Feb 17
Posted: under communication, life on the spectrum, socialization.
Tags: autism, college, communication, education, language, motivation, progress, routines, social skills February 17th, 2010
M- will have hours at his part-time job this week, in addition to his classes (first time he’s had work hours since December.) He was missing his job (bussing tables at a pizza place) and thinks he can handle both. His performance in the classes has been excellent so far, so…why not try it? As […] [...more]
M- will have hours at his part-time job this week, in addition to his classes (first time he’s had work hours since December.) He was missing his job (bussing tables at a pizza place) and thinks he can handle both. His performance in the classes has been excellent so far, so…why not try it? As he moves to more advanced classes, he may not be able to do it all, but now he’s in the groove with these. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 11
Posted: under communication, life on the spectrum, parenting.
Tags: autism, communication, independence, parenting, progress, routines February 11th, 2010
M- has done so well the past few weeks with his cellphone–both making and receiving calls–that I didn’t expect a glitch today. I phoned him when I reached Austin, to tell him I could pick him up at the bus stop west of Northcross Mall, to take him to supper before ice skating, as it […] [...more]
M- has done so well the past few weeks with his cellphone–both making and receiving calls–that I didn’t expect a glitch today. I phoned him when I reached Austin, to tell him I could pick him up at the bus stop west of Northcross Mall, to take him to supper before ice skating, as it was raining. R-, who rode with him the first times, had told me which bus stop he got off at. I thought M- understood and would repeat what he’d done before. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 09
Posted: under communication, education, life on the spectrum, parenting, socialization.
Tags: autism, college, communication, initiative, progress, social skills February 9th, 2010
Last week, M- soloed on Thursday and a wild Thursday it was. Today was a completely different after-class schedule–two buses, but not the same two buses, all the way out of the city to the terminus at Leander. We dropped him off, asked him to call when he got to campus, and again when he […] [...more]
Last week, M- soloed on Thursday and a wild Thursday it was. Today was a completely different after-class schedule–two buses, but not the same two buses, all the way out of the city to the terminus at Leander. We dropped him off, asked him to call when he got to campus, and again when he caught the second afternoon bus…or if he had a problem. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 07
Posted: under education, life on the spectrum, socialization.
Tags: autism, bright side, college, education, progress February 7th, 2010
I posted last week about our son’s first “solo” day at community college–during which he coped with bus rides, transfers, a broken-down bus, classes, more bus rides, etc. What I didn’t know ahead of time was that he would have a paper-and-pen quiz in his pre-algebra class. On which…wait for it…he made 100. Right after […] [...more]
I posted last week about our son’s first “solo” day at community college–during which he coped with bus rides, transfers, a broken-down bus, classes, more bus rides, etc.
What I didn’t know ahead of time was that he would have a paper-and-pen quiz in his pre-algebra class. On which…wait for it…he made 100. Right after the bus trip on which one bus broke down.
Feb 05
Posted: under communication, disability issues, education, employment, interventions, life on the spectrum, parenting, sensory processing, socialization.
Tags: advocacy, autism, communication, flexibility, independence, initiative, motivation, sensory processing, social skills, teaching February 5th, 2010
You’ve probably heard of this movie. If not, or if, having heard of it, you had reservations about it (I did), here’s the good news: it’s better than you think. It’s an incredible, brilliant movie that shows Temple Grandin’s triumph over both the problems autism gave her, and the society that did not have a […] [...more]
You’ve probably heard of this movie. If not, or if, having heard of it, you had reservations about it (I did), here’s the good news: it’s better than you think. It’s an incredible, brilliant movie that shows Temple Grandin’s triumph over both the problems autism gave her, and the society that did not have a clue and did not believe autistic people had a future. And it shows the value of her life’s work, her designs for livestock management. Because of her, half the livestock facilities in the world–not just here–handle their stock more humanely. And–(yes, there’s more) it shows how she thinks–because it is a visual medium, a movie can show the pictures she thinks with. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 04
Posted: under communication, life on the spectrum, parenting, socialization.
