dark days.  He’s almost squelched through all the transitional muck.  I see sunnier skies in Gus’s near future.

Do you notice any regression in your child just before a developmental leap forward?

Kings Cross Clock image by Oxyman from Wikimedia Commons

Gus woke up at 4:40 this morning.  He’s been waking up very early, on and off, for over a week now.  Ironically, he’s been having better days when he’s been up early than he has on the days he’s slept until his usual 5:30-6 or later.  For some reason, this has seemed bizarre, and then I looked at the calendar.  The clocks are springing forward on Sunday.  Could it be that Gus’s body clock is adjusting itself?

We usually start getting the kids ready for a time change a couple of weeks early.  We adjust bedtimes/wake-up times in fifteen minute increments,  earlier or later depending on the season.  It’s saved us from a considerable amount of drama from an abrupt transition.  Maybe after almost 8 years of doing this, he’s finally able to make the switch himself. Maybe this is progress and some self-regulation skills are emerging.  Or maybe he just loves life so much he’s really eager to start the day!

How do you prepare for the seasonal clock changes?

Ha!  They waited long enough to send it!

Maybe I should just rant about how the clocks changing has really upset our lives instead.  I woke up at 3:45 this morning and had to force myself to stay in bed for at least an hour.  The kids were up by 5.  It’s a very tense day here today.  My husband took today and tomorrow off all because of this historic election, which quite frankly has me nervous as heck.  I think Gus has picked up on this because he is completely off the wall this morning!

We went early to our polling place and did not encounter long lines.  Gus came into the booth with me, turned the little levers, and then pulled the big red lever to cast our vote.  I missed one little initiative that was hiding in the top corner of the ballot, but I didn’t mention this to Gus because he’d just get stressed over it.

The kids did very well in not making loud proclamations about the candidates, and Gus didn’t mention anything about how, “Alaska is going to become independent!” because he heard my husband and I joking that Sarah Palin isn’t setting herself up to run in 2012, but that she was planning on becoming the first president of an independent Alaska.  We always get busted when we don’t watch what we say around this boy.

I was going to post about voting rights for persons under guardianship or with ‘intellectual disabilities,’ but I honestly am too wired to say much on the subject that would be coherent.   I did find it disturbing that there are still 8 states that have provisions to deny people the right to vote based on a disability, and there are a couple who have some really deplorable language on the books at that.  The Americans with Disabilities Act is supposed to protect voting rights for persons with disabilities.  I never thought much about it before now, I mean, Gus is only 7, but I think this is something I’ll be looking at a little more closely and hopefully I’ll have something coherent to say about it soon.

We had a beautiful day for Gus’s soccer game yesterday and got a bit of a surprise.  A boy who he had been on the bus with two years ago was at the field watching his sister play.  The boy, T., was always a really sweet kid and so nice to Gus.  He’s in the 8th grade now and in “regular school,” which he was very proud to tell me.  It was great to see him!  T. sat at the sidelines with me watching the game, talking my ear off about any and everything, and volunteering to help out on the field if needed.  One of the players got a little tired out and lay down in the middle of the field.  T. was right there (he knew the girl) coaxing her back to her mom.  Really an awesome young man.

I’m having a bit of a dilemma.  T. does babysitting, and I will be needing one soon.  My biggest issue is that I have a general unease with leaving my kids with a) teenagers and b) males - any males (strictly my own issue and not indicative of any inherent inability of men to care for children) .  While my kids are generally good, especially for other people, you just never know when there will be an ‘issue’ and I always worry that one will crop up and the sitter won’t be able to handle it.  Now, one thing in T’s favor is that since he’s an Aspie and also knows Gus pretty well, he’d have a better insight into how to calm Gus if he got upset about something.  My concern would be pretty much the same as with any of the other teens I’ve considered hiring - attention and ability to control two rambunctious kids.  Also, T. doesn’t live very close, so having him babysit at night may be difficult.

On a completely unrelated note, someone forgot to give Gus the time-change memo.  He was up at 4, which was sort of 5, too early at any rate.  He’s back to the early rising and I’m thinking of trying melatonin to help with sleep, at least until we can get him into a pattern of sleeping a little later.

If you have any thoughts on either the babysitting issue or the melatonin, I’d love some input! Have a great Sunday!