adventures Outside

Today my son decided that since his sister was at a friends house he would go over too. This has happened a total of three times since we moved in our home almost six years ago. My son has a terrible fear of being outside. I am not sure exactly what triggers this fear, but I can see it almost every time he decides to try going outside. As I've said before he has several sensory issues as many children with an autism spectrum disorder do. I can only imagine how difficult it is for a child who is sensitive to sight, sound, smell, taste and touch to go outside. Lights bother him, noise bothers him. Trying to understand how he makes this work when he is outside is puzzling to say the least. It is nothing short of a miracle when he actually feels comfortable enough to venture out. I have problems getting him to go out to pick his sister up from the bus. It's a three minute walk and I have got him to make the trip three times out of the entire school year. Because of this difficulty my husband who works third shift and never seems to make it to bed before 10 am must get up and pick up our daughter from the bus stop almost everyday at 3:40 pm this means he gets roughly 4 1/2 hours of sleep a day! The amazing part is that he manages to do so and still work an 8 hour day six days a week without injuring himself!!! The Man is plainly amazing!!! He has now taken on the job of bringing Jade back and forth to soccer practice twice a week :) They both enjoy it because of their love of sports!! Adrian went to Jades first practice and did well but has not wanted to go again so far. I am hoping he does well through Jade's six soccer games. I do not want to miss those!!! I don't drive so Steve could not stay home with Adrian even if he wanted to. I am hoping that Adrian will be able to handle the situation because I know his sister will want him there. That's all I really can do is hope. Maybe Adrian will adjust to being outside more often and maybe he won't only time will tell. For right now we will just see how the first game goes and take it from there.

writing from a college course

Probably the single most important transition in one's life is the transition to parenthood. Before children you can sleep in as late as you want on weekends, enjoy late nights with your spouse, spend time with your friends, and enjoy peace. After children Life is more wonderful than before. Every thing is chaotic and beautiful at the same time. Here you are responsible for another life and helping your child become a good person with morals and a sense of responsibility and a personality all their own. Teaching them manners as well as building their confidence in themselves. Helping them find their individualism and encouraging them to be individuals and not to follow the crowd. The worst transition a kid can make is the transition into terrible two's. A whole new parenting style is learned for this phase. In my case I let my child have melt downs. I could not do enough to stop tantrums and my children did not want to be coddled so I just let them do what they needed to. I have learned that with every phase of a child's life a phase of a parent's life is made. When my kids learned to walk, I learned to baby proof the house, when my kids learned fluent vocabulary, I learned it is not important to correct it is only important to encourage,when my oldest went to pre-school I learned it is important to let go a little so they have room to grow and be independent. I never imagined how much I would learn as my children grew, but I have learned a lot with them and I have many years of learning to go. That is the marvelous thing about parenting, you are supposed to teach your kids and yet they end up teaching you more than you ever thought you could learn.

Autism Awareness Month

This should have been posted Saturday but with two children in the house I am barely ever at the computer anymore. The kids enjoy taking turns or fighting over it now. I have discovered an app on my iPod that will allow me to post from my iPod which means In can post more often. Now about Autism Awareness this is important because as any parent of child with Autism can tell you the level of awareness of people around you can make a huge difference. I am forever trying to tell people about my son's Autism. Sometimes I find people who listen and sometimes all I find is ignorance. I still have to try the more people know the more they accept. My son was diagnosed at the age of six with PDD (NOS). That was almost a year ago. May 28, 2010 to be exact. Since then I have never stopped reading on the subject of Autism. Looking at research data and reading up on all new Autism documents. I have read hundreds of things on Autism, and though I understand more about Autism I still am never quite sure what to tell people about why Autism happens and what we can do about it. We do therapy and our son is enrolled in a special program. This summer in addition to therapy he will take a social play class too. We enroll him in therapy and now play group hoping he can learn the skills he needs to be accepted. That is what I want most for him!! I do not want him to feel left out or odd or alone ever!! I want him to be able to relate to others and share common interests and know that he is accepted. He has HUGE potential as all children do but if he is only ever seen as the Autistic kid what are the chances of him reaching his potential? My husband and I recently had a t-shirt and sweatshirt saying Autism help unlock a piece of the puzzle for our son Adrian made. I wear mine to raise awareness and I have not had anyone ask me about Autism or Adrian yet. I am shocked however because before the t-shirt I would have complete strangers in line ahead of me talking about how bad my son is and how I should beat him. Yeah how about I beat them. I have been known to spank, but spanking does not work on my son unless he knows what he did. I would never spank him for acting up in a store when his sensory issues are so bad that lights physically cause him pain!!! To those people I say mind your own damn business or scream he has Autism now shut up. This usually works. Trying to spread awareness to people who think my son should be beat for every little thing he does and that will help don't need my message what they need is a message on human decency and how to behave like you have a kind bone in your body!!! Sorry if i'm rambling but it just angers so much!!!!!!! I think I'm done for today thanks for listening :)