Another Halloween come and gone

Unlike most children, Lonnie's greatest joy on Halloween is giving rather than receiving.   She loves to hand out candy to all the trick or treaters, tell them how great their costume is and to point out the happy-faced jack-o-lantern she helped prepare.    She always wants a costume for the school activities.   This year she decided on a Veterinarian.   I think it turned out pretty well.

I was surprised that she wore the hat.   Normally, she will not tolerate a hat or hairband, but this was part of the costume and she actually wanted to wear it.

Different viewpoints

I just finished reading a very eloquent open letter to a Dr. Kartzinel, who has some very controversal views about autism and how to "treat" it.    Most of the comments posted were extremely negative, but the last one seemed to be the best - saying keep an open mind and try to understand a different point of view - even if you don't agree with it.   Here's the link:

Dear Dr. Kartzinel

For myself, I don't really agree with Dr. Kartzinel's view, but I think it's important to listen to all sides.   You never know what tidbit you might glean from someone else's thoughts that could have an impact in your own.

As for Lonnie - she is happy, bright, learning new things, always full of surprises and the greatest joy in my life.  I take her as she is - help her all I can - and love her all I can.

Halloween is coming!

So, Lonnie has decided that this year her costume choice is a veterinarian.   So far I have found pink scrubs, a white lab coat and a stethoscope.   She insists that there must be a hypodermic needle and tongue depressor (where does she get these ideas?).   I have found some possibilities on line and I think I will be able to round out the accessories in time.   This is definitely easier than finding all the parts of the Minnie Mouse costume last year!

School is going okay (I think).  At least I have not had any notes from her teachers.   One of them did call me and said she was doing okay.    The main battle right now is getting her to do homework.   She is insistent that school work only be done at school.

Lonnie has recently started hanging out with a girl who lives on our block.  She is two years younger and they seem to get along well.   I hope they continue to play together - Lonnie really needs the experience of being with other children outside of school - in unstructured time.

Trip to White Sands National Monument

We drove to White Sands yesterday.   We were all impressed with the white sand.  

Of course Lonnie found a rain puddle to play in for as long as we could let her.    It was only a few inches deep, but she and a boy there with his family had a lot of fun running around and splashing each other.   When she got hot, she just sat down in it!   I'm glad I had a blanket in the car for her to sit on.
 
It is a 3 hour trip each way, so when it was time to head home, of course she did not want to leave.   All the way home, she was fussing at me about having to leave.   When she gets this single minded, I cannot say anything that will help.   There is no logic, just her wanting to stay.    By the time we got home, I just wanted to take a nap!

Lady's birthday party

We had a birthday party for one of our dogs, Lady.   There is a bakery in town that makes doggy treats, so I got doggy cupcakes, balloons and streamers. 

We invited the neighbor's dog, Mitzy - who is friendly with Lady.

The party did not last long, just till the dogs finished their treats - but Lonnie had been planning this for a couple of weeks and she was really happy it all turned out okay.

Some people might think this extravagant or silly, but Lonnie asks for so little that when something is obviously this important we try to make it happen.   She doesn't want a cell phone, iPod, or expensive video games.  She doesn't care about having designer jeans or fancy shoes - she just wants to love her dogs.

Miniature Golf Outing

We decided to try something different and took Lonnie to a miniature golf course.   I'm glad we did, but think we will stick with bowling.   Golf was a real exercise in frustration.  She would get upset when the ball did not go where she wanted it to - she wanted to make every hole with one shot.  She had trouble waiting her turn, she would try to start the next hole before the couple in front of us was finished.  She got upset when her dad hit his ball off the course.   By the time we were finished, she was really stressed.   Luckily they had a air hockey table there, so I got her to play a game with me.   She is very good at it and I made sure she won.   We are definitely going bowling next week!

Back to School!

Today was Lonnie's first day of school starting 6th grade.   When we arrived, we discovered that the teacher in whose class we thought Lonnie would be, had resigned and accepted a position at another school.    So the teacher who has Lonnie this year has no information or preparation for dealing with her at all!   Should be interesting - I wonder how soon she will be calling me to schedule a conference.

Lonnie is reluctant to let go of her summer routine, but we got her dressed and to school with no meltdowns, so that in itself is a victory.  We saw Lonnie's teacher from last year.    Lonnie is now almost as tall as her, she had a real growth spurt over the summer.   The first couple of weeks are always the most difficult, but I feel like it may be a little easier this year.   As Lonnie gets older, she seems better able to adapt to changes.  

Lonnie's new room

We decided several weeks ago that Lonnie needed a bigger bedroom.   She is getting older and has accumulated stuff, most of which she will not let go of.   At first, when I talked to her about moving her to a new room, she was not happy.  But when I told her Jenny would still be with her in her new room, and that she would still have her favorite comforter, she agreed.  She asked if we could paint it pink and I agreed.  We finally finished painting Lonnie's new bedroom and got her things moved in.   She and Jenny, the dog, seem very happy with the finished project.    Lonnie was very excited about painting the room her favorite color, pink,  but until we got her things moved in, she did not really understand what it was going to look like.   She painted the fan blades herself.   Since she had six colors and the fan only had five blades, I showed her how to paint one blade with two colors, and she did great.

Here's another video from the show

Although Lonnie gets distracted easily, I thought she did really well in the show.   She sang, stood up and sat down when she was supposed to.

She was so excited about being in this show.   She loves doing things with other children.

Summer is almost over

Hard to believe school starts in one week!   Lonnie has had a good summer.   She has been going swimming at the local pool a lot.   She still does not swim very well on the surface, but she is swimming very well underwater.   I got her a swim mask so she does not have to hold her nose and she loves it.

We took her and our two dogs camping in the mountains.  The first night was great, the second night we had lots of rain, thunder & lightening...Lonnie ended up snuggled up next to Dad until the storm was over.

Last week she went to music camp at our church where the kids made props and costumes for a show they put on last night.   It was called "Don't Rock The Ark",  a musical about Noah, the animals and the flood.   Lonnie was in the chorus and had a dog mask.   It was great!    I am going to try and post a short video of one of the songs - hope it works.   Although she continues to struggle with her social skills, Lonnie really enjoys being with other children and doing whatever they are doing.

Sunday drive

Lonnie had to do a presentation in front of her class on Monday, about Betsy Ross.   She got very agitated and did not want to do it.    I stood up with her and prompted her reading the report out loud.   The teacher and classmates were very supportive and gave her a round of applause when she was done.     Lonnie has been fortunate to have classmates that accept her as she is and are always willing to help her or just be a friend.   

We took a drive last Sunday to the top of Sandia Peak, where you can see for miles both east and west.  We took Jenny (the dog) along.   Lonnie did great, and so did Jenny.   After that we went up the road a little further to an old mining down called Madrid.   It is now an artsy-tourist town and popular biker destination.  Everything is kind of laid back there and Lonnie enjoyed climbing and exploring the old train engine on display there.   A long drive, but nice weather and a chance to relax.

One more week of school and Lonnie is out till mid-August.   She is counting the days.

I just finished reading a great book!

Thinking in Pictures (Expanded, Tie-in Edition): My Life with Autism (Vintage); Emergence: Labeled AutisticI recently purchased  several books and a video by Temple Grandin.  She is a woman with autism, who has had some amazing accomplishments.   Her first book, "Emergence" was a real eye opener for me.   It tells of her childhood through adolecence and gives the reader insight from the viewpoint of the autistic person.   Most books I have ever seen are written by experts in the field.   This is totally different!    Lonnie has speech, but still has difficulty expressing herself sometimes.   It can be like playing 20 questions getting information from her.  She tries, I can tell she is struggling to come up with the right words.   The more I read in this book, the more sense I was able to make out of some of Lonnie's behaviors.

 I now have more tools in my "arsenal" to help Lonnie all I can.   

I am looking forward to starting the next book, "Thinking In Pictures".

The HBO movie about her life is coming out in August on DVD - looking forward to seeing it.    I don't have HBO service, but my sister & brother-in-law saw it and said it was wonderful.

Easter, 2010

All in all, a good day. I took Lonnie to the Easter egg hunt at our church and then during church service, they had all the children come up front and they brought in a group of baby bunnies that the children got to hold and pet. They do this every year and Lonnie had been so excited about getting to hold a bunny. Unfortunately, her bunny got scared and in trying to escape, managed to scratch both of her arms. Nothing serious, but enough to sting. She did not have a melt down (thank goodness), and I ran some cold water on them to take away the sting. We went to my sister's house after church and had good food and another egg hunt there.

Just when you think it's safe to go outside...

Lonnie has free rein to play outside in our backyard. It is fenced in and secure, so she is in and out all the time when the weather is nice. Yesterday she had been outside for about 15 minutes when my husband went out to check on her. She was standing by the wall between our yard and our neighbor's to the west and appeared to be distressed. When he got closer, he saw that she had gotten her hand caught in a hole in the wall and she didn't know how to react. Of course he got her free promptly and we talked with her about not putting her hand through the fence again. She had been trying to pet the neighbor's dog.



This is another reminder to never get too complacent about an autistic child's safety - because the inability to recognize potential danger seems to be a fairly common issue.

Well worth the read

I just read a wonderful essay by a woman with two autistic children. It made me cry.

It's called "My Children Want You To Know" and is on her blog is at:

http://staticvox.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-children-want-you-to-know.html

So much of what she wrote is true of Lonnie, how she processes the world around her. I have felt the sting of unspoken criticism from strangers and family members when they judge her behavior out of ignorance and intolerance.

New Insight

I am so excited about a new source of information about autism. My sister and brother-in-law saw an HBO movie called "Temple Grandin". It is a true story about a woman with autism and how she grew to become a world renowned designer of livestock handling equipment. She has written many books and gives lectures from the unique perspective of a person with autism. I went to a web site about an upcoming conference on autism and from there to a site where I purchased a lecture on DVD and several of her books. I can see already that this is going to be a wonderful source of information for us as parents, for Lonnie's teachers, and for our family.

The web site is: www.templegrandin.com

Valentines Day has come and gone. Lonnie was very excited about making valentines for the children in her class. I helped her print their names on tags which she put on small bags of candy. She was really involved this year - making sure all the childrens names were accounted for and that all the bags had the same amounts in them.

We have a new addition to our family - a little dog named Jenny. She is very energetic, but small enough that Lonnie can carry her around and take her for walks. Lonnie is really excited to have Jenny here.