Taking the Scenic Route

I didn’t post this right away because I was a bit frustrated with how the interview came out.  They wanted it early in the day so they had time to edit it for the news…it was too early for our brains to work properly and it just wasn’t terribly smooth and by the time we saw it we were exhausted and weren’t looking at it objectively.

Although I really liked the introductory sentence,  the phrase “battle” with the disorder made me a little unhappy. *cringe*   The fact they put “Has an autistic son” under our names (the neurodiversity phrasing instead of the “cure” phrasing) was a good thing, although I sort of doubt it was intentional.  lol.  

I mostly wanted our last names left out of it so I could share it on the internet and I don’t use last names out in cyberspace.  I guess I should have phrased it differently.  It is sort of because of the stigma of autism, but it is mostly because dh is on a job search and we want his publications and professional stuff to come up on google searches instead of an interview on autism.

The guy that did the interview seemed like what he was wanting was for us to say how autism (negatively) affected our marriage, which is a good angle to go with because 80% of people end up divorced when their child is diagnosed with autism. (and it isn’t a statistic that is quoted as often as many others)  However, our marriage is really good, and if anything it has brought us closer together. I guess being a good partnership isn’t very exciting.  lol.  About the only thing we could say as far as stresses on our marriage was the financial stress.  (If we made 100K a year our lifestyle wouldn’t even change much because all of the sliding scale amounts would just keep sliding up.  It is sort of depressing.) 

I loved the shots of Zach playing with Zane.  That was great and made it all worth it.

A friend of mine just emailed me to let me know that Zane’s story is on CNN’s iReport: Living with autism– your stories 

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/news/autism/

We are also supposed to be interviewed tomorrow by the local news people and I am so nervous. I can’t figure out what to wear and I have a unicorn horn zit in the middle of my forhead right now.

This week it finally started really clicking with his ST student.  I am quite happy about that. 

I am going to try and get another session of ST instead of OT at Heartsprings.  Evidently, they made an offer to somebody, but last I heard there is no definite replacement for Elise yet, and I would really rather follow Elise since she and Zane have such a good relationship.  Plus, when we changed STs, he lost one session a week, so he only has one half hour a week there.  I really want more for him.  She is very good and I think they would go a lot further with another session.

I was asked if I would come in to be interviewed about the Autism Walk.  We will film the interview on Tuesday and it will air the following Monday, in conjunction with Autism Awareness month and the Autism Walk.

We went on a playdate with the gal from the MB church this week.  She has 4 kids (and is expecting again in Oct), and the twins (#2 & #3) have autism.  The oldest is Zane’s age, the twins a year younger, and the youngest is about 6months younger than Zora.  I saw them at church this morning too.

I really, really, REALLY like the Autism coordinator person at the church.  She drives all the way from Mac right now to help set the program up.  She is such a valuable resource and I was really impressed with her.  She was able to pick up a lot of who Zane is even without me saying it.  The program requires a lot of parental involvement at first as they get to know him, but I like the approach a lot because they are obviously wanting to work with the kids and not the label.  This week she did a lesson with him, to start getting to know him.  Next week I prepare and teach a lesson to him so she (and maybe one or more of the potential “buddies” can observe how I work with him to learn how to interact/focus him) and the following week I will prepare a lesson and teach the first half of it, and they will teach the second half.    It was also really a shift for me to hear an autism expert talk freely about the spiritual aspects of autism & special needs kids.   You can see in her eyes that she doesn’t come from a place of pity, she genuinely loves these kids and values them from deep inside.  It isn’t just lip service.  Everything from the language she uses to her nonverbal communication confirms that she is in this for all the right reasons, and I really feel blessed to have found this opportunity.

On a funny note, when our friend went with us to pick Zora (and her youngest) from the nursery, another couple came up behind us.  She went to introduce us, and as I turned around and saw his face, I was a little shocked.  As she said “This is…” I filled in the blank.  It was one of my high school classmates.  Now keep in mind there are only about 30 of us in my class (small school) and you understand my surprise.  He said that another guy from our school (one of my brother’s best friends way back when…that was a class of 20-25..so even more of an interesting coincidence) was a member too, and had actually just walked by.  (I missed it, obviously).  The pastor in the church used to be in the MB church about 6 miles from my home, in the neighboring town, and knew my mom’s parents.  I am quite sure there are quite a few people there I am going to know somehow, even though it is an MB church.  lol. 

