Absent Minded Professor Academy Report Card

You homeschool!?!?!? Aren’t you smarter than that? Didn’t you go to college to become a teacher and have a career? Your son is autistic, how are you going to ensure his social skills are developed? You are a public educator, why are you pulling your son out of public school? You know the system works!

These are all questions that were asked to me and that I asked myself when considering this adventure. Even my own family in education thought what I was doing was a huge tragedy for Wayne, and for me. When I say that choosing to homeschool was the toughest decision in my life, I truly mean it. All other tough choices were clear. This one was a cluttered choice with me having to dig deep as to what was my goal and motive for homeschooling.

Motive:

1) I knew I had missed out on 2 of the most valuable years in my daughter’s life by giving my all to a group of children who were not my own children. I felt a struggle as I neglected my own children by leaving them in the care of others or just flat out not paying attention to them. Being pregnant, I did not want to miss out on those things with my 3^rd child, and I wanted to be able to give my daughter all she needed from me during her later preschool days.

2) I have taught almost 100 high risk to special needs children and helped them grow significantly and almost overcome their gaps in education. However, I did not have the time or energy at the end of the day to help my own special needs child close his gap. Over the last 3 years, I have watched him make gains but only fall further and further behind instead of catching up. I knew he could do better, and I was the one who could make sure he did.

Goals:

1. Provide quality curriculum in an intense but loving manner to help my son catch up to his same age peers.

2. Surpass all the IEP goals set for him by the public school system and encourage him to continue to grow.

3. Encourage, cheer, and observe my daughter grow and become excited about her own education.

4. Be a full time mommy and help encourage the 3^rd (unborn at the time) to meet all of his developmental milestones and know he is loved and needed.

5. Grow as a family closer with more respect towards each other and how we are our own community.

The Main Events:

This school year, we have had meltdowns, blow outs, and battles of wills. It has been full of ups and downs. From the beginning, we had to establish roles, Mom the teacher, Mom the mother, Wayne the student, and Wayne the son. We also had to figure out where Eve fit in the picture. She was a strong willed toddler when we began the year, and although she is still only 2, she is a curious preschooler. After starting early, July 4, we plunged right into school with learning our levels and setting our own learning goals.

In September, we did something all school kids would love to do…. A field trip near the equator! We took off to Costa Rica and did school early in the morning before the rest of the group was up, and then spent the rest of the day learning through tours, trips on the beach, or just plain observing life around us. To wrap up the field trip and our learning, we celebrated with Costa Rica night.

In October, we hit burn out mountain, we were all tired. I was only a month away from delivery and worn out. We plunged through October, watching learning goals be met, the word “I can’t” disappear, and independence on the brink. We also took 2 field trips in October, 1 to King’s Mountain and 1 to Columbia to the State Museum. The State Museum was a blast that we shared with the Ropplets.

November was a fast but fun month. We tried to squeeze in all the school we could get in, along with the holiday fun we were accustomed to. Come November 24, school would be done and the first half of the year complete. With Braxton hicks contractions hitting almost daily, we managed to finish the first half of the year out with a bang. Wayne was ready to begin on all new levels come the spring semester. He had met over half his annual goals.

We had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Landis side of the family and enjoy the festivities. Kohl (the 3^rd) made his debut on his father’s birthday, November 30. We hosted Christmas with the Landis’ at our house, enjoyed a quiet Christmas on Christmas day at home, and then headed to Louisiana for more family fun.

When we arrived back home in January, we waited for about a week before truly hitting the grindstone again. Wayne continued to work hard, but would have mini meltdowns and would just struggle with getting back into his

schedule. I do not blame him; his baby brother had no schedule yet! We struggled through January and hired Kerri in February to help with Eve and to get through the distractions of school. We also started heading back to the library for Homeschool at the Library. Our learning goals had also changed in February, by the end of February, Wayne had met all of his annual goals and we needed to set new ones. Also, Wayne moved up to his 5^th grade math book, and reading with books on tape to a 6^th grade level. He was reading on grade level 60 wpm. We have seen tons of improvement. However, with effort, Wayne had been attacked by the 5^th

Grade virus. This is the virus that keeps all 5^th graders from acting like the sweet young children they were just before Christmas but instead makes them act like crazy lost minded victims of puberty. Also a huge highlight of the year, Wayne posed with a mascot!

