Soccer with the Stars (#466)
A friend whose son is also autistic noted that, while he could do the basic skills—kicking and dribbling—quite well, when it came to doing these while running up and down a field with several other children all trying to get their foot on the ball, all trying to keep their eyes on the ball, her … Continue reading
Marked Priority (#465)
“Wahlk!” proclaimed Charlie after dinner. I handed him his blue hooded fleece sweatshirt, which we discovered he had put on backwards when he found the hood cradling his chin. “S’irt bakkwards!” grinned Charlie and we were both laughing. Charlie pulled it off and then back on the right way and out we went, just before … Continue reading
A Sense of What’s Right (#464)
I was in the middle of things—as I was today, sitting at my desk checking email and writing quizzes (“decline each word in all 5 cases and give gender”)—when I took a glance at this article, the fourth in a series about autism, Public schools open their doors to autism by Kathleen Carroll in the … Continue reading
Chaos Theories (#463)
“Chaos” is from the ancient Greek word for “a vast gulf, an abyss, a, infinite space”—three terms that, I think, describe how an unstructured stretch of time feels to Charlie. Unsure of what might happen next, of what might happen at all, he is indeed like some unmoored heavenly body, lost in the space of … Continue reading
Munday (#462)
As in, one mundane Monday: Charlie woke up to the sound of some New Age-tinged nature music, got dressed, pulled on his backpack, and went out to wait for the bus. After Friday‘s bumpy start, his teacher had planned to have him breakfast at school (with the hope of having this occur at home eventually), … Continue reading
Witness (#461)
“Hi, Veronn ikka!” Said Charlie to my in-laws’ live-in nurse as she came in the front door from a walk. So Charlie greeted someone when they came into the house: Big deal. Charlie did so unasked, unprompted, uncajoled. Further: We have not made a point of telling Charlie “that is Veronica.” Charlie has picked up … Continue reading
Dogged Day (#460)
We had only to say to Charlie this morning that his aunt was coming to visit “with the dog” and Charlie, who had been taking his Saturday morning easy—touring the house in his pajamas and poking in the refrigerator—froze. His eyes opened wide, his face muscles became strained, and he kept looking over his shoulder. … Continue reading
There’s a Love Song in This Post (#459)
The moment that I had not exactly been waiting for, but knew was likely, happened: Charlie had a difficult morning at school. He was greeting his fellow students as he always does at the start of his school day; he began to cry and was directed over to a mat to calm down. He did, … Continue reading
Minor and Major (#458)
“Payahno!” I called Charlie downstairs to practise after dinner. He sat right down at the keyboard and put the velcro-backed C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C onto the keys, starting at middle C. (His teacher has been gradually fading the size of the letters, with the thought that eventually no letter labels on … Continue reading
How much does it cost to raise an autistic child? (#457)
“How much does it cost to raise a child?” This was the theme of a talk during Back to School Night that I attended at Charlie’s school. I was a little late entering the gym/cafeteria/auditorium where parents and staff were gathered: Charlie had a 6.30pm piano lesson and I had been talking to his teacher … Continue reading
We Go With Him by kristina chew 