Some New Information to Think About

So, I am not feeling the best today, but I am going to try to remember everything I wanted to say in this week's post. Here we go!

We got the application in for the iPad, and now we get to play the waiting game! When I have some down time, I look for other applications that I can get for free on my phone so that he can practice, but so far I have not found anything as good as his "Tap On Tommy" game, of which, he is getting far too good.

My Biotechnology professor sent me a link to the Yale website that has a bunch of speakers talking about various aspects of autism. I have only watched one so far (it was an hour and a half long) and it was about the social issues with autism. What struck me is the way he put how social behavior is looked at by a person with autism. When an autistic walks into a room, he or she sees THE ROOM. They notice the patterns on the floor, the color of the walls, what the lights look like... everything. But when someone else enters the room, the first thing they think about are what the people in the room are going to think about them. Autistic people could really care less about what people think about them, while that is the most important thing to other people. I found this striking for two reasons: One- That my child has the ability to do what I wish I could, and that is not really care about what other people think about me. And two- that autistic people care about the world around them, what happens in it, and notices what so many other people are too busy to notice. Which lead me to ask, this is a negative thing... why? But, I look forward to watching the rest of the videos, which goes through autism in infants and all the way up through to adulthood.

Another item that I watched on Autism was the PBS Nova Science Now! episode called Autism Genes. In it, they have been trying to hone in on the gene that they think is responsible for autism. I think during my break time on Monday at school, I will look up more on this to see what I can find.

But how has Alex been? He has been doing wonderfully, however I as mom would really like this bad attitude that he gets occasionally to go away. He has not been listening to me the greatest this past week, but when it is just him and I, he seems a bit better about it. And of course, today him and Tony had to fight a lot to the point where my head was just ringing. Boys... sheesh.

This week he will go to school with Valentines for all of his friends, signed all by himself. He also sent all of the other ladies that he loves in his life Valentines, so I hope they like his signed cards and their presents. And hopefully, for next week's post, I will be feeling a bit better so that I may remember more easily everything I wanted to say.

For those of you interested, here is where I found all the amazing material from my professor!

http://autism.yale.edu/