Learning to Lie

I know it's a stereotype that autistic children or autistic people can't lie. I know it's not true for many people. However, until recently, it was true for my autistic child. I could always count on him to tell the truth. The absolute, complete, sometimes brutal, truth.

Lately, he's been telling stories. Not direct lies to direct questions. More like he'll be telling me about his day and as he gets furthur into the story I become suspicious. Surely a teacher would have done something in x situation. No, he says, she did nothing. By the time he's flying away in an airplane I've caught on. He's embellished just a bit.

Anyway, we discussed it and he's agreed to start a story that's untrue with "I want to tell you a story."

Still not direct lie to a direct question. But I'm seeing a glimmer there and I have no doubt it will one day come.

Just me and he

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm a complete and utter suck. So when I realized that older brother will be out skiing tonight and dear hubby will be at work and that means that Patrick and I will have the evening to ourselves....watch out for that big mama smile. :D

We're going out for dinner. Just the two of us. I havn't told him yet, it's a surprise.

I love dinner dates.

Transportation

Patrick's communication skills were at an all time (for recently anyway) low Thursday evening. He just wouldn't talk about 'it'.

I could navigate him through a conversation about school, about recess, etc. But as soon as I mentioned the bus he insisted he couldn't talk about it.

I never did get the full story. Older brother says nothing big happened. But something obviously made Patrick feel like he couldn't discuss it with me. I assured him I would not be upset nor would he be punished, I just wanted to know.

Anyway, I havn't been happy with the bus for a long time. There seems to be no expectation that the kids stay in their seats or behave in any certain way. Until there's an incident. Sometimes said incident involves Patrick and other times, not. I've complained and discussed it with the principal of the school. He went on the bus and talked to the kids and driver at some point and designated seats to each child. Doesn't really help if the driver can't keep them in their seats. And I do know that Patrick has been baited into behaviour by an older child a couple of times. I hate that and don't know what to do about it.

She's a new driver for us and I miss the old one.

For now, older brother has agreed that when his friend gets off the bus (early in the trip) he will sit with Patrick and keep him occupied by playing a game with him. Not a long term solution, for sure, but will help while we come up with a better game plan.

My mommy instinct wants me to just drive him to school. Again, mommy instinct seems to lean towards a stress free but not-quite-healthy way to get around a problem.

I'm baaaaaack!

Things are going really well in our lives. Suddenly, I feel like blogging again. So here I am!

Updates:

Older brother has been diagnosed with surface dyslexia/learning disability. He's working really hard and doing well. We're finally getting supports in the classroom. His teacher, amazingly enough, has an adult child with very similar issues. He's been so supportive.

Patrick is in Grade 2. I love his teacher. He has almost full time EA support shared with another child. Shared because, aparently, he no long qualifies for much support on his own. Which is great, but I do keep reminding them that his support needs will fluctuate and, being autistic, he will most likely always requre *some* support from them. They understand that and that's why they've purposely put him in the class with this other child...so that there's an EA in the room most of the day. And that's often all he needs. Another body available to help him sort things out, redirect him, help with some school work, or take him on his sensory breaks.

Older brother is going skiing tonight for the first time ever. We're quite active as a family but none of us ski. It's a program offered through the school (volunarily run by two teachers) and he was so excited to take part. Which is awesome because he's always been quite shy and not the 'try new things and take a chance' type of kid (you know, like his brother, ugh, I hate comparing but there it is).

My husband still travels a bit for work but not nearly as much as before. It's nice having him home every week.

Me, I'm sitting here with a nice cup of hot chocolate enjoying my day. Must get some cleaning done.

I'm hoping to blog almost every day. So come on by and say hello. :)

Anxiety

Not his, mine.

I don't know why I'm anxious about the start of a new school year. When I ask him if he's ready to go back to school he replies with a resounding "Yeah" and when I ask him how he feels he says "excited". So he's not overly anxious (that I can tell anyway).

Gr 1 was a fabulous year for us. So much growth. There's nothing to suggest that Gr 2 will be any different. I mean, I'm sure there will be bumps along the way but that's to be expected, right? And we'll deal with them just as we did last year...one at a time.

I guess I'm hoping that by putting it down in print and getting it out here that my anxiety will fade a little bit. Well, that and I may send a tiny email to the principal to make sure everyone's ready for him next week.

Do you know where your children are?

I don't. Well, of course I know where they are. But I'm not looking at them.

Ha.

They said "we're gonna go outside and play". Hmmm. Gotta think that one through.

"Ok, stick together."

Ha. Come on, do it with me. A nice big belly laugh. Ha!

Ok, so it's kind of a first for me.

Sometimes I wonder how we ever got to this point. This is pretty surreal. But awesome too.

Wonder how long I can stay away from the window?

We're back!

So, we did a bit of wandering. But nothing as extensive as we first planned. Not because of behaviour or resistance to change or anything else like that.

We just decided we loved "hangin' out" at the cottage so...that's what we did. Short visit with family and some touring around but then we decided to come home and spend some family time here whilst we still could.

3 weeks till school starts.

I'll post a couple of pics when I get organized. I have two camera cards full of photos that I havn't sorted nor printed. They span at least a year of picture taking. *sigh* Time she does fly by.