“Shiny. Let’s be bad guys.”
–Jayne, Serenity
Yes, two Firefly quotes to lead things off. (Gotta love Mal and Jayne, even if the quotes are from two different scenes…) I think that summarizes how I’ve felt for the last, oh, about twenty-four hours. Continue reading
At long last, yesterday was the Monster’s first day of school.
This had been a day that the wife had been dreading for a long time. Sending the Monster to public school was full of a host of unknowns, which we’d been dealing with for about a week on our end. Continue reading
We’re on the last day before the school year, and still trying to scramble to get ready.
The Monster’s uniforms arrived on Wednesday, so we had him try them on yesterday to be sure that they fit and everything before he’s expected to wear them on Monday. The pants need to be hemmed, but the shirts seem just about right. I’m not so sure that I think preschoolers need to be wearing school uniforms, but hey, what do I know. Continue reading
A week from yesterday, the Monster starts school.
If I seem like I’m counting it down, I’m not really doing that – I don’t think I quite know what to think or feel about the fact that he’s going off to start public school on Monday. I guess I just somewhat figured it’d be at least another year down the line, like everyone else’s kids. Continue reading
It’s that time of year, finally.
A week from this coming Monday, the Monster goes to his first day of public school. We still have no idea what time the bus will come for him, or what time it will drop him off, but we know that he’s going to be going.
Both the wife and I have college degrees. Our parents, too, have college degrees. It was, before the Monster was born, a foregone conclusion to us that our kids too would go to college.
And then we found out that the Monster has autism. Continue reading
Today was the last day of one of the Monster’s day camps.
We were fortunate to find out about a speech and language camp run by a local university, and had the Monster there three days a week in a program that gives him at least some social exposure to other children as well as therapy sessions that our insurance will cover. Unfortunately, because it is staffed by students from that same university, it’s not a whole-summer program – it ran only six weeks, and ended today, four weeks shy of the start of school. Continue reading
As I’ve more than alluded to, the Monster’s first IEP meeting was not a process that I particularly care to repeat anytime soon.
I was informed by our advocate that the average IEP meeting takes about two to three hours. I was told by the dads’ support group members that a five hour IEP meeting is not particularly unheard of for a first-time through the process… Continue reading
So we’re part way through the summer – if I read my calendar right, we’re about seven weeks from the start of the Monster’s first year of public school. (And that’s weird enough to think about.)
The other thing that happens over the summer is that my employer announces the latest slate of employees who have been selected for our in-house leadership-training program. Unlike last year, I didn’t bother to do more than scan the message to see if anyone from our office was selected. Continue reading
Since the election season is just around the corner, and primaries are finally (mercifully) behind us, I’ve only just started considering who I intend to vote for in the upcoming general elections. I should note that I’ve voted in every election – EVERY ONE – since I became eligible to vote in 1992, and I take seriously my responsibility to be an educated voter.
In the past, I’ve obviously considered other issues than autism – last time we voted for President, the Monster was coming up on six months old and we had no idea that something was wrong. The last time we voted for Congress, Governor and our state legislature, he was just past two and we were just starting to grasp the concept that it could be autism (he’d just started intake with the Baltimore City Infants and Toddlers’ Program). To be honest, autism hadn’t even entered into the realm of issues that I’d be considering positions on when I make my choices on that first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Over the last few days, though, I’ve been reading a couple of articles on various reputable websites and in responsible magazines that are giving me some substantial food for thought.