I warned you it was coming lol, more autism

I was typing a reply to an email and the thoughts on Zachary and autism are swirling. I just had to get it out and always welcome your input.

For me, what I mean by not wanting to "fix" him goes to the core of who he is that I don't want to change. Yes I absolutely want to help him through the anxieties, the melt-downs/rages, the flapping or humming, recognizing pain, etc. I homeschool my son and that's what works for us; I get to work with him on a daily basis, finding what works for him and (more often than not, lol) what doesn't. I've had to work quite a bit with him on empathy for others and even empathy for himself; yet he has this unbelievable compassion and deep feeling for animals. His emotions involving people very often is too powerful for him and we are slowly finding appropriate responses for him to communicate the confusion. His mind can analyze a situation and solve what is going on; my work with him is to help him learn how to communicate these amazing findings of his to share with the rest of the world! ☺

The more I read about autism, the more I realize how wrong the Pervasive Developmental Disorder/Not Otherwise Specified (PDD/NOS) diagnosis is. I get angry that I had to insist they relook at his case; this in spite of the demonstrated autistic behaviors during therapies, as well as spectrum scoring on parental intake testing and initial evaluations with Zachary. Reading the most recent diagnosis is like reading a textbook definition of autistic behaviors, yet the doctor resisted--and even wrote of her resistsance in her notes--and settled with PDD/NOS.(we don't go there anymore, lol)

I'm sure many of you have seen the Autism car magnets with the puzzle pieces making up the ribbon. (and I want one btw!)


I do believe there are many puzzle like pieces to people with autism--the problem I see with it is that many still only see the finished "piece" and find that to be the problem. I don't think all the pieces necessarily fit together, and helping those on the spectrum, or at least my own child, is about:

• finding the pieces that fit together properly
  
• finding the pieces that don't quite fit and gently reshaping them to fit the best way they can
  
• finding the pieces that just can't go back in the puzzle--those are the areas we have to learn creative and positive techniques to fill in the "holes."
  

I know these are layman's terms and these thoughts are coming from my heart in my search for helping Zachary, which in turn helps my other children too. They have their own levels of frustration when handling some of Zachary's issues...but Alexis, Dylan, and Mallory are the most amazing siblings to Zach. To him he is their special, hilariously funny, imaginitive little brother, nothing more and nothing less, and they are amazing with him. But they are human, too, and get frustrated at times when Zachy hits his limits or has a rough day and just can't communicate verbally what is bothering him. I wonder if there is a book out there for kids to read and learn...hmmmm, maybe we should write it? lol!

Ode to the Joys of Parenting

I always thought when I heard "I HATE You!!" come from the mouths of my babes I'd be reduced to tears, utterly and completely hurt beyond any verbal or written description. Uh, enter the joys of parenting! How else to explain that when I hear "I HATE YOU!!!" I smile and think, "oh I love you too!" Yea yea, you could explain it by reason of insanity and as I have often espoused here, that would be true; however in this case its just got to be joy. That cute little phrase expresses passionate feelings that I am lucky enough to be blessed with! Hey, you are not laughing are you, cause I'm serious here and you might hurt my feelings, and I might scream I HATE YOU. Of course you'd take it as I Love You cause you'd use my blog against me.

Parents, don't take it to heart if you hear those words. (Unless they are coming from a teenager, in which case you might could be entering a phase of hormonal explosions and had better buckle in for a roller coaster ride) Your child may very well hate you in that particular moment, but keep it in perspective--when you live with someone you are going to hate them and love them and dislike them and adore them...in other words, kids are humans too. They don't really want a reply to it, in the end they just want to know that you love them no matter what. And hey, since I have perfect kids and the perfect family life, you can trust me on this! Oh I do crack myself up on a regular basis.

I got a job!

Its soooo hard. I mean I am getting really, extremely, very dizzy doing this job, its making me insane! Okay, well, if I'm being honest (please read with a British accent ie: a certain judge on a certain singing reality show), I'm dizzy cause I'm trying to count snowflakes to answer a question the youngest once posed. Hey--trying to be a good mom here, I'm just sayin'! And making me insane? HA ha ha ha ha, oh that's rich, I mean seriously, I'm already there, get it? No?? Then you haven't quite made it into my world yet. Keep reading, you'll be crazy right along with me, and if you ask me--which you must have since you're reading along--its a very happy place to be, thankyouverymuch.

So my newest job isn't really a job, its a pleasure. I'm now an affiliate for CurrClick, a great one-stop top-of-the-top hop (sorry, couldn't help myself) for lapbooking, unit studies, notebooking, etc. There are TONS of freebies, but of course I'd absolutely ♥ LOVE ♥ it if you buy stuff cause that's how I make money! There is nothing like some shameless self promoting, IMHO. (I bet you wanna know what that stands for! Okay, most of you are probably waaaay more internetliterate than I am and already know that.) Seriously, I've gotten some great products from CurrClick and have always been happy with it. So what in the world are you still doing here??????

GO ALREADY!



ps thanks to Coder's Talk Blog for the html help. ☺

what's right, what's wrong...

Isn't that supposed to be a simple thing to figure out? This system of checks and balances, of separation of powers...our country has deviated so very far from the original purposes of the constitution. When I have to call 20 different people, and leave 20 different voice mail messages, and get not one call back--all within one county system, I see that as clear evidence our system is
FLAWED FLAWED FLAWED
Having said that, I still see the beauty of the American system as well. That is sincere. Yes, you have to fight for your rights, and if you are the person in the right, you often have to fight 20 times harder than the person in the wrong--but we CAN fight, and keep letting our voices be heard to fix the wrongs. Right? Wrong? Wrong but a little right? Or is this seeming to be completely out in left field? Hey, I have to make someone laugh, so it might as well be me.
☺

Computers 101 assignment

So I have to post an entry in my blog for my school assignment. Which is a good thing, because it got me looking back at my blog, and now Dylan is looking at my blog asking if I ever use it, which leads me to believe my children don't appreciate my writings.

School is fantastic. I actually have no words to describe the feeling I get from being in a classroom and learning. And no I'm not just saying that to try and get an "A"! There is always something new to hear, and getting immediate feedback on ideas is terrific.

My crazy mind is tired tonite. Going to sleep to dream of snow--well, if I sleep...my first exam is tomorrow and I'm just a bit terrified!