Everybody Stims

I wrote this at the beginning of the school year in 2010. The Special Ed Mother's Prayer: Please, oh please let this be a good year for him. Please let his teacher's classroom be structured, but not rigidly so, Please let her have patience and humor, but be firm enough to set boundaries. Please let her have the knowledge and experience that different is not wrong, That behaviors are not meant to be disrespectful, That hints and subtleties are not ignored, but rather missed And that she has a little boy with a very tender heart who wants to please. Please help her communicate with me in ways that are constructive, That are helpful and kind, That are seeking answers, and not blame And that are open to our support and adaptations. Please let the other kids realize that awkwardness is not rude, and a loyal friend lies inside. And please, don't let others sell him short, for he is truly intelligent and a valuable teacher himself. Please let my son have a good

So, what does Todd do when Ethan's teacher says he needs help with Math? He writes him a program. Not just any program, a "MARIO MATH" program. It's awesome. You get ten right addition or subtraction answers and you get to see a new Mario graphic, and a "level up" song. You get less than 8 out of ten correctly and you get the "game over" song. Flashcards? We don't need flashcards! No, just Superdad and a couple hours on a Saturday morning --before he goes out to put the walls up on the treehouse.

I love that there are other moms out there thinking about this stuff. I love to picture the brain and the little axons and dendrites forming a protective sheath with every ounce of omega-rich fish or cholesterol-y egg I feed the kids. Oh my God. I am such an obsessed nerd. No wonder my kids are on the spectrum. They come by it honestly. Read the article, it will make you happy if you have teens or are getting teens some day. And it's about a cool mom. :) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124119468&ps=rs

Okay, so having kids in the house can be tough on the walls, furniture, etc. Today I was startled by a very loud clunk sounding like something heavy had hit something hard. I went downstairs to discover Ethan had somehow slammed the platform swing Todd made for Daniel into the corner of the basement wall, denting the metal strips which form the frame for the corner. It was 4 feet off the ground. I don't even want to know how he got the swing that high or how he escaped from breaking his head or something else instead of just denting the wall. The swing, of course, --because Todd constructed it-- is unscathed.