Autism Awareness Day

This boy is my world.

If you read our "Meet the Family" page under the header,

you'll read a short description of him there.

He's so much more.

This day every year helps to remind me

how far we've come.

C has made great strides, even in the last two years.

He's now a strapping 18-year old young man

with dreams and aspirations.

He always wants to cure the world's ills,

not being deterred by something as inconsequential as reality.

Autism Awareness Day is just another day to most,

but to us, it's personal.

We live with it day in and day out,

and it affects every aspect of our daily lives.

It's one of those things that as a parent,

you wish it could be you dealing with it

instead of the ones who mean the world to you.

We cope with it the best we can,

one day at a time,

but most days consist of at least one struggle.

This life is not easy, but awareness over time

will allow those of us affected to be better understood.

We don't seek pity or charity,

just the chance to prove

that autism is not something to be feared.

Over the years, we have met some amazing folks

who have shown their Godness to us

in the way they interact with C.

His way of moving through the world can be challenging,

but the blessing is in 

seeing others' compassion and understanding.

Recalling his para when he was in public school,

that woman is an angel on earth.

She believed in him when no one else did.

His therapist from Florida that we've recently reconnected with,

accepts him just as he is, not trying to change him.

Our family doctor here in the Piedmont,

is the most patient and kind doctor we've ever had.

These blessings in our lives have helped me be a better parent, 

a better person and a believer in the best of what humanity can be.

We will be lighting up our porch for the month of April,

to celebrate the progress of C and the world at large,

in coping with this very difficult condition.

We are so grateful to have this boy in our lives.

I can't imagine life any different.

God Bless all the Autism Families in our world.

Clean Sweep

The last few weeks have been a bit of a challenge.

First, the boys got bad colds

with a cough that lingered for a couple of weeks.

Then I came down with some mystery tummy problem.

Still trying to figure that one out,

but I'm getting closer.

We've been sticking pretty close to home,

only venturing out for the bare necessities.

With all that nesting time,

it seemed like a great opportunity to do some tweaking around the ole' homestead.

The beginning of the year always gets me fired up

to reorganize and rethink what's working or not.

C's room needed an overhaul.

I can't even tell you how disgusted I was with it.

I couldn't bring myself to post pictures on here,

because I just want to forget it ever looked so bad.

The boy did not inherit his momma's organizing gene.

Or maybe it's just a teenage thing

(although I know my room never looked like a war zone).

He just gets so involved in his projects, 

that he loses focus on what's piling up around him.

It's mighty tough on a neatnik like me.

I tolerated it for a good while,

thinking that if he just kept the door closed,

I wouldn't have to look at it.

Well, I've come to my senses.

Last week, we took everything out of his room except for his furniture.

We cleaned it from top to bottom,

dusting, mopping, vacuuming.

Then, bit by bit, we went through every single item he owns,

cleaning it as we went, and made the decision about what would stay.

Here's what his closet looks like now,

with room left for a few more items he will be sorting.

 I also emptied his drawers in the closet

and replaced the items he recently washed

(thankfully, he now does his own laundry).

His clothes have been poorly treated,

becoming wrinkled because he would just stuff them in there.

He is a minimalist when it comes to clothing,

he does take after me in that way.

This week, after he does his wash,

I plan to show him how to properly fold everything

so that it can fit into his drawers neatly.

I will most likely post pictures in the closet,

as visual cues often help kids with autism in learning new tasks.

Everyday things need to be broken down to make them manageable.

 His bookcase is looking better,

although he needs to go through and see what books he no longer reads

so that they can be donated.

He is an avid reader and spends some time each day

engaging in this pastime.

Yes, a few of us still like turning real, paper pages.

 His fire alarm panel takes up part of one wall.

You might notice in the first picture

that he has bins full of this equipment.

It's something he's been interested in for years,

and he uses his knowledge of electronics

to make it work however he wants.

I love that his interests are so unique and intriguing.

He has yet to go through a few bins to see

what else he doesn't want anymore.

He knows it can't all fit in there,

the hard part for him is letting go.

My job is to help him understand

that items in his limited space need a purpose.

Easier said than done.

I have to admit, he did purge quite a bit more than I thought he would. 

The shocker came when he told me (more than once)

that it was fun to do this activity!

W-H-A-T???

While we worked on most of this project together,

he now has a few solo tasks to complete.

His desktop needs attention.

This is where he often works on his Lego creations.

The system is not working as well as we had hoped,

so we will probably come up with different storage underneath.

The desktop was actually a door we bought from a ReStore,

but it's no longer the best option.

We'll be looking for something with more height,

so that he can have more bins for brick sorting.

These black drawers work very well for Legos.

They are designed for nuts, bolts and screws in a garage application,

but they are ideal for housing all of his bricks

and he has even labeled the drawers. 

This shows me that the potential is there for organization

and maybe some of me rubbed off on him after all!

I've been helping sort these pieces so that he can put them where they belong.

I know it may sound crazy,

but I find sorting very relaxing.

Maybe because I know that eventually, 
things will end up in their proper place.

Our next task will be to come up with a plan

so that he can more easily keep things in order.

Feeling overwhelmed is not a pleasant state of mind,

and his room should be a place of rest and creativity.

Hopefully, he is now motivated to keep it up.

We'll see how it looks in six months!

Make It a Blue Day

Today is the onset of Autism Awareness Month.

We hope you'll join us in supporting those with autism

by placing a blue bulb on your porch or yard light.

It's a Lego World

For the last few weeks,

a local library has hosted a challenge.

Kids could bring in their favorite Lego build

and have it displayed in the case that greets visitors.

C was up for the challenge,

and in fact, 

contributed several builds.

Those are his Mario and Windows logo creations in the bottom left corner,

as well as the jet on the bottom right.

His are all free builds,

which means that no kit is used in the creating.

He fashions these masterpieces from his own imagination.

He truly amazes me with some of the things he comes up with.

The folks at the library told us that by far,

his Creeper build from the Minecraft game

was the most popular.

The head swivels and the legs move too,

but it seems the kids just enjoy the likeness alone.

We participated in a Lego Robotics class last week.

This workshop was sponsored by the local 4-H club.

The kids (all boys in this class) were given a laptop

and a robot from the EV-3 Lego series.

C has one of these at home, so he was quite familiar with it.

The kids were asked to perform several programming functions

to make their robot do designated tasks.

This robot was able to follow the tape line

using color sensors. 

It detected the difference between the grey carpet and the white tape.

Another task the kids were asked to program their robots to do

was to follow this maze from one end to the other.

It took a bit of tweaking,

but changing the program via the computer

enabled the kids to be successful through trial-and-error. 

A great way to learn so many lessons,

including perseverance.

C was able to rebuild his robot so that it could perform the way he wanted.

He noticed several characteristics on some of the other robots

that he thought would work better,

so he rebuilt his to make it more efficient.

What a great activity for him.

It not only fostered confidence in his skills,

but it gave him the opportunity to interact with other kids

who share a similar interest.

We are grateful for these experiences,

as they allow him to process social skills

in a natural world environment,

something for which we can never get enough practice.

We think it's wonderful that the 4-H program 

is willing to work with kids with disabilities

(not everyone is),

and include them in these valuable experiences.

We're considering starting a Lego Build club

at the library we featured at the head of this post.

Any chance we get to have kids unplugged

and using their imaginations

is something we can get behind.

Build on!

It's a Blue Day

Today is Autism Awareness Day.

The day is recognized as a way to bring understanding to the community at large

about this most prevalent disorder.

We are going on our 11th year of living with it,

as C wasn't really diagnosed with Asperger's until he was about 5.

He hasn't been raised the way my folks raised me,

because

 typical solutions don't work when your child is not typical.

We've had to figure out what will work with each and every scenario,

and it's been a lesson in creativity for all of us.

He's improved in so many ways.

He still has sensitive hearing, 

but now he can sit in the same room when I vacuum without his headphones on.

