Upcoming Locally…

Posted by Dad Enough

One of the things that occurred to me is that there’s really no one good, central resource for a list of events that are coming up for parents of children with special needs. (Every group seems to have a superset of their events and a few other groups, but… not all in one place) So I’m going to try to remember to post something at least once a month with what I know of, and… well, if any of my readership knows of additional events, please feel free to let me know and I’ll add them.

And, because not everything revolves around our children with special needs, I’ll post general-interest parenting things here too, if I’m attending (with or without the kids). Continue reading →

When It Works Properly

Posted by Dad Enough

We had the Monster’s latest IEP meeting yesterday.

To be fair, the meeting wasn’t a full IEP review – it was to evaluate his progress since the IEP was approved, to go over the assistive technology assessment, and to review a request by us to have the Monster retained in the second grade. But the phrase “IEP Meeting” usually strikes such fear into the hearts of the parents of children with special needs, and…

Well, some times, the process works the way it should. Continue reading →

Communication Matters

Posted by Dad Enough

Understanding what the Monster wants or needs usually’s harder than it looks.

He’s not bad about expressing the basics of his needs, most of the time. He’ll use single words – “eat”, “drink”, “bed” – which usually expresses the gist of what he’s looking for… but getting to the specifics, and to a format that others’ll understand, is another matter.

And at eight years old, this is really starting to become a problem. Continue reading →

Art Therapy?

Posted by Dad Enough

I’ve written before about how the Monster seems to have an interesting relationship with art.

Now, I’ve yet to meet a child who doesn’t like to scribble, paint or the like. Just because my kids have picked up my distinct lack of talent for the medium doesn’t mean that they’re not going to do it. Continue reading →

Flagging

Posted by Dad Enough

I’ve been in diversity training this week, and these kinds of sessions are the kind where everyone is having to suffer through two long days of ‘training’ to teach you the things you should have already learned. As such, there’re plenty of people I don’t know in the room from different departments, minding their own business and just trying to survive to get out of the session without doing too much…

… and then across the room, I noticed that one of the others was wearing their ID badge on a puzzle-piece lanyard. Continue reading →

Critical Communication

Posted by Dad Enough

Like many children with Autism, the Monster is working with a serious language deficit.

He’s certainly by no means wholly non-verbal – he does have quite the interesting vocabulary, and it’s more often than not the manner in which he uses it. His use of language, primarily, are one and two word utterances, and it’s an IEP goal to encourage him to stretch that out.

But somehow, a lot of the time, he does get his meaning across. Continue reading →

Perhaps Picasso

Posted by Dad Enough

Add another thing to the diverse list of interests for the Monster.

We have a cart near the door to our patio with all kinds of art stuff in it. It’s been there for a while – I don’t quite remember when we got it or what inspired it – but it has paint and markers and the like in the various rainbow-hued drawers, ready for the taking. Continue reading →

The Monster Turns Eight

Posted by Dad Enough

The Monster turns eight today.

Since his last birthday, a lot’s changed. The Monster’s attending a different school. He’s no longer in private therapy for speech and occupational therapy, mostly because of how much the work for that’s been increased at his regular school. And we’re seeing, at least, a little bit of progress on those fronts. Continue reading →

Samson the Therapy Cat

Posted by Dad Enough

Just to get it out of the way: Sammy’s old. Like… older-than-the-hills old.

I’ve had Samson since he was a kitten. Friends of mine found him sitting on the trunk of my car nearly twenty years ago, looking pitiful, and asked me to hold him until the no-kill shelter had a spot in a few weeks. They’ve not yet told me when the opening at the no-kill shelter will be free… Continue reading →