Well....I have to say that we have had a fantastic summer thus far. Nick has just amazed me in more ways than I can remember, imagine or count. Autism is a complex thing that only becomes more mysterious and scary and beautiful as the years pass. Nick has continued to speak in sentences and respond to questions. This morning when I opened Max's bedroom door, Nick said (in a very excited voice) "BABY!" I said, "Yup, I am waking up the baby." Nick says, "I love baby." I felt my heart just leap out of chest as soon as he said that. It was quite the spontaneous sentence and very unlike anything I have ever heard him say. I was a little jealous, because Nick has only ever told me "Love you, Mama" if I ask him to say it or if I tell him I love him first. I know I will hear it from him without a prompt one day. I remain grateful that I will ever hear it from his lips....I know some children who will never speak those words.
Some other interesting statements from Nick recently include, "I LIKE popsicles" "I want a shirt on" "Let me do it" "I want read" and "I gotta go potty." Some other responses to recently asked questions include: (after I asked, who peed on the bed?!?) Nick, "Ollie." (The dog, who actually was the culprit.)
Me: "Nick how many hot dogs do you want?" Nick: "Hmmmm.....two."
Me: "Nick, which t.v. show do you want to watch?" Nick: "Mickey Mouse."
Me: "Nick, you can have a treat for going potty...what do you want?" Nick: "CUPCAKE!"
Later, at the cupcake store.."Nick, which cupcake do you want?" Nick: "THAT one!" (pointing at the cupcake piled high with pink icing.) I know it doesn't seem like much.....but there were days that I never imagined I would ask a question that Nick would understand or be able to answer. The days of trying to guess what Nick wants while he screams and cries and tantrums in frustration are over!!!!
This summer we have decided to bravely embark on a new activity....bowling! Over the last year, Nick has enjoyed bowling with plastic bowling pins and various other objects in his classroom. He got a full size play bowling set for his birthday and has been delighting in knocking them down ever since. We keep thinking that we will take him bowling, but ultimately decided that the noise and activity of a bowling alley would be too much for him to handle. Finally, this summer we ran out of excuses! Allen found a program on a website called www.kidsbowlfree.com where you can sign your children up for 2 free games of bowling every week. So.....last week we decided to brave the bowling alley and figured at least we wouldn't be out any money if we had to leave. As soon as we walked into the bowling alley, Nick got animated and very, very excited. He said, "I bowling!!!" and tried to run over to an alley and start bowling right away. He was NOT happy that he had to wait for us to go get an alley from the cashier.
The afternoon was bittersweet for many reasons. First of all, when we walked into the alley, we walked almost smack dab into one of Nick's classmates. The classmate (who I'll call "C") recognized Nick immediately. He ran right up to Nick and said, "Hi Nick!!" and waved really big and acted excited. I think he thought we planned to get together with his family :) Nick on the other hand completely ignored "C" and tried to push right past him. I had to physically grab Nick by the shoulders several times and say, "Nick, look it's C from school, say "hi." Finally Nick seemed to shake it off and waved and said, "HI C!" We ended up bowling in the lane next to "C" and his papa. It was cute because, they ran around the whole time saying, "Hi Nick" "Hi C" over and over. The stood next to each other for a picture and shook hands and gave each other high fives. I was pretty excited for the interaction up to this point until I made a very important
realization. It was obvious that Nick and "C" were happy to see each other and really wanted to communicate. It was also glaringly obvious that they had no idea how to do this. I know they introduce themselves in class and say "hi" and shake hands. So....all the behavior I saw was memorized as socially appropriate over the last school year. Don't get me wrong....I'm very, very happy for Nick's progress. It's just hard to watch Nick struggle to overcome Autism's grasp. He's trying so hard and doing so well.....but every little success also reminds me of how far he has to come. I will say that we went bowling again this week with "C" and the interaction was a little better. Nick had a REALLY hard time waiting his turn to bowl, but we did work on saying "your turn" when it was time for "C" to bowl. Nick had an AWESOME time.....he started saying "I bowling" as soon as he spotted the bowling alley! In between his turns bowling, Nick did a lot of stimming. (We'll discuss that issue later) He generally played with his hand in front of his face and spun around and around in circles. "C" caught on a little and also took up the spinning in circles deal :) It was a workout for mommy and daddy trying to keep up, what with all the spinning, and running in front of other bowlers and trying to sneak ahead of his turn at bowling. It was worth it to see the look on Nick's face when he realized we were bowling and to witness the excitement after every knocked down pin. I am so proud of Nick for overcoming all the barriers and the parts of this activity that must be very uncomfortable for him. We'll be back at the bowling alley next week!!
