Happy Easter Everyone!

Yes, I know Easter is over, but I thought I'd wish you Happy Easter belatedly. A throbbing tooth ache prevented me from enjoying Easter weekend, but I'm feeling much better. Ben went to TEACCH today, and still had an issue with trying to bite his teacher there, but she said it seemed to be more out of a need to have pressure in his mouth than aggression. If that makes it better. Ben's teacher at school is quitting at the end of the school year and it really comes as no surprise. I wish the school system would wake up and smell the coffee. I'm going to write a letter and send it to the superintendent, as well as everyone below him, but I have to get all my duck in row first. Apparently, there's someone in the Department of Public Instruction for NC that is on our side, and so I'm going to try to find out how to contact him to enlist his advice. So that said, Ben started Lincoln Center in November 2004, and has had 3 different teachers, and all of them have now quit. I don't fault them, I think they were all loving qualified individuals, but for heaven's sake, what is going on? Can't the school system see the demands they are placing on these people ain't flying? More later on this, but I have to go see what Ben is up to!!!!

I Almost Forgot I Had a Blog . . .

Sorry about that. A lot has been on my mind lately, and I haven't been calling people back like I should or updating this blog either. Sometimes I just feel like I'm barely treading water and if I stop for a microsecond I will sink. Ben has been doing okay lately in my opinion, but not everybody seems to think so. I got his progress report for the third quarter today, and he hasn't made much progress on really any of his IEP goals. His teacher and therapists make comments that his stimming and desire to chew on all chewable things has increased, and he has lost some of his ability to focus. They say he is not interested in learning new fine motor activities. At TEACCH today, the teachers said he was more aggressive such as pinching, scratching and throwing things in the hope of getting a reaction from the people he is with. He's even started the stereotypical autistic head banging recently, though thank goodness he doesn't bang his head very hard. So, it's so easy to be pessimistic and discouraged when talking about Ben. Beth at TEACCH told me that her friend, who is a teacher at the Princeton University Autistic School has done a lot of research into stimming and has said that basically, a child needs to be constantly redirected from stimming in order to break the hold it has over the child. For Ben, that would mean someone watching over him all his waking hours. He wants to stim constantly. It's the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up in the morning. I know they can't give him that kind of undivided attention at school, not with the teacher to student ratio being what it is. I am trying to keep him more occupied at home, but it's certainly not easy, especially with two other children thrown into the mix. On the brighter side, we are going to start consulting services with Casey next week and I think it will be worth it. I just want some support from someone who knows autism and can come into the house and tell me exactly what to do. I'm pretty good at following directions, not so good at treading water on my own. Here's to hope!!!

I am constantly learning from others . . .

This morning I took Caroline with me over to the house of a former classmate of Ben's. I'll call him Hakim for anonimity's sake. Hakim's family has moved from Saudi Arabia in order to get help for him, though his dad still works there. Hakim is a month younger than Ben and has a lot of the same issues Ben does. His mom started working with the ABA/Verbal Behavior Therapist from Hillsbourgh that we are hoping to work with about 6 months ago. I went there by invitation in order to talk with one of the workers working with Hakim about her experiences and to see what their set up was like. Hakims mother is enrolling him in another school instead of Lincoln Center, a school in Cary that is supposed to be terrific. I wish I could send Ben there, but unfortunately, Cary is not that close and the school is very $$$. Right now I'm reading Stanley Greenspan's new book, Engaging Autism in the hope that I can shed some light on what I'm supposed to be doing. I did get a ray of hope yesterday in that he cut through three lines for me without fussing. He also colored for me, but didn't look at the paper as he was coloring, and he even drew some horizontal lines for me. Nothing to exciting but it's progress, for him anyway.