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a new week, a better outlook

Today we had staffing for David. While I won’t go through the ins and outs of everything that was discussed, I will say this. The team isn’t ready to give up on him regardless of what the school says.

We are going to explore the possibility that he is on a manic swing with his bipolar disorder. It would be one of many possible explanations for the escalation of his behavior.

There were some scary things that we learned this week. David was biting a battery. You could see teeth marks in it.

So he is not allowed batteries. He has limited access to electronic gadgets such as mp3 players. He has no computer privileges. His room gets stripped of everything every 4 hours.

Why?

Because even as much as he is watched, he still is very adept at taking that which does not belong to him.

Especially cell phones.

Oh, and he really doesn’t like his teacher.

We did spend a little time with David today. Just talking. We played our word association game, but he really wasn’t interested. The whole time, his eyes were very busy. Looking at everything. Always moving. His frequently adjusted his position, and a near constant phrase to any question was “I don’t know.”

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Auditory Stimming

As a father of a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, I am well aware of the intricacies and quirks that a child on the

Cover of Rain Man

Spectrum can display. Anyone who has watched the movie Rainman has seen stimming. Raymond exhibited it in a number of ways.

When he was uncomfortable, he would recite the Abbott and Costello routine “Who’s on First“.
Raymond would hit his head and scream when ever his brother would try to get him to do something he just didn’t want to do.
Raymond had a strict schedule that he was used to, so when they set off across the country, Raymond was very much out of his element.
Other things that displayed stimming include the rocking motion that Raymond exhibited even when he walked.

Our son, stutters. When he is excited, upset or talking about his passion which is history, he stutters. Typically it is only the beginnings of words. He has participated in speech therapy, in the end though mom band I decided that it was just a part of who he is. We could no more take away the stutter than we could take away the Aspergers that he has been blessed with.

Stimming is just a self stimulation that the individual does as a coping mechanism. You and I might speak about our discomfort, which is a social skill, people with Autism typically lack social skills.

How did your baby act when they were hungry or had a wet diaper? They fussed and cried, correct? That is a form of stimming. They have no other way of expressing their unhappiness. Think about it for a minute.

What examples of stimming does your child exhibit?

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A Needed Response to Steubenville

This needs to be shared.
This video was created by students in Oregon as a response to Steubenville, about how a drunk or passed out person should be treated.
I didn’t create the video, I don’t own the copyright.

This should be common sense. I have had this discussion with my kids. Have you?