Mother’s Day Comes Early (#319)

Posted by kristinachew on 12/05/2006 · 5 Comments 

“Charlie has moved to Word Recognition lessons in Edmark (Lesson 11). These are slightly different in that he has to read the word expressively instead of point to it.”

So wrote Charlie’s teacher in his communication notebook. She also noted that, when it got too noisy after lunch, Charlie requested to go for a walk.

That Charlie is not only anticipating his own needs, he is using language to express them.

It was two summers ago that a teacher noted that Charlie sometimes head-banged when there was too much noise (other kids yelling). The teacher tried to teach him to ask “I want break” with occasional success that slowly dwindled away, no matter how much she and I tried to strategize. It was almost a year ago that Charlie’s verbal behavior therapist started to teach him to ask for a break so that he could more readily communicate wanting to “go p’ay!”. Charlie learned to ask for a break at the VB center but had to be taught by his Lovaas therapists and us to do so at home, and by his teachers at school.

It took a year, it took teaching in three different settings, but Charlie is getting it. Control over his anxiety. And the reading thing. And the talking. And even on a day of difficult weather, when gray clouds and thick moisture filled not only the sky but everywhere else.

Charlie is a lovely boy with an angelic aspect; Charlie is a human boy, with that occasional “devlish” glint in his eyes, or, more likely, a terrible scared look, as after he threw the second hamburger he had so gleefully watched me cook tonight. I think Charlie was getting full at dinner; I think he wanted to eat the cauliflower I was cooling in the sink. I suspect Charlie was not quite sure of how to say all that.

With everything going on–grandparents in ill-health, his school closing in a month–I have not been able to plan too much for Charlie’s birthday on Monday, May 15th. We made a fast trip to Target to choose cards for his two grandmothers (Charlie chose a pink and lavendar animal card for my mom) and to get some things to put in treat bags for Charlie’s classmates, for him to hand out on the Big Day.

Between Charlie’s wheat and dairy allergies and the varying dietary preferences of his fellow students, squishy toys and glow-in-the-dark bracelets seem the best favors. Charlie poked at the favors and clutched an inside/out ball in the aisles, the check-out line and the car on the way to ShopRite. After dinner, he requested “spy-derrr!” on his iPod and then “Mommy lie down!”. He was wrapped in sleeping bag fashion in his blue blanket and grinned at me, then pushed the soles of his feet hard against my legs in seach of deep pressure.

“Mommy wie down!”

Charlie had “put in” an old DVD–the Wiggles “Hot Potatoes Live”–and simultaneously had the iPod playing Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline.”

I already have my Mother’s Day present.

Autism Asperger’s Children Science Health Parenting Education Mercury mothering

Filed under ABA, Education, Holidays, Language & Talking, Motherhood