Thursday, March 21, 2013
Kids on the Autism Spectrum each have unique gifts—I think I found one of my son's.
When you have a child of the Autism Spectrum it’s hard to avoid becoming consumed by comparing your child with typically developing children. IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings don’t help, you sit around a table with professionals working with your child on a daily basis at school and discuss the ways in which your child is developing and meeting goals for his age, almost all of his goals are goals that come naturally for other children. For example one of the goals on my son’s IEP is to have a back and forth conversation with a peer without prompting. That doesn’t seem like much, I know, but recently when my son, L, had a friend over and I heard them playing in his room I stood out of eyesight to count how many times they had a …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
What is a biking family to do when not all of our members are able to ride?
Milestones that are met by our children are documented and recorded—our child’s pediatrician informs us of when those milestones typically happen based on recorded data that coincides with a particular age. Baby should be rolling over at six months old, walking at around one, at three years old should be able to speak in multi-word sentences and by four years old should ride a tricycle. Every parent has expectations of their children crossing milestones around the same age that they themselves crossed that milestone. Walking. Talking. Loosing teeth. Grandparents are called to confirm, “Do you remember when I lost my first tooth?” I grew up in a bicycling family; our family would go on week long bicycling trips while other families went to…
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
We could all use a reminder to show gratitude to the person handing you a gift.
It's a struggle for every parent to instill in their children thankfulness and gratitude. Every year before family arrives for a birthday party or Christmas dinner I have to have the pep talk with my children that goes something like this, "Even if the gift you open isn't something you really wanted you must smile, look the person in the eye and say thank you." I have this talk because my oldest son, L, is on the Autism Spectrum and one of his unique qualities is that he doesn't have filters. He doesn't have the ability to lie, he can't comprehend the little white lies that we all say in order to make other people feel good—"It's exactly what I wanted" or "I love it, thank you!"—instead he's brutally honest. I was chatting with his teacher…
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
A 9-year-old's heart-gripping conversation with a soldier at the Community Center—follow his lead and say, "Thank you."
Almost weekly my oldest son, L, who is on the Autism Spectrum has a new career that he wants to be when he grows up. His career dreams used to last much longer. We had an entire year of him wanting to be an engineer, then he dreamed of being a scientist. His longest running dream career yet has been an astronaut, but it was recently was overthrown by being a soldier. It's hard to explain his desire to be a soldier. We aren’t a military family, and we don’t know anyone currently in the military. He doesn’t even have a cool uncle in uniform that he looks up to, who comes to family functions. But when asked the “what do you want to be when you grow up?” question, the first thing out of his mouth is—soldier. As school was starting, he met a…
Gretchen Schock
8:54 am on Sunday, February 10, 2013
Hi Gina, thank for reading. I wish we could try the trike in real life before purchasing it. I'd also like his to try this as well http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=recumbent+bike&ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_constraint=4171 more ›