We have approached March and are close to spring testing (later this week). Wayne has out done the expectations that I have had for this year. I believe he is actually enjoying school and knows that he is growing. This school year will end on May 24, but Wayne will continue to do 5^th grade until the 1^st week in August to help him finish meeting the second round of goals.

The Hardships:

Let’s be realistic: this year has not been the most fun all the time where the world is roses and my kids have just naturally learned to be great students and children. There were downs. Just as Dr. Seuss predicted in Oh The Places you will Go! There were drab times, waiting times, and times we just wanted to give up, however, we did not give up! So let’s look at the doldrums.

1. The students do not go home. Yup, that is right they are your children, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and if you want a parent teacher conference, you have to look at yourself in the mirror.

2. There is a TON of work to do each day. For some reason, when you stay at home, your house gets messy. Now to save you the “If you give a Mouse a Cookie” Story. Basically, you have to find a way to balance the house, the big children (students), the little children (your daycare), and the husband (your principal).

3. The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men: You can have a plan, in fact a plan is suggest. A plan for everything, meals, lessons, chores, etc. However, what you do when the plan fails, truly shows your flexibility and how you react to stress. I think I am still growing here.

4. Discipline: You are going to see the best and worst in your child while homeschooling (their character, their academics, and their motivation). It is the worst that you are going to be the most surprised about and most lost!

Buried Treasure:

Along with the bad times, we have experienced many great times. Those “high flying times.” Some involve friends, others successes, and many family.

1. Birth of a Baby: I have never witnessed the bond between siblings that I have seen with Kohl, Wayne and Eve. They are all so sweet to each other (almost all the time). The true miracle of the birth of the baby has brought joy, love, and overall peace to the family.

2. Finding Faith: I have always hated other people pushing their religious beliefs on me. I have also always had a unique way to view faith and religion. Therefore, I never wanted to push those beliefs onto my children. I wanted them to find God for themselves. This year, I have learned that finding God is a family effort and takes the whole family to learn and grow. If you do not introduce your children to Him, how will they ever know and love him.

3. Goals MET: The most exciting part of being an educator is seeing children meet their goals. Wayne has met and exceeded many goals this year! We have taken this special needs boy who was failing in school and moved him up 2 grade levels as far as development.

4. Seeing Thinking: I have been able to watch my children learn to think for themselves, learn letters, shapes, complex math problems, and character. All of these great steps have been a blessing to observe and know that I helped contributed.

Lesson Learned:

Learning does not happen unless everyone involved is a learner and a teacher.

· I have learned many things and am still striving to master other things.

· I have learned that there is no greater joy in life then seeing your own flesh and blood succeed where they have never been successful.

· I have learned that it is best when the shit hits the fan, to turn it into a bad weather day and see what lesson life will teach you about yourself, your kids, and everyone’s character.

· I have learned that the Serenity Prayer is not enough if you truly do not try to strive for those blessings.

· I have learned that sometimes, talking about it is better than shouting about it.

· I have learned that if you expect a child to persevere, then they will. If you let them give up once, they will want to quit every time!

· I have learned that an education system without policies and procedures, but the highest stakes laid out, both the student and teacher will succeed.

· I have learned that public education policies and politics are what have kept my child from shining.

· And…. The lessons continue to come on a daily basis!

What’s Next?

This was just a one year experience and you are putting Wayne back into public school next year right? HAHAHAHAHA! As far as I am concerned, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This year was a huge success. I think as a family we have grown as well as in academics. I feel that although there are some changes that will be made to next school year, we will continue to do the homeschooling avenue until it is no longer the correct placement for Wayne. At this point, I feel that if I were to put him back into public education, I will be doing him a disservice and say to him, you are a failure even with one on one, so go back to the garbage heap. You belong in a self-contained chaos class where you will learn to your minimal capacity.

