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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Imagination Unexpected

  When Brandon was diagnosed I was told that typically with Autistic children there is not really a sense of humor and that imagination is lacking because they tend to take things in a more  literal sense.Well whenever I am told something like this I am determined to see if I can change that, this would be yet another aspect of Autism I would not accept unless absolutely necessary, maybe he just needed to be taught what imagination was.
   We started with just little noises, bird sounds, snake hisses and things like that and saying I'm a bird, I'm a snake and then I would run around the house with arms out saying I'm a plane and he would mimic me and do the same. I figured, okay he's just copying me but at least it was a start, the issue of a sense of humor being taught I wasn't really sure of how to get that even started though, so it would have to wait and maybe it would come to me, one thing at a time.
   One day when we were doing our imagination therapy, that's what I will call it, we were crawling on the floor and roaring like lions, then we were lifting our trunks like elephants and of course he was still just copying me. Well as we were being elephants , Brandon decided we should be dogs, I thought this was great that he was actually wanting to get in on the act of what we would imagine. So as Brandon and I were crawling and barking like dogs, I heard him what I thought was hissing behind me, I was thinking now we were going to be snakes, but as I turned around I realized I was wrong, Brandon had his leg lifted so I asked him what he was doing he said he was a dog peeing and then could not control his laughter, nor could I! Not only did my son have imagination but he also had a sense of  humor.
   He now loves to use his imagination, some days he even says he's the mommy or the daddy and imitates us to make us laugh, that's his sense of humor kicking in, I'm so glad that I didn't accept what was said and tried anyway, I might have missed out on this.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

No Vacation Needed "I Love You"

 "The Morning My Son Said Mommy, I Love You"

     The morning my son said Mommy, I love you, was what I thought was going to be a typical morning, when I say typical I mean in the sense of autism typical for us. For the last year and a half we had been struggling with many ups and downs. The downs being major meltdowns, no speech, frequent illness and constipation, no eye contact, repeating(echoing) to the point of wanting to cover your ears and loud squealing that would vibrate your eardrums etc... The ups being spontaneous speech breakthroughs, eye contact occasionally, smiles and sleeping through the night without fits of fear. He had also started playing with toys in the manner in which they should be played with and started to give us hugs , I so cherished the hugs.
      The night before this typical morning, I thought I needed a vacation from this, something to give me the strength and energy to keep going, a refresher for autism mommy hood. As I laid and slept on this particular morning I was woke up by my son saying Mommy, I had heard him say this before but what I heard next would make me sit straight up in bed. He said "I LOVE YOU", I looked at him and saw the biggest smile on his little face as he looked right at me. Those three words brought tears to my eyes, I had waited for four and a half years to hear those words,  that I did not know if I would ever hear.
       Thank you Brandon for the renewed strength, No Vacation Needed !

Monday, May 9, 2011

Balancing Autism and Finances

    Things in my world lately have been a little overwhelming, so I thought I would share a little bit of this with you in hopes also that you would share with me your thoughts on this subject.
     In my family right now we are really fighting to keep our head above water, the economy is really starting to kick our butts. The business we are in is a luxury, we both are hairstylists so when it comes to cutbacks in a family's budget we are one of the first ones people cut back on., so I figured since I am on the internet so much any how, I would try to supplement our income at the same time, not going so well. I refuse to give up because my son needs this, if our ship sinks so does his. Doing hair for a living was perfect before because I could schedule my customers around my son's therapies and school. I have applied for jobs but I can't seem to get one that I can work around my son, I don't want to get a job where his schedule is all out of wack and stressful for him, he his doing so well I just can't take the chance of him regressing, this is not an option.We are also down to being a one car family which makes things even more complicated.
     I am feeling very overwhelmed right now, so I guess what I am asking for is help. I really need some advice from all of you, my head is spinning on what I can do, but  I still am without an answer , could you help me figure this out? Any advice is so welcomed, maybe if I see it written in words it will all make sense.
                                                                          Thank you, Teena and Brandon