Monday morning, and not too optimistic of being able to get the 14 year old up - not one of his (or anyone else's favourite moments...) - but with him being Really Good At Going To Bed On Time over the weekend it was a doddle. Bit of a wobbly moment claiming a sore throat was making it hard for him to get ready, but by then I was running out of time to get him out the door on time - a phone call to school to say he was going in for the 2nd lesson and could they ring me when he got there, with the phone call made in front of him. And off I had to go, to work. And he actually DID get there, because they rang me. He did the rest of the day, so a first was him staying there over lunch instead of coming home at 1pm, and the Really Big Thing, getting the rush-hour bus back. He wanted to do that, and it was all fine.
He's coping so well.... its hard to believe I've been chasing CAMHS for 2 months for their written diagnosis, and dealing with all this official stuff to do with his refusal to go to school. Still can't help wondering how long the fuse will be though...
About Me
- AbsolutelyAspergers
- A blog for the "aaaarrrgggghhh" and the "phew" moments of our life - me and my two boys, one of whom has aspergers. Yes, he does quite often think he is right, but I was right too. So we finally have a diagnosis. Lets see what happens next...
Monday 19 December 2011
Thursday 15 December 2011
Onwards
Quick post, as so much is going on and I'm too knackered to write loads.....
After not getting him in for two meetings with the school, we had the attendance manager over here yesterday afternoon to see what would help him feel ok about getting back into school. Big progress, as he stuck to his agreement to speak to her. On a massively reduced timetable, with slots for quiet time catching up on work, or whatever, and definite things to do over lunchbreaks. And a work placement with some graphic designers as a massive inducement. In return for regular attendance. All systems go.....
This morning I woke up in the middle of a stupid panic-overload dream, where I'd got to work and realised I'd forgotten to wake him up. But anyway, today HE WENT TO SCHOOL!!!!
And was happy. He did 2 lessons, and will do 4 tomorrow, and is confident with getting the bus there and back. Nearly didn't get out of the door, so we got to the end of the street, then the next street, then he wanted to stop and pick up a coffee on the way to the bus stop. Which was fine.
So we're back to square 1.5, or even 2, the way it was in September, when he started school on day 4 of the autumn term, and did a total of 6 days. No getting complacent though - there's tomorrow morning, then there's Monday morning. The mood could switch, the heels could get dug in... but lots of praise and encouragement and patience...
After not getting him in for two meetings with the school, we had the attendance manager over here yesterday afternoon to see what would help him feel ok about getting back into school. Big progress, as he stuck to his agreement to speak to her. On a massively reduced timetable, with slots for quiet time catching up on work, or whatever, and definite things to do over lunchbreaks. And a work placement with some graphic designers as a massive inducement. In return for regular attendance. All systems go.....
This morning I woke up in the middle of a stupid panic-overload dream, where I'd got to work and realised I'd forgotten to wake him up. But anyway, today HE WENT TO SCHOOL!!!!
And was happy. He did 2 lessons, and will do 4 tomorrow, and is confident with getting the bus there and back. Nearly didn't get out of the door, so we got to the end of the street, then the next street, then he wanted to stop and pick up a coffee on the way to the bus stop. Which was fine.
So we're back to square 1.5, or even 2, the way it was in September, when he started school on day 4 of the autumn term, and did a total of 6 days. No getting complacent though - there's tomorrow morning, then there's Monday morning. The mood could switch, the heels could get dug in... but lots of praise and encouragement and patience...
Monday 12 December 2011
That Explains A Lot...
... as the person who used to teach the 14 year old two years ago said of the diagnosis. That teacher was fantastic, and had a lot of time for him. Shame the head teacher maintained the only thing wrong was that he needed to learn to control his anger, and that the senco never managed to produce a copy of the IEP...
Sunday 11 December 2011
Plans...
This weekend has been a full-on one for me. Full of reading blogs, getting perspective, finding similarities... I've broken through the resentment of having to do the legwork of becoming self-taught, and think I might have found some lovely connections...
There's a label "Kids Today Eh" on my main blog, http://trashsparkle.blogspot.com/ giving the picture about how its been going. However I figured that continuing to subtly plonk my ongoing sagas amongst glittery vintage acquisitions and ramblings about biscuits wasn't going to help me find other aspie parents or aspies to link up with. So yesterday morning I got up and tinkered around with Blogger, setting up this second, and so far very sparse blog. The glittery stuff will continue on over at trashsparkle...
The plans? Oh, right. I need the 14 year old to be up on Wednesday, and willing to meet the attendance manager from "his school". 3rd time lucky, and all that. Between you and me I'm just playing the game of not obstructing things for the benefit of the attendance improvement peeps, and will go along with whatever my son wants or does not want. If we can find a way for him to feel happy going there to use the facilities for graphic design, and perhaps a few other things, then great. If not, then more of the same. Which has been staying at home doing very little.
His sleep patterns are cock-eyed; he responds to visual information rather than verbal. In the sense that if I draw him a pie chart of how long he's been awake, etc, he won't argue with it. Any verbal way of trying to put that to him will stress him out trying to find ways of arguing against it. So we're keeping a Chart of Sleep this week - bar chart at the moment, but I might try lots of 24-hour circles. And as I'm crap at admin, and can only fill out forms, write letters, etc when I'm so fed up with them that I do them in anger, I am not expecting miracles. Just for the all-night electricity consumption to subside a little.
There's a label "Kids Today Eh" on my main blog, http://trashsparkle.blogspot.com/ giving the picture about how its been going. However I figured that continuing to subtly plonk my ongoing sagas amongst glittery vintage acquisitions and ramblings about biscuits wasn't going to help me find other aspie parents or aspies to link up with. So yesterday morning I got up and tinkered around with Blogger, setting up this second, and so far very sparse blog. The glittery stuff will continue on over at trashsparkle...
The plans? Oh, right. I need the 14 year old to be up on Wednesday, and willing to meet the attendance manager from "his school". 3rd time lucky, and all that. Between you and me I'm just playing the game of not obstructing things for the benefit of the attendance improvement peeps, and will go along with whatever my son wants or does not want. If we can find a way for him to feel happy going there to use the facilities for graphic design, and perhaps a few other things, then great. If not, then more of the same. Which has been staying at home doing very little.
His sleep patterns are cock-eyed; he responds to visual information rather than verbal. In the sense that if I draw him a pie chart of how long he's been awake, etc, he won't argue with it. Any verbal way of trying to put that to him will stress him out trying to find ways of arguing against it. So we're keeping a Chart of Sleep this week - bar chart at the moment, but I might try lots of 24-hour circles. And as I'm crap at admin, and can only fill out forms, write letters, etc when I'm so fed up with them that I do them in anger, I am not expecting miracles. Just for the all-night electricity consumption to subside a little.
Saturday 10 December 2011
Coffee Morning
A "phew" moment: yesterday was a good day. The 14 year-old came out for coffee with me. This was the first time he'd left the house since September.
We discovered, over adding demerara to the fairly awful cappuccino, that we both like Smashing Pumpkins. He wouldn't stop talking about typefaces when we got home.
We discovered, over adding demerara to the fairly awful cappuccino, that we both like Smashing Pumpkins. He wouldn't stop talking about typefaces when we got home.
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