Tags: bright side, college, communication, flexibility, independence, parenting February 4th, 2010
We’d planned to have a parent ride the buses with M- and be available nearby on campus for the first month…but a combination of things (including M- commenting on the way home one night in the second week that he thought it would be more fun when he could go alone) led to this morning…we […] [...more]
We’d planned to have a parent ride the buses with M- and be available nearby on campus for the first month…but a combination of things (including M- commenting on the way home one night in the second week that he thought it would be more fun when he could go alone) led to this morning…we dropped him off at the bus station 20 miles closer to the city, where the express bus runs to downtown. From there he would transfer to a local headed back north and end up at the campus. He was supposed to call us from campus when he arrived, which should’ve been about 8 am.
Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 31
Posted: under education, life on the spectrum, parenting.
Tags: college, communication, parenting, social skills January 31st, 2010
M-‘s second week of college was complicated by other medical problems in the family, but he is still happy to be going and engaged in his classes. He is taking notes in class, and can usually give a moderately coherent report of the class. He is working diligently on his homework. He survived his first […] [...more]
M-‘s second week of college was complicated by other medical problems in the family, but he is still happy to be going and engaged in his classes. He is taking notes in class, and can usually give a moderately coherent report of the class. He is working diligently on his homework. He survived his first in-class quiz (pre-algebra) and made a passing grade (78/100.) That’s higher than I made on my first calculus quiz and higher than he made on his assessment test before entry, so we’re very pleased. Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 22
Posted: under communication, education, life on the spectrum, parenting, socialization.
Tags: autism, college, communication, parenting, progress January 22nd, 2010
One of the things many parents wonder about–and worry about–is whether their kid with disabilities will be able to go to college. It’s pretty easy, sometimes, to come up with a firm “No, sorry, this child will simply never be able to attend college” and at that point concern can shift to other ways to […] [...more]
One of the things many parents wonder about–and worry about–is whether their kid with disabilities will be able to go to college. It’s pretty easy, sometimes, to come up with a firm “No, sorry, this child will simply never be able to attend college” and at that point concern can shift to other ways to prepare the child for adult life. And sometimes it’s pretty easy to see that a given child will be able to–colleges now accommodate students in wheelchairs, for instance, much better than they did fifty years ago, when simply being unable to walk unaided barred wheel-chair bound students who could not reach classrooms or labs or rooms in the dorms.
It’s the borderline ones–the “maybe” cases–that cause parents the most angst. I know, because I have one of those. And yet…in time, with enough hard work from everyone involved…sometimes “maybe” turns to “yes.” Yesterday we had a taste of “yes.” Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 18
Posted: under education, life on the spectrum, parenting.
Tags: autism, college, parenting January 18th, 2010
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks, as our son, with his dad’s help, has figured out a way to use public transportation part of the way to community college, and has continued to try to improve his reading skills in preparation for his first classes. They’ve walked around on the campus; they got his […] [...more]
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks, as our son, with his dad’s help, has figured out a way to use public transportation part of the way to community college, and has continued to try to improve his reading skills in preparation for his first classes. They’ve walked around on the campus; they got his student ID and his bus card and so on and so forth. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 28
Posted: under life on the spectrum, parenting, socialization.
Tags: communication, social skills August 28th, 2009
This evening our son came over to the house around 7 pm. I was polishing silver. He said “Hi” and I said “Hi” and he wandered around in a vague sort of way. I asked if he’d eaten supper yet and he said yes, he’d had spaghetti and meatballs. I finished the spoons I was […] [...more]
This evening our son came over to the house around 7 pm. I was polishing silver. He said “Hi” and I said “Hi” and he wandered around in a vague sort of way. I asked if he’d eaten supper yet and he said yes, he’d had spaghetti and meatballs. I finished the spoons I was working on, put them away, and went back to my study to get some work done until Richard came in from the land, since M- hadn’t said he wanted anything and he often uses Richard’s computer (it has broadband. His house doesn’t.)
Read the rest of this entry »