Healthier Me, Healthier Family: Week 1- Letting Go

Have you ever made goals to make a positive change in your life, but then not be willing to make the sacrifices needed to reach that goal because of emotional reasons? This has been my struggle with weight loss throughout the years. I am not a clothes person, but each item in my wardrobe has a story and is hard to get rid of keeping me from getting rid of my "big" pants or hurting my feelings when I have to wear the "skinnier" pants because of the bad story that went with them. So here I am at the beginning of my weight loss adventure again. The baby is born. The time is right, and I FINALLY started off lighter than I started before pregnancy. This is my pre-pregnancy picture, I will try to get a picture for next weeks journey. Yes, I know it is horrible!

The Beginning: Where I am starting
Kohl is now 6 weeks old, I am officially starting my weight loss journey this week. My Monday weigh in was 184 lbs. This starts my journey at 12 lbs lighter than I was pre-pregnancy. The ultimate goal is to be under 150 lbs by the end of December or in a size 10.

This Week's Journey:
Over the weekend, I took the first emotional step to this journey. I tried on every piece of clothing I owned. If it fit right, looked good, and had no story it was kept. If it did not look right, fit, or had a bad story, into the give away bin it went. I even used my husband as the test of look right. Yes, ladies, I asked his honest opinion, then looked closely at him to see how honest he was being! Being nice and saying, "It looks ok." is honest, but not brutally honest. So, I watched his eyes. And I am happy to say in all my old clothes, I have some "eye popping" outfits!

This week I learned, that this healthier me is not just going to be about the food and movement, but also about the ridding myself of the negative.

This Week's Goal:
Journey: Continue to purge as I work on organizing the house. I figure if I can keep the house organized, then maybe my life will be more organized and I will be a little happier.
Food: Vegetarian (mostly): Big meal- Egg Plant Parmesan, without frying the egg plant. Not the healthiest but the majority of the week is salad and items that revolve around black beans and avocado.
Exercise: Walk the drive daily (if raining a 30 minute Netflix work out)
Weight: Down 2 more pounds (182), I want to be 179 by Feb1.

La Chupacabra and The Chicken Farmer

Please note that there are no pictures for this story even though all events are true as seen through the wife's eyes in the story. It was just too gruesome to take pictures of the events!

The seven month pregnant mother and her two and a half year old daughter stood in the middle of the living room with the mother’s hand over the little girl’s ears. The shotgun rumbled as the tired chicken farmer shot two shots out of the little girl’s bedroom window into a chicken coop flooded with light.

At the beginning of September, the chicken farmer, his wife, and two kids had returned home from an international trip to discover that something wild had found their chickens and liked the taste. Chicken farming was a new adventure to the family, but had given their 11 year old boy a sense of responsibility.

The dad had tried numerous ways to keep the creature from getting to the son’s chickens to include building a roosting box for them. However, after only two short nights of not being able to get the chickens, the mysterious chicken killer had learned how to overcome this hurdle as well and killed two chickens in one night.

Distraught and being down to just 2 chickens from the 21 original chickens, the novice chicken farmers had to begin with, the chicken farmer formed a grand plan. With the help of the eager young uncle, a baby monitor, and flood lights, the two men were going to attack the beast and make sure it did not get the last of the flock.

The first night was a sleepless night for the mother, with the baby monitor blasting night sounds and a 3 am attack by the mysterious beast. The two hunters ran outside, flooded the coop with lights and took one shot at the scared chupacabra running away through the woods. Meanwhile, inside, the mom had taken the youngest child who sleeps near the coop to her room, to help keep her from being scared. Although, the chickens were safe the chicken farmers were sadden that the creature had not been taken care of the first night.

