Soccer friends

Having a cool treat after the game! :)

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.

A new outlook

I was reading in the Temple Grandin book about how some autistic children could benefit from seeing a Development Optometrist.  Some research shows that distractions that impact the ability to focus on their work can come from different color contracts or certain lighting, like fluorescent which tent to flicker.  Most of us don't tend to notice this in our daily lives, but to a person with sensory issues, who know to what extent it effects them.  Since he's always had some sensory issues, this may be something that can be helped with the aid of colored lens.  I know when we do homework he does get distracted at times, but also in school he does seem, according to his teaching and his work, be behind in some cases then the rest of the class.  So I looked into this and found a Doctor in Burbank.  We're going today, let's see how this goes…to be continued

It was a Happy 4th!

As it turns out, we ended up going to a fireworks display at a local park.  We never go as E has always been too sensitive to the noise.  In the past when I've asked he's always said not, but this year imagine my surprise when he said yes!  So out we went, with earphone this time to help reduce the noise.  He was so excited and I'm glad the experience went off with a bang! - pun intended :p

Homework... ugh, homework...

I was thinking about something that happened a few months ago.  I had a sinus infection and it was just making me grumpy. E and I sat down and did some homework sheets... probably shouldn't have done that when I felt so crappy and my patience was already thin. Math was fine, but language is painstaking. At 7 years old his comprehension is very limited sometimes. Most times he guesses. After a half hour dealing with the language assignment and grumpy mom, I realized how defeated he was. I said, the words are hard for you huh? he said, yes. I said the numbers seem easier for you than words, again he said yes. I said, that's OK buddy, we'll work on it and figure something out. he said, thank you. that just melted my heart. My poor guy. We ended homework by doing one more math sheet so that he could end on a high note. Our kiddos just want to have a sense of accomplishment...don't we all? <3
It's so important to have patience with any child, and it can be so difficult.  I don't see my self as a patient person, so I really need to work on that.  Just gotta remember to breath sometimes.  For some reason, things really start to click for E just before the school year is about to end.  Even the teacher notices.  He tries so hard and although he may not get the best test scores, I know he tries.  He talks so much now, in just the last couple of months too.  So he may not lead the pack, but he's not going down with a fight :)  Since he's in a special day program, he gets the opportunity to go to ESY (extended school year - summer school), but that doesn't start for another couple of weeks.  I have some work sheets that we can practice together in between some summer time fun :)  
love my guys! 

I fear my youngest son is growing up too fast!

At 3 years old I could already see that D recognized there were some things E needed help with. Autism is not an easy thing for anyone. But at this tender young age, D has become his brother's helper. It's wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. D is 5 now and I want him to have a childhood, but I can tell he's gonna be the man of the house. E's diagnosis of Autism is high functioning, however some tasks prove to be quite challenging for all of us.  Potty training was the hardest. But he can write his name, he's speaking in sentences, he's enjoying school and is actually mainstreamed into a traditional class room everyday for about an hour.  But sometimes there are meltdowns and tantrums (not as often anymore, yay!). He can be quite excitable and quite loud (usually due to something on tv that he's watching). And when E gets too loud D will sometimes turn off the TV and say, "E, no yelling!" Or when E is dropped off at school, D will remind him "be a super star!", and you better believe he reports to me if the teacher told Grammy that E was not behaving in class
Yes, little D doesn't take this role he's given himself lightly, but sometimes I need to remind him to just be a kid and that I'm the mommy.