He still talks too loud a lot of the time,

but a gentle reminder now helps him regulate his voice.

He sometimes has irrational fears (who doesn't),

but it is now easier to reason these things out.

His obsession passion has gone from construction equipment

to Legos to film editing,

but each venue has given him knowledge, pleasure, and a continuity in his learning.

Since we homeschool, he is able to explore these fields fully and without interruption.

The area in which he's made tremendous progress is in social skills.

This particular skill set has been quite challenging,

and we've learned to become very creative in our learning.

Thanks to a gifted play therapist, a lot of practice and patience, and just plain maturity,

he is more empathic than many typical teenagers.

He is more able now to let his heart shine through

when things go wrong.

My intent is not to simply brag about how great my kid is,

(although he really melts my heart),

but to bring an awareness to others,

that some of us have had to struggle tooth and nail

to get to where we are today.

It hasn't been easy,

but it's been the only journey we know.

Please wear blue today,

to honor all of those living with autism.

If you can, put a blue light bulb in your outside light fixture

for the month of April.

We are all in this together.

Blessings be...

Autism Awareness 2011 

Autism Awareness 2012 

Autism Awareness 2013 

Autism Awareness 2014 

Autism Awareness 2015

Autism Awareness Month

Today marks the beginning of Autism Awareness Month.
We hope you'll join us in supporting families living with autism, as we are.
It's been a long road, but things are getting better,
not only for Lil' Guy, 
but for the autism community at large.

Here are a few ideas if you would like to be part of our supportive community:

"In honor of people with autism worldwide, iconic landmarks, hotels, sporting venues, concert halls, museums, schools, universities, bridges, retail stores, and thousands of homes will light blue beginning on April 2!

our house last April

Light Homes, Businesses, Schools, and Landmarks Blue

• Change outdoor or indoor white bulbs to blue bulbs.

Wear Blue

• Ask family, friends, coworkers, and staff to wear blue (ties, scarfs, shirts, etc.)

Post Blue

• Turn your Facebook or Twitter profile picture blue.

Raise Awareness with Blue

• Distribute information about autism and World Autism Awareness Day 
• in your establishment, neighborhood, or company.
• Reach out to local media to let the community know
• about your great work for the autism community!"

source 


 Here are some of our Autism Awareness Day posts:

2011
2012 
2013 
2014






 

Boo's Excellent Birthday Adventure!

Last weekend was our boy's 14th birthday.

Where in the world does the time go?!

 We planned a little trip to one of his favorite places.

We headed to Downtown Disney to pay a trip to The Lego Store.

Although we've visited here many times,

we'd never gone on a Sunday morning.

It was shocking to see the store almost empty

when we arrived just after it opened.

It was beyond fabulous!

(Can you tell we don't much like crowds?)

 We were greeted by the usual amazing sculptures.

Here's a family of tourists enjoying the shopping mecca.

The Hulk was there to handle the expected crowd.

 Toy Story figures were happy to pose for pictures.

The work that goes into these masterpieces is unbelievable.

There are Lego Master builders right on the premises who put them together.

I think our boy could definitely land that job.

You can see some of our boy's Lego creations here.

In and outside of the store are building tables

to encourage young builders to let their imaginations go wild!

 This is the Pick-a-Brick wall.

For a flat rate, enthusiasts can fill a cup with any mix of bricks.

It's quite an accent wall, no?

 There are also scenes depicted along the wall of the store

to spark ideas about what can be created with just a bit of time and energy.

Of course, some things take a bit longer...

Okay, a LOT longer.

Although we enjoy our trips to this magical place,

it can be overwhelming for our boy.

Not only are the choices numerous,

but once the store gets busy,

the sheer number of shoppers can cause difficulties.

Kids with autism are challenged in crowded spaces

due to sensory sensitivites.

(He wears shades and headphones most places.)

That's why most of the time we get to places when they open,

and leave before it's too much.

We had a great experience with this visit

and he was so happy with his purchase.

The birthday boy had a wonderful day

and for that, we are so grateful.

Let them eat (gf) cake!