My Family's Experience with Autism: About to try again....

Monday, September 6, 2010

About to try again....

.....well, tomorrow is Take 2 at the First Day of School. This time I'm CERTAIN that all 3 kids are supposed to be in school for the full day. I've checked. No excuses. Simon has his first "Full-Day", and Rachel has her TRUE first day. Daniel even has his first "homework assignment" due. No more dress rehearsals. It's really here.

One neat thing, and an added bonus of having Rachel start a week later than the other 2, is that Simon's bus driver/aide in the afternoon is the SAME PAIRING as for Rachel in the morning. So, on Friday, we had her get on the bus when Simon was dropped off to meet the two of them. This went well. Hopefully, this will help her tomorrow morning. Not that getting on the bus is a problem for her. She LOVES that part of the day.

So, for tomorrow, I'll put Rachel in a pretty dress (but probably a different one than last Monday) and get ready to put her on the bus. I'll get her lunch together. She has the same teacher as last year (unsure of the paras at this point) and she's really excited about seeing "Ms. Suzanne". And I've already contacted the teacher about an incident that happened earlier this summer (the allergic reaction that happened at her camp), so she's aware of it. [that reminds me, I need to schedule an appointment for her to see someone when Simon's in school].

So, all the things I had planned for last week will now be done during the short 3-day week this week. I'll get my day off tomorrow (mostly) and be able to relax a bit and catch my breath. Then I'll try to get my bearings and get ready for the semi-calm insanity of catching up on everything that I've fallen behind upon, including house cleaning, reading and research. But the time will be mine, which will hopefully allow me to have the patience to deal with my three loveable monsters when school ends each day.

No comments:

Post a Comment

A Little Bit About Me and My Family

Every once in a while, something happens to a family that seems to change everything, whether that change is positive, negative, or in an uncertain direction. One such thing happened to us in March 2009, when we were informed our 26 month old twins (girl/boy) were BOTH on the autism spectrum. Their older brother (nearly 4 at the time) had always been ahead of the curve for most developmental milestones, so we had never really considered that some of the delays the twins were having had anything to do with autism. Well, we were wrong. Since then we have been learning about learning techniques and doing everything we can to make sure they get any and all help they need so that they can live normal lives. This blog chronicles that journey.

The Autism Pizza

I don't know where this came from originally, but I found it on a post on Circle of Moms. It's a good explanation of how things line up on the spectrum.

1. The Crust: Lack of Social Interaction (poor eye contact, not sharing interests with you, no pointing/gesturing)

2. The Sauce: Impaired Communication (possibly no speech, poor conversation skills, repetitive language, echolalia, no make-believe play)

3. The Cheese: Stereotypical Activities & Interests (extreme routine, strong interest in certain things, stimming [flapping, atypical play, etc.] -- like spinning wheels, lining toys up, stacking, etc.)

If you have all of those things: crust, sauce, cheese, you made an Autism pizza. It might have different toppings, but you can look at it and know it's still a pizza. If your pizza doesn't have sauce, that's Aspergers's. If your pizza is missing more than that but still kind of looks like a pizza, that's PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified)