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A Playdate?

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One thing that I think all parents of children with special needs worry about is whether or not their child will make friends.

Now, don’t get me wrong – the Monster loves other children.  He likes being around other people, and when the other person is someone familiar, he definitely seems interested in at least saying hi or whatnot… even if he’s not really hot at playing with another person.  But…  playdates are few and far between, because his social skills are so behind the curve.

So imagine our shock when we got a note from another parent, via the camp, asking for a playdate with him. Continue reading →

Straddling the Sibling Line

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The Monster and R dressed for Pirate Day at camp, August 2017

Arrrr, mateys!

R’s in a fairly weird spot – he’s the younger sibling, but by nature of how profound the Monster’s Autism is, he’s oftentimes thrust into the role that a big brother would take.  It’s a lot to shoulder, when you’re five years old.

And… when given the chance, it’s lovely to see how he rises to the challenge. Continue reading →

Homebody

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We’re fortunate that we’ve not had a problem to date of the Monster deciding to run away from us anywhere.  He’s certainly had minor elopement incidents – one particular trip to Sesame Place comes to mind – but by and large, we’ve been very lucky.  Between a couple of factors, that the Monster’s a compliant child and that we’ve gone through behavioral therapy to work on awareness that he needs to stick with us, we’ve been a little more relaxed about the whole thing.

(It also helps that he has his necklace, and doesn’t fight us about wearing it, which is a second layer of help in public.)

But that all said, we’re lucky that we’ve not had to worry really about elopement.  I hear all the horrible stories, and my wife makes a point of bringing them up when they appear on Facebook or the like.  But…

The fact is, Monster’s a homebody. Continue reading →

HIT!

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I suppose that certain things are inevitable when you’ve a child with communication issues.  Frustration often boils over, and we’ve been accustomed to the fact that there are times that a meltdown’s going to happen… and to date, we’ve been fortunate that the Monster’s easily diverted.  Certain kinds of meltdowns at certain times could be easily enough interpreted, and…

Well, we’ve reached a new behavior that’s not so easily diverted. Continue reading →

Summertime News

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Ah, summertime.

So while I’ve been quiet, we’ve been gearing up for the kids’ summertime activities.  Both R and the Monster are going to camp for at least part of the summer (the Monster does have school in July, while R’ll be there the whole time), and last night was the camp orientation. Continue reading →

What Sticks

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The Monster’s last day at Middle Rockers, 2016-17 season

Ordinarily, I handle getting the Monster to his school bus anyway, and then leave straight for work.  The point of this being, if his school bus is late or doesn’t show, I can then run him to school before it starts without my wife being made to run a huge loop to drop both kids off.  While she’s on Injured Reserve, this responsibility still lands square in my lap.

So of course, today being his first day back at school after spring break, the bus didn’t come. Continue reading →

“But it doesn’t count”

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Like every school child, the Monster has homework most nights of the week.

I’m not sure I remember what homework was like for me when I was a second grader.  I wasn’t a typical student, but from what I can remember from second grade, it mostly involved working on book reports, basic addition and subtraction, things like that.

The Monster, with his IEP, works on a lot different things than I recall. Continue reading →

The Normal Things

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The Monster’s IEP is full of all kinds of things that he’ll need for later in life.  He’s learning to read and write, and to do basic math.  This week, they’re working on identifying coins in class, and in the past, they’ve done some units on other bits of social studies.  But… the IEP also misses some things that he needs for later in life.

We had a few sessions at KKI of out-patient OT to get him working on some of his life skills – brushing his teeth (he does that so-so), tying his shoes (getting there slowly) and the like.  And that’s also very important because, barring our getting him velcro shoes for the rest of his life or not worrying about his teeth…

And then there’re some of the simple things that are ‘normal’ things to learn. Continue reading →