Some other interesting statements from Nick recently include, "I LIKE popsicles" "I want a shirt on" "Let me do it" "I want read" and "I gotta go potty." Some other responses to recently asked questions include: (after I asked, who peed on the bed?!?) Nick, "Ollie." (The dog, who actually was the culprit.)
Me: "Nick how many hot dogs do you want?" Nick: "Hmmmm.....two."
Me: "Nick, which t.v. show do you want to watch?" Nick: "Mickey Mouse."
Me: "Nick, you can have a treat for going potty...what do you want?" Nick: "CUPCAKE!"
Later, at the cupcake store.."Nick, which cupcake do you want?" Nick: "THAT one!" (pointing at the cupcake piled high with pink icing.) I know it doesn't seem like much.....but there were days that I never imagined I would ask a question that Nick would understand or be able to answer. The days of trying to guess what Nick wants while he screams and cries and tantrums in frustration are over!!!!
This summer we have decided to bravely embark on a new activity....bowling! Over the last year, Nick has enjoyed bowling with plastic bowling pins and various other objects in his classroom. He got a full size play bowling set for his birthday and has been delighting in knocking them down ever since. We keep thinking that we will take him bowling, but ultimately decided that the noise and activity of a bowling alley would be too much for him to handle. Finally, this summer we ran out of excuses! Allen found a program on a website called www.kidsbowlfree.com where you can sign your children up for 2 free games of bowling every week. So.....last week we decided to brave the bowling alley and figured at least we wouldn't be out any money if we had to leave. As soon as we walked into the bowling alley, Nick got animated and very, very excited. He said, "I bowling!!!" and tried to run over to an alley and start bowling right away. He was NOT happy that he had to wait for us to go get an alley from the cashier.
The afternoon was bittersweet for many reasons. First of all, when we walked into the alley, we walked almost smack dab into one of Nick's classmates. The classmate (who I'll call "C") recognized Nick immediately. He ran right up to Nick and said, "Hi Nick!!" and waved really big and acted excited. I think he thought we planned to get together with his family :) Nick on the other hand completely ignored "C" and tried to push right past him. I had to physically grab Nick by the shoulders several times and say, "Nick, look it's C from school, say "hi." Finally Nick seemed to shake it off and waved and said, "HI C!" We ended up bowling in the lane next to "C" and his papa. It was cute because, they ran around the whole time saying, "Hi Nick" "Hi C" over and over. The stood next to each other for a picture and shook hands and gave each other high fives. I was pretty excited for the interaction up to this point until I made a very important
realization. It was obvious that Nick and "C" were happy to see each other and really wanted to communicate. It was also glaringly obvious that they had no idea how to do this. I know they introduce themselves in class and say "hi" and shake hands. So....all the behavior I saw was memorized as socially appropriate over the last school year. Don't get me wrong....I'm very, very happy for Nick's progress. It's just hard to watch Nick struggle to overcome Autism's grasp. He's trying so hard and doing so well.....but every little success also reminds me of how far he has to come. I will say that we went bowling again this week with "C" and the interaction was a little better. Nick had a REALLY hard time waiting his turn to bowl, but we did work on saying "your turn" when it was time for "C" to bowl. Nick had an AWESOME time.....he started saying "I bowling" as soon as he spotted the bowling alley! In between his turns bowling, Nick did a lot of stimming. (We'll discuss that issue later) He generally played with his hand in front of his face and spun around and around in circles. "C" caught on a little and also took up the spinning in circles deal :) It was a workout for mommy and daddy trying to keep up, what with all the spinning, and running in front of other bowlers and trying to sneak ahead of his turn at bowling. It was worth it to see the look on Nick's face when he realized we were bowling and to witness the excitement after every knocked down pin. I am so proud of Nick for overcoming all the barriers and the parts of this activity that must be very uncomfortable for him. We'll be back at the bowling alley next week!!
