Month: May 2018

On the whole, my son is ok with a change of routine. There have been a few times over the last couple of years that he has had a meltdown when something has changed, but overall we are lucky that he is ok most of the time when something changes.

One thing that does cause problems is bedtime! Daddy always puts him to bed. When I used to put him to bed, he wouldn’t let me leave the room. I’d try to go downstairs and he would be screaming. Even when I got downstairs, we would have about 30 minutes of him shouting before he eventually tired himself out. Daddy then stepped in and said he would do bedtime while I hid in our room until he was down!

This works really well – until daddy is out at bedtime and it’s back to me to do it!

I did try, but again when I tried to leave the room he would be shouting on me to go back to him. If I ignored him he would cry and I can’t leave him crying. I don’t agree with controlled crying, but that’s a personal opinion. I very much agree with you do what is right for you.

So, one night I had no energy for the constant running up and down the stairs till he tired himself out, so I just asked if he wanted to sleep in mummy’s bed. Oh yes he did! I can’t leave him though, so I just lie with the tv on and he falls asleep. Perfect! It also forces me to lie in bed and relax. Plus, truth be told, I love it!! I love when he sleeps in with me. The first couple of times it happened, I never slept a wink, but now I sleep fine.

Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often! We are too old and tired for social lives lol.

So the teacher wrote in the school diary to let her know if we wanted a homework task sent home once a week.  I think it’s a great idea!  Start now to get into the habit of sitting at the table to do his homework.  Trying to get him to sit will be fun!!

We are nearing the end of P1 and they are now attempting to write.  They have been going through the phonics learning letters, and from what I can gather from the diary, S and A are going well and they have started on T.

Sometimes we hear him singing to himself “a,b,c,d,e,f,g” then it goes off tangent a bit lol!  We get a p,q,r  then somewhere we hear z!  But wow, it’s amazing that this autistic boy who is so under developed for his age is now saying part of the alphabet.

Here is one thing I have noticed over the past couple of years.  Parents of “normal” kids expect their natural development.  Saying the alphabet at this stage of P1 would be normal.  I’m sure the first time it happened they had the well done moment.  When our son does something, we know it is a massive achievement and we are so proud of him. Even if it is just a simple thing that a “normal” child would do, we know if takes much more effort and determination for our son to do it.  This means we get such an overwhelming sense of pride that a “normal” parent may take for granted.

The best bit of advice I received was from our last Speech and Language therapist.  She told me this when I was at my lowest and really helped me see through the autism:

THERE IS NOTHING HE CAN’T DO, IT WILL JUST TAKE HIM A BIT LONGER TO GET THERE

I keep this in mind as it is true.  There is no stopping him.  The world he sees through special eyes is different to him but he will make it in the world, he will find his place.

I know everyone probably thinks this, but I really do have the best bunch of friends.  It’s taken until this age to know who my true friends are.  Those I can be totally myself with and tell them anything.  They give the best advice and listen to me when I need it.  Not necessarily to help me, no one can imagine what it is like to be an autism mum until you are one, but just to let me vent and get things off my chest.  You have no idea how much I need that at times.

Friends I would have considered very good friends don’t know about my son.  But why haven’t I told them?

I just can’t do it.

Sometimes it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell someone.  Or I am talking about something and I almost say something that gives the game away and I go into a total panic.

So, know that if you know about my son, that I count you as a special person in my life.