The second night the men traded places, this time with the dad turning on the light and the young uncle with the gun. Chupacabra was once again on the outside of the coop, and out smarted the uncle as he blasted four rounds in the beast’s general direction… Once again the frustrated dad had missed the creature.

The third night was a quite night. Chupacabra decided not to try to get dinner from the chicken coop leaving the weary father confused. However, the mother was slight rested considering that this night was just the calm before the storm. The fourth night would bring on a full fledge battle.

The stage was set the fourth night in Chupacabra’s favor. The frustrated Dad chose not to put the chickens in their roosting box. The chicken farming couple went to bed around eleven o’clock hoping for another quiet evening. Just as soon as they both went to sleep, Chupacabra attacked. The mother heard the worst sound ever- a hurt screaming chicken. It sounded to her like a baby being brutally murdered. The mother rushed to their daughter’s bedroom where she found her awake and terrified by the sound. She grabbed their daughter and rushed her back to the couple’s room. The dad fled out of the house, turned on the lights and did not see chupacabra anywhere. Chupacabra was gone with the tail of a chicken.

Just an hour later, the chickens still not in their roosting box, Chupacabra attacked again. This time she managed to drag the tailless chicken across the pin and was pulling it out of the fence by its head. Dad was still not able to get to the fence fast enough to kill the beast. Scaring it away, dad could still hear it rustling in the woods, and shot off his shot gun in the direction of the sound. With the little girl safe in her parent’s bed, the frustrated couple decided to determine the fate of the lifeless chicken laying half in the coop and half out, along with putting the unharmed chicken into the roosting box for its safety. The husband kicked the lifeless chicken before bending down to pick it up, and the chicken took off running.

In order to try and save both birds that their son has grown to learn, Dad put the chickens up in the roosting box, and chose to leave the light on, hoping that Chupacabra would not return that night. However, earlier than most alarm clocks, around five o’clock am, the injured chicken let out its “Please, God, Save Me!” screech for the third time that night. Mom ran across the house, looked out her daughter’s window and saw a huge ball of grayish fur hanging down from the roosting box. She grabbed her baby girl and ran out of the room as Dad arrived in the room with the shot gun. He opened the window and quietly knocked out the screen like you would see in a Wild West film. BANG! He had fired the first shot.

The mom had uncovered her daughter’s ears and was telling her it would all be ok, as they stood in the living room waiting for the dad to come out. The Mom did not take the little girl to the bedroom because she would not have enough time to turn off the monitor. During this long moment, of silence from the bedroom, the dad was preparing the shotgun to fire another round. From nowhere, the mom and little girl jumped when they heard the second BANG! Dad finally came out of his daughter’s room looking tired and defeated. However, he announced that Chupacabra had lost the battle.

Too tired to check, the husband did not go investigate the wife’s questions of did her son’s chickens survive. He just walked quietly back to the bedroom. The couple had allowed their scared little girl to stay in their bed with them for the remainder of the night. Around nine am Sunday morning, a still extremely drained dad went out to dispose of the dead raccoon that his wife had named Chupacabra. Then he opened the roost box to find two very scared, beat up, toeless chickens still alive.

Knowing that their first year chicken farming has not been successful, they have learned many lessons. The husband has not given up and has immediately made modifications to the roosting box and plans to repair and make the coop more secure. The mother has her chicken first aid kit ready to doctor the chicken wounds to prevent infection. The baby monitor is still outside and may stay there until the couple’s youngest child arrives in November.

Despite their bad luck and lack of knowledge with chicken farming, this family has not given up and hopes to get more chickens soon.

Loving you, Loving Me

Yes, I realize that the title of this blog is also a title to an ABBA song from Mama Mia! but it is also how my two children have behaved today. I know they love me, I also know they are kids. But for some reason, I feel like my own flesh and blood was abducted by aliens and evil reminisces of them were left in their place.

