A long absence!

So, I have done some serious neglect of this blog since September.  There are no excuses. Just busy busy busy.  What started out as a small "break from writing"... well, it became longer than planned.

There is too much to summarize but I promise...  I will be back :)

By the way - Thanks to the article "trashing" the idea of street signs for "autistic child in area"   over at slate.com - was it not for the snarky comments that needed moderation I would have gone another day without writing.

Gluten Free Pizza in Brick, NJ

More and more places are starting to carry gluten free pizza including pizza joints right here in Brick Township. This is a huge bonus for Alex because he loves pizza but its never been so easy as just calling for delivery or hopping out for a quick local bite to eat.

At the end of summer school the kids had a class party but the teacher informed me they were having pizza - which my son couldn't eat.  Of course it was on very little notice and I didn't have what I needed in my pantry.  I called Federico's  on Rt. 88 and they had this ready for me to drop off to the class right at the time of the party.  This is cheeseless pizza  on gluten free crust made with grilled chicken and mushrooms.  It comes in one size and they give you sealed plastic pizza cutter to cut it with. The cost was around $16.99

And now, the pizza place literally around the corner, Cuzzin's Pizza on Herbertsville Rd.  serving gluten free pizza - and they have a very nice eat in dining room and full dinner menu.   The gluten free pie comes in one size - "Personal" which I would say is pretty substantial its  a 12" pie and is $10.99.   Yummy and a good price!

    

Thomas Trains FOR SALE : The End of An Obsession

Its been long overdue, and my son's traintable has served lately more of a laundy folding table than for play. But, every time I mentioned packing it up or passing it on - Alex has flipped out and demanded that he need to keep his trains.  Like many kids with autism, the trains - Thomas in particular - became an obsession for him. The hours he would spend lining up the trains or setting the tracks up "just so" - he loved those trains beyond words. 

And so now here we are.. years later and my going into 4th grade child still has a train table in his room.  The time for it to go has been long overdue.   Not only would it clear up a lot of space in his room, it would make another child very very happy.    Yesterday I asked Alex  if we could sell his trains. I told him he could have some of the money for spending money when we go on vacation or for whatever he would like to buy.   I also told him that I would set up his electric keyboard with stand that is new in the box and unable to be setup until he gives up the traintable for space.  He said yes, and then said no - and then switched back - and said yes. 
 
Before he could change his mind again I went into his room and put them into their proper bins and took some pictures so I could put it on craiglist.   I listed it high figuring I'll take a lower best offer - I know from when I sold all his Fisher Price Little People toys (another huge obsession) this worked well.

So.. anyone in the Jersey shore area looking for trains?

Thomas Traintable, Trains, track, buildings & more - $400 (Brick NJ)

The first day of school!

Well here we go again!

Back to school.

Alex is in 4th grade and continuing on with his current program with a bit of mainstreaming planned for math and science.  He's continuing to make great progress and was very happy to get back to school.  I was thrilled that he wanted to re-use his Wall-E backpack and even happier when I found out he had the same bus # as last year - the less change the better for him.

Off he went!

Today was a big day here because his little sister was also going off on a bus... to Kindergarten.  So our morning routine has gotten a bit more hectic and will take some getting used to.   But, off she went.. and came home 3 hours later very tired from her first day. She's in the class of 2023, now that is hard to believe.

Camp Bridge is over but the fun(ny) memories live on

Alex had another fun summer that included swimming lessons, bike camp, baseball games, beach days, extended school year, surfing, music therapy and his favorite - Camp Bridge!

This year we signed him up for 2 weeks at Camp Bridge (in August) and he was so excited and ready to go each day to camp.  The weather during week 1 was great and they swam every day - he came home exhausted, a good thing.

Halfway through the week he reported to us that he learned how to kill a snake at Camp Bridge.  He went into gory detail about how you kill a snake.  My husband and I were a bit horrified by this fact, but something told me he was 'telling tales out of school'.  When I asked the director she confirmed that they did not kill a snake, in fact they hadn't even seen snakes this year.  Last year, however, they did see a snake on their nature walk which I remember him talking about.

Week 2 began with colder weather and some rain. However, the sunny part was that Miss Beth, one of the directors who runs the camp, was back this week. He loves Miss Beth and had missed her from the previous week (she was away in Disney).  When he saw Miss Beth, the first thing he asked her was "How was Disney?" and he was actually conversational with her.   I love to hear when he makes improvement in this area!

One day when I picked him up, she told me that he had taken out the trash for them - without being asked. He just did it.  They were impressed! Alex loves to help, and one of his "jobs" at home is taking out the trash, so when they told me about this I wasn't real shocked.

On one of the cooler days, they took a trip to a local farm which he really enjoyed. He did not, however, like the way that the pigs smelled. STINKY City!






The highlight for me was this "report" that I got from Miss Beth on the last day of Camp.

He is very literal. He asked if if he could get rid of a wet chair with soda on it at lunch time and I said yes then he threw it over the railing into the woods. The counselors looked at me to see why I didn't yell at him and I laughed and said I told him to get rid of it and that's what he did. Haha!

This is priceless to me.  I can totally see him picking up the chair and tossing it over the railing of the pavilion and into the woods.  While I am sure that is not quite what she had in mind by "getting rid of it" - I am so glad they "get" why he did what he did.   And, yes - I'm still laughing about it!

What a great way to end summer - with a smile on our face!

Related Links: 
Camp Week - A visit from the Therapy Dogs
Camp Bridge - Taking Autism To Camp

He's ready for a wedding or a party, Who's inviting?

So a few weeks ago, I shared how the first week at music/movement therapy class went - or rather didn't.. It was tough to see Alex meltdown and struggle over the environment. He has come so far over the years that maybe I have taken a lot for granted. Maybe I needed that wake-up call/smack in my face to remind me that after all, my son is autistic and has sensory issues. So many of his sensory hurdles have been put behind us, so I hated seeing him have a hard time.

 This is video from the first week - doing the YMCA song and you can see him doing it, but "shhushing"  at the kids around him to be quiet.

The next week, before class I made a point of going to YouTube and we looked up videos of the YMCA, how to do the macarena, and how to do the cha-cha slide.  I let him watch them over and over again.  He loves YouTube and I purposefully limit his exposure to it because 1) he could get into stuff he shouldn't on there and 2) he will watch the same movie over and over and over again.. We call that "You Tube Stimming" and I know that I'm not alone in this...many of the autistic kids I know like to do this.   So I purposefully encouraged YouTube stimming on videos that had to do with learning these 'party/wedding dances'.

Here's what happened that second week when they did the YMCA song.  Watch around the 1 minute mark for a remarkable Alex!

What a big difference, huh?  Instead of the child who was telling others to be quiet. He was the loudest one.  Ok, so we need to work on that a bit.

He also enjoyed learning the Electric Slide, with the help of one of the moms. And his favorite, they did Eenie Meenie (a Justin Bieber song). 

Week 3  showed even more improvement and he is now doing all of the above dances plus the Cha-Cha Slide and the Macarena, independently.

This week will be out last session, Week 4 - and  I know he'll be sad for "music class" to end.  What a fun time. And another sensory hurdle has been jumped!