Another thing that I have been up to is that I have been getting prepared for my talk that I am going to give on April 3rd to Alex's class about Autism. I have been reading a lot of things, about how to explain autism to children (reading from sites that talk about how to explain it to siblings), and getting some pretty great ideas. I am still undecided about a snack idea, but I think something will come to me. I ordered a blank floor puzzle with 36 pieces that I am going to have the kids decorate, so that I can use it as an example of why "Autism Awareness" is a ribbon with puzzle pieces, and when all of the pieces fit together, it is a wonderful work of art.
Last week, Alex had a pretty exciting 2 weeks! He was friend of the week first:
PBIS: Be kind, respectful, and have a positive behavior, and get rewarded!
And then, there was a big change. Mrs. G has to go help another little boy in a different school in the afternoons, so Alex is learning how to not only share her with someone else, but he is also learning how to rely on others more. Now Mrs. Stellner helps him in the afternoons, and for the most part, reports have been positive. He has had a little bit of trouble with it, but he has a social story that we try to read every morning before school to help him remember that everything is going to be ok.
The next major thing, is he is pretty much over his camera shyness at school. Following is a series of pictures that he actually turned and smiled at his teacher for! This is so exciting!
Pretending with a friend.
Playing with Puzzled Penguin.
Just happy!
Cuddling a lot of toys!
With the change, we have been really focused on making sure he understands that just because things are a little different, we still expect him to do all of his normal things, like his art projects, worksheets for math and penmanship, and even homework. While we did have one day where homework didn't go so well, so I had to find him 4 pages of homework online (he only had one sheet sent home, but I made him do four as a "punishment" for ripping up his expected homework), that he did with no issues. Since then, he has done his homework fine for both Tony and I. We are all unsure though if it was because of the Mrs. G change or if it is because he is not really a fan of writing on the back sides of papers. I guess we may never know. But he is working hard, and that is all we ask. I am very passionate about raising him with the same work ethic that was instilled on me. It has done me well these past 27 (because my birthday is this Thursday) years, and I hope that with it he will also be able to go on to do amazing things.
"This is a orb web."
Lastly, I would like to reiterate, or at least point out, how important the social stories have been in helping Alex to learn proper behavior, and to deal with new changes. They are an irreplaceable tool that I highly recommend for an Autistic child. They have, over time, helped Alex to cope with things that sometimes he doesn't understand, because being reminded of them in a story form makes them more comprehensible. We "neurotypicals" can be quite confusing sometimes. The link below is Alex reading his social story about how to properly deal with his anger in some situations. That has helped him to learn how to not bite or hit, even though he gets mad and wants to.
Alex's Social Story
I hope that it won't be another two weeks before I get to post again, because I do have a bit of work to do for school that I want to get caught up on, and I have a lot more to learn for work. However, I will try to at least post more pictures for next week. But I will leave you with these two bits of artwork that we received from Alex. Normally, it is hard for a child with Autism to have good penmanship, but Alex is practicing a lot, and doing a really good job!
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