Wednesday, December 26, 2012

A Little Bit More About Autism and Santa Claus

To continue this subject a little bit.  I woke up with a worry about what will happen to Dominoe and her Christmas after I'm gone.  I'm not going anywhere you understand.  I plan to live to be a 120 years old.  :)

Anyway, I was worried.  I called my oldest son to tell him that she still believes Santa Claus comes on Christmas morning.  Someone one, mainly him because he was the oldest, would have to make sure that happened.  He said ok. :-/

He's a man of little words.  LOL   I hope you are having a wonderful holiday. 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Autism and Santa Claus

I woke up in a panic a couple mornings ago.  I couldn't remember if the daughter, Rose, with aspergers believed in Santa Claus or not.  I finally called and asked.  The older daughter, Dominoe, who has autism still believes Santa Claus passes and there are presents on Christmas morning.

I can remember when my youngest, Mikey, who was only ten years old finally came to me and said there wasn't any Santa Claus.  He had been saying it for the past two years.  I had been putting him off by saying if he didn't believe in Santa Claus he might not get any presents Christmas morning.

Well at ten years old he finally said he didn't care.  Sooo I had to fess up.  Well as anyone knows who has more than two children information in a family works it's way around.  (I have five children.)

The daughter with aspergers (Rose) didn't believe him.  She really didn't believe him for another couple of years.  I guess that would have made her about 14 years at that time.  The son wasn't finished with telling though.

He had told his Dominoe that there was no Santa Claus.  I remember the look on her face.  She said, "There's no Santa Claus?"  I told her there was and gave both Rose and my last son, Mike, my best momma says to 'shut up' look.

Later I talked with Rose and Mike in private that Dominoe might always believe in Santa Claus.  They tried to understand at the time.  They certainly understand now.  To get back to the start of this post Rose, the daughter with aspergers, doesn't believe in Santa Claus.

I know this is going long but Rose doesn't get a whole lot of autism type services.  She doesn't seem to be 'disabled' enough.  Most of the services she gets is through mental health rehabilitation services.  Dominoe on the other had gets supports 24/7.  I know a lot of it is because of the behaviors.

I wonder though if people who believe in Santa Claus at 24 years old don't need more autism services.  I just wonder...

I hope and pray you have a Peaceful Christmas and New Year!


Sunday, December 16, 2012

Autism and Siblings

It was time for another one of those discussions.  The one that I periodically have with one or the other of my two oldest boys about their sisters and autism spectrum disorders.  The oldest son is 32 years old. 

I'm always mystified because one or the other son will tell me 'Why are you telling me this?'  It's not like we haven't had these discussions for year.  I then go into the whole speech that it is because as I get sicker they will have to do more.  Of course they need to know things that I know. 

I guess what brought it to mind again is one of the adult siblings I know.  They just found out that their brother has a medical condition that can be helped by a specific diet.  The sibling reminded me of my son.  The sibling is doing some of the medical stuff right now. 

Anyway mom remembered the diet.  I didn't say anything to the sibling but I sat there thinking about how guilty the mom is going to feel shortly.  She knew and probably forgot over the years.
So I keep telling my two oldest about things, over and over. 

Friday, December 14, 2012

Self-regulation and Aspergers

You know I have to tell you when I bump into a term that has helped me through the years.   There have been several of them.  Perservation, de-escalate, and independant living skills are a few.  Well the latest one that I heard concerning autism and my daughters is self-regulation, particularly aspergers.

So here goes, as close as I understand self-regulation is when you play hard and work hard and know when to do each.  So like you know you have to go to bed at a certain hour because you have to be up at a certain hour. 

You may not have to do that on some nights because you do not have to be up then next day.  Therefore you can stay up a little later.  Well people with aspergers seem to have alot of difficulty self regulating. 

At least one of my daughters who has aspergers does to a huge extent.  So we have lots of discussions about things like this.  When I used this term she asked what it was.  Hence my definition of playing and working at the right times. 

The daughter with autism doesn't regulate at all.  Hence her behavior problems.  She doesn't know how to calm herself.