By the end of today, I wanted to put out Lost and Found posters. Eve, my precious lil angel who never does anything wrong, woke up this morning in a screaming fit and did not want to stop. She was mad at the world and determined to take it out on anyone in her way. Even after being sent back to bed, she still had an aire of you better not mess with me today about her. She hid and did things she knew she shouldn't (like put art on our back door, eat toothpaste, and play with mommy's deodorant). When she would get caught she would look at you with a blank stare, until you told her "no." Then she would scream as if the building was on fire and she was stuck inside. Dear God, thank you for patience today with this darling angel, please return my angel to me as soon as possible because the one who awoke in her room today was not my child.

Hearing the sound of timpani drums in the back of my head, I turn to the 11 year old. Sweet innocent manchild, who I have watched developed into such a bright young man. Gone, disappeared at about 2:30. In his place was an evil look alike that had no brains and could not think. When given simple one step directions, he would do the opposite and then just look at you lost. The poor evil look alike caused my sweet manchild to loose his "tickets" that allow him to spend his evening stemming while playing his wii. With that, the evil twin sulked and stomped like a two year old (typical two year old not the over the top one in the house today) causing him to loose his last ticket and all hope of seeing his favorite NFL players battle out the superbowl on his television as he controlled them with wild flailing. Dear God, You gave me an innocent young child with the eyes to see good in all the world, and a struggle to communicate what he sees, with your help, I have taught him to share emotions. Please help me accept that it is ok for him to be angry and his bed time words to be "I am angry at you. Good Night." Also, please grant him the wisdom to wake up and see tomorrow as a new day!

I am loving the being a full time parent, even when full time means overtime with no pay! I am thankful for the wonderful kids I have, and realize that just as I am not perfect, neither are my kids. I do hope and pray that each day is better than the day before, so here, I offer to other parents my new serenity prayer:
Dear God,
Grant me the COURAGE to help my children see the good in all things and to encourage them to share their feelings. Grant me the PATIENCE to deal with their short comings and constant need of reminding.
Grant me the SERENITY to accept that they are not always going to be happy with me.
and the WISDOM to know when to leave them alone to deal with their feelings and when to help them work them out.

FDA= Trying to Kill America

Ok, I do not get into politics, I don't like it. All of them are greedy people trying to help out corporate America and making policies to increase ignorance and health issues. I don't like medicine, usually if you take one pill it will cause other ailments and require you to take more pills in which your life will be lived by visiting the pharmacy on a monthly basis. I also could careless about what mainstream society thinks.

To those of you who knew me when I was younger, you would know that this is a 180 in my life. I used to worry about what others thought. Well, that leads to depression and feeling no good enough.

Today, I am crossing a line and getting into "politics" This is my response to the FDA telling a nut company that their walnuts are an illegal drug that has not been approved by the FDA and not safe to have on shelves. See article http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/8294-walnuts-are-drugs-says-fda.

Dear FDA,
I once a naive child, thought that it was your job to protect us from poisons and keep our food and medicines safe for human consumption. I once believed that you had our best interest in heart, and wanted us to live healthy lives.

Well, dear sirs, I have grown up. I have raised a child with autism who is effected by the chemicals you declare as food. I have seen my parents and grandparents believe in the miracle drugs their doctors supply, and suffer through the many side effects. I have seen myself and peers gain weight, although we are eating what you say is "healthy." I have read, researched and studied what is in my "food." I have heard the policies put in place to keep the small farmer who produces whole foods out of business so we can all eat your genetically modified science experiments. As Americans, we are the worlds leading country in obesity, autism, and many other ailments. We are no longer nurturing our body with whole foods, but filling our bodies with chemicals.

I ask you and all your wisdom, if Walnuts are the illegal drug today, does that mean that fresh fruits and vegetables are the illegal drug of tomorrow because they help with all kinds of preventatives as any whole food diet would. Would you rather me feed my child the food colored fake "fruits" of a fruit roll up than feed him an apple from a tree? Will having sex with my husband become illegal with out a prescription because it might get my heart rate up and help me maintain a healthy heart, not to mention provide a strong mental well being that will help me be able to avoid depression? Will having a gym membership also require a doctor's prescribed journey? You do know that regular exercise prevents heart disease, can help emotional well being as well as if applied correctly with that balanced diet I talked about before CURE obesity?

Sirs, I ask you. No demand you to stop using your wallets to make decisions about our nations health, before the following two generations are more screwed than the current adult generations, and start making your job what it was intended to be. Control the amount of chemicals in food and make whole foods the number one priority of food, with out the pesticides, gmos, preservatives, and food coloring. Make controlling drugs about optimizing life with less side effects. And allow people and doctors to consider natural remedies first. There have been studies in other countries about how a well balanced chemical free diet has decreased the symptoms of autism and ADHD. I realize that this may cost the country billions of dollars in money from the same people who are putting these chemicals in our bodies, but it will make for a healthier smarter nation. If you continue to choose to try to ban whole natural foods who have scientific evidence to help prevent many of the diseases you are trying to cure, than I will continue to eat them legally or illegally, I will continue to sleep with my husband and have a healthy marriage, I will continue to exercise. I will continue to get healthier, my children will grow up healthier than your grandchildren who you are forcing to have no choice. One day, your lack of wisdom will bite you in the rear, when America is a dying nation, and are unable to care for their elders because they are too sick to care for themselves.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Citizen
Worried about Alphabet Soup's Stupidity

Coming soon to a blog near you..... the government's involvement with TSA and forcing Americans to being forced to be exposed physically while also being exposed to Xray... which has also been proven to be harmful to people!

A Simple Autism Story....

Simple may be off slightly. One thing is for sure. Nothing is simple. As stated before, many of the things I have learned to help Wayne with being socially acceptable deals with teaching a new behavior. As I think of Autism Awareness, and a story that is truly Autistic, my brain scrambles. But one day I do remember dealt with about the biggest extremes, along with hurdles.

A few Summers ago, Wayne and I went to Carowinds with some friends for a day of fun. Now, please understand, that I LOVE roller coasters, and well, Wayne, is not sure of trying anything that might be a suggestion of something scary. SO we spent the day walking around trying to find rides that we would both enjoy. Wayne and I enjoyed some of the baby rides, but then I decided to push him a little.

We went into the water park and I pushed him to try the kiddie water slide. He loved it! Then he looked at me with excitement and pointed to the bigger water slides. He wanted to ride it badly. So we found one that would let two people ride at once. After standing in line with him for 5 minutes, we finally get to the top, and he decides he does not want to go down. He begins screaming and trying to look for a place to run. I grabbed him, and made eye contact with him, and told him, there is only one way down. Then I gave him a bear hug lifted him up set him in my lap and the worker pushed us off. He screamed half way down the slide and then laughed the rest of the way!

Leaving the water park, I decided to keep the momentum going. We stood in line for ride after ride, some he had a meltdown in the seat so we got off and let the next people on. Others he was ok with sitting in the seat, and we road. We continued this, until he reached a point of somewhat comfort. Then it happened. He saw the "mascots" Nickelodeon Characters with big heads! HE saw them took one looked, screamed and starting running. Somehow, I ended up with Inspector Gadget type arms that reached out and grabbed him almost tripping a lady and toddler, apologized, as I dashed around the corner and held him tight to me against me to where he couldn't see. Once, he recovered, he wanted to go "shake their hand." Yeah, Right.

We finished the day in the kids area of the park and our last ride was the kid roller coaster. Wayne's first every real roller coaster. We rode it together after much debate. He was comfortable in the seat and half laughed and half cried throughout the whole ride. When we got off, Wayne looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom, we have to call an ambulance."

I asked, "Why, Wayne? What is wrong?"

He said, "That ride made my stomach turn upside down and the hospital needs to fix it."

I replied calmly, "It is ok Wayne, that is just butterflies in your stomach."

This made him look at me very seriously, and state bluntly, "I did NOT swallow a butterfly, Mom!"

As I think of it there are many more autism stories like this one. But, this is what autism looks like in our family. A little bit of forced sensory awareness, pushing to try new things, and most of all, learning about figurative language in the most serious ways!

The Beginning

According to our doctors, Wayne was a typical little boy. Boys always develop slower than girls. He hit all the major physical milestones but never really developed language. Wayne then slowly started to regress. It took him forever to potty train, there were some fine motor things, that he could do before, but then couldn't do. Wayne still couldn't really talk. At least no one out side the home could understand him. He struggled through kindergarten and had many accidents along the way. He was not fully potty trained until he was 6.

He developed some language skills through speech therapy and constant repeating to him. But was still hard to understand. It wasn't until after we had a diagnosis for a muscle disease and saw a neurologist regularly, that the neurologist suggested testing for autism. I had heard of autism before, did a report on in my freshman year in college. I thought I knew all about it! (Amazing what people learn from 1997-2005) I also knew my son was no "Rain Man." Literally, that was all the research that was available at that time. So, I started digging and doing some research on my own. I contacted some people. Finally, I had decided that Wayne had enough quirks, that testing might be worth it. Not because I wanted to fix him. I had kinda gotten used to all of his "isms." But because, if I knew what was wrong, then I would know how to help him fit in and make things easier for him.

We got his diagnosis the spring of what should have been his second grade year. He was about 7. When we went in for testing, they psychologist pulled me aside and asked if we spoke any other languages in the home. Then played for me the conversation Wayne was having with the toys during the interview. Because of his developmental milestones, and the weird language that he talks while he plays. They diagnosed Wayne with full blown autism. There were other factors. I was also reassured that he was high functioning. I do not like the high functioning term. At least not at first. It sounds like a house hold appliance. High functioning washing machine. But we took it.

Now that we knew a name for how he was thinking, it helped us look at ways to help him and push him to fit in better in regular society. This does not mean that we have normalized him by all means. But we have taken the socially unacceptable behaviors and found ones that are more acceptable.

My Perspective of Autism

Ever find yourself, wondering if the ringing in your ears will ever stop? Or if it was possible to turn off those brights shining in your eye? Have you ever listened to the radio all the way up with the TV also blaring? I often find myself trying to picture this.

A friend of mine, while in the search of how Wayne is hardwired, explained one moment of life to me from the perspective of one of his friends. He stated that one moment, just one brief moment, is like being sat in a hard cold seat covered with a combination of marbles and tacks, while you have stadium lights shining in your eyes, and two radios on either side of you blaring. Meanwhile, your mom is trying to read you a bedtime story. If this is one moment in the life of an autistic person. Imagine what all those moments combined are like.

I was introduced to the autistic world when Wayne was 6. Please note that in this post and the posts to come, I speak of autism and autistic people putting autism first. The reason for this is Autism is not a disease or a disability, it is a way of life and a way people perceive the world around them. By saying a person with autism, I feel that I am giving into the myth that this is something that has disabled my child, and I want a cure for it. I do not want a cure for autism, because there is not a second in the day that I want to change how Wayne thinks. However, I do want life to be as easy for him as it is for me, I do want other people to be aware of how he and others think and be tolerant of him, I do want him to have the same opportunities as others. Now, I understand that there is a spectrum, and I fortunately am experience the part of the spectrum that is high functioning. However, I am not sure if he was non verbal, that I would want a cure. I would want a way to help him find his voice.

I felt it necessary to first let the world understand that what is written in the posts for the month of April are my opinion and my facts based off our life. They are not based off any organization or research. Although, I have done my own research, I do not think that how I did things, or what I am doing is the cure for all. I fully recognize, that I am raising one Autistic Person. There are millions of other autistic people who have different experiences. Please, do your own research, and find what works for your family. Also please, if you do not know of autism, educate yourself, and take the time to get to know these people who love life and want to find away to share how they feel with others.