A few quick photos

Zora in her new outfit from Gramma Z.  I LOVE it, and the shoes will also be great with her Easter dress she will be wearing this summer.  (we had her in the winter dress today because it was drizzly and cool, and they looked great with that too)

My Zanester

And the family’s view of dh this week as he spends every waking hour on his thesis.

c&p from a parenting board I post on

Several years ago this woman found a sick, malnourished lion cub in the jungle. She took the cub home and fed him and brought him up until he was too big to keep anymore. She then made arrangements with a zoo in Colombia to take the lion. Here’s a video of what happened when she went to visit him in the zoo for the first time: http://www.telestereo.com/Archivos/video.html

You can just see the love.  Amazing

edit:  California, has the stupidest state judge in the Nation

They have now passed a law that you can’t homeschool your child unless you have a teaching degree.  What morons.

http://cbs13.com/local/home.school.ruling.2.670708.html

edited to add:  After a friend pointed out my title, I changed it to reflect a more accurate view. 

Also, want to take a moment to comment on this myself.

First, I really resent the fact that the judge used homeschooling as an excuse to remove these kids, when it CLEARLY wasn’t the true issue, nor was it the first issue with this family.  It was because the prosecutors were either too incompetent to force the changes for real reasons, or they were harassing this family without justification.  The family has been in court multiple times, and this was such a reach it is unreal.  To make such a sweeping statement that goes contrary to previous law (and common sense) is just stupid.

Second, I am particularly upset about the implication that you can’t teach well unless you have the piece of paper.   At the university level, you don’t require any sort of official “teaching certification” to teach, you just need a degree and show competence in the subject matter you are teaching.  My dh is a great teacher and holds no degree in teaching.  In fact, I doubt most people who teach at the university have a degree in teaching, (unless, maybe, you are in the education department.)

I am an adult, a parent, and an advocate and perfectly capable of teaching my child.  I care about his education and am well read in educational theory, appropriate lesson plans, curricula, and speech and language issues and therapies, and occupational therapies, and am constantly striving to increase and improve my knowledge on how to help my son (and, eventually, daughter) be as successful as possible.  I might not have gotten grades on everything, but I am every bit as competent as many of the professionals I deal with, and very willing to admit when I am stumped by something and willing to seek out better answers from the experienced.  (something professionals often don’t have the luxury of)  And, as much as they care (and they do care a great deal), they are never going to have the level of passion I do about my own children. 

If they don’t think that public school educated adults are capable of teaching, then what the heck are they wasting their time doing?

Started out with enjoying the trash being picked up

Then we went to shoot a commercial for the Autism Walk in April

Zane meets up with an old friend there

Susan Peters, one of the anchors for our local ABC channel was doing the ad.  The first take Zane tried to take off his shirt, but he did ok after that.  Echolalia and shooting a commercial in front of a crowd of Autistic kids can create some funny outtakes as a phrase gets echoed across several different kids in a wave.  lol.

Then, his first day of Hippotherapy!

waiting

excitement builds

And here he is, doing his stretching.

Video of his first moments riding

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Video of a happy boy

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Autisic student handcuffed for singing

6-Year-Old Autistic Student Criminally Charged After Alleged Assault

Teacher breaks student’s finger

12-Year-Old Special Education Student Charged With Disorderly Conduct for Wetting Pants

Baldwinsville aide accused of slapping autistic student

Counselor Sentenced For Having Sex With Autistic Student 

Groups file suit over autistic student’s death

State education board considers restraints for special ed students here in Kansas

Harvard Study Finds Special Ed Students Inappropriately Segregated

And it goes on, and on, and on.

What the hell is wrong with people? 

I already had issues with this group, but this is just beyond the pale.  Autism Speaks Sues Autistic Person for, basically, speaking.  She had a parody site called “NTspeaks” and I guess they didn’t appreciate the message.

Here is more:  http://www.aspiesforfreedom.com/showthread.php?tid=11704

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3344313

eta:  they did end up dropping the charges once they realized it was a 12yo girl.

I saw a trailer to a documentary coming out this summer.  I can’t wait to see the movie!

Windows Media Player link: 
www.strawbellyjerryfilms.com/movies/asperger/asptrailer.wmv

Quicktime link: 
http://www.strawbellyjerryfilms.com/movies/asperger/asptrailer.mov