What an interesting year this is turning out to be! Not only am I now an award winner for doing something I adore, I also have a son attending a school that he doesn’t shudder at the thought of going each morning but one that has also converted him into something of a little ‘Jamie Oliver’.
Little man is really getting to grips and enjoying the cooking lessons his being given in food tech.
So far, the Little Man has brought home, yummy cookies, fairy cakes, pizza and last week it was Rock cakes.
I now sit eagerly awaiting my son’s return from school in the hope he brings with him some yummy threats… “So not good for the waistline let me tell yer!”
The Rock cakes he made, free from all traces