Sports and Autism

E decided that he wanted to play soccer this year... ok, WAY outside my comfort zone for me to let him play.  I think watching D play last year was encouraging for him.  Sure he liked kicking around the ball with his brother, but how would he do in sports??  During practices he would sometimes warm up and do some drills with the team, but he has difficulty following directions at times and that had me concerned.  How would the coach be if he was not able to play like the other kids during game time?  How would the other kids treat him if he kicked the ball the wrong way or missed a shot?  How would the other parents feel?  I worry about it all too much sometimes.  But there was still some time after D's season ended to know if E was really serious about it.  So I had them take Karate.  It was an 8 week class at the park so it wasn't too intense, but I thought perhaps this would give him a feel of what others would expect from him.  But as difficult has it was for him to stay focused and do the drills at times, the instructor told me he was a strong kid and could do well.  Even earn himself a yellow belt.  So once Karate was done, I asked him, "Do you still want to play soccer?" and his answer was still yes.  

So here we are, 3 weeks of practice before the first game and we just had game 5, and he really seems to enjoy it.  He still has some focus issues sometimes, but he's getting there.  There was one game in particular last week that he kicked around the dirt for some time that he was on the field during the game.  After that game I said, "you really need to focus out there buddy, your team needs you.  If you just kick dirt around, they are short one player so you need to work hard"  He said, OK... that's a pretty standard answer and sometimes I'm not sure if he's taking in what I'm saying to him, so the night before the next game I reminded him about staying focused and how important teamwork was, and again he said, OK.  I cross my fingers and hope for the best!  Well I guess he was listening because he was running up and down the field with the rest of the kids and even his coach told him he did great.  I'm glad we got the same coach D had.  He already knew E so that made it a little more comfortable for me that his coach was aware that he needed a little more help and he's very encouraging to E.  And surprisingly I just found out this week that one of the girls on the team was in E class room last year and the year before.  Seeing this girl you would never know she is autistic.  Her mom told me that she wasn't talking till she was 4.  She said she was very pleased with all of the therapy and teachers that have helped her daughter progress so much, including E teacher.  She said sports have made a huge difference for her too.  She's been playing for 2 years now and told me, keep him in sports, it helps so much.  I told her how I had been hesitant in letting him play, but he wanted to and I don't like to set limit for him (he has enough already thru no fault of his own).  She agreed and said she's the same way.  It was so great to talk to someone who knows exactly what I feel. I'm glad I don't let my own fears get in the way of what he wants to do or try.    

The "eyes" have it!

Well as it turns out, E does not need any type of vision therapy, but he did need glasses and I find him just as adorable as ever with them!  When we walk out of the office after he got them he couldn't help but clap when he was looking at everything around him for the first time thru glasses.  He's been good about wearing the, even wore them when it was picture day at school.  But he's not so careful with them, so I have to keep an eye on him…no pun intended.  So all is well, and it was a good idea that I had him checked out.  At least he got glasses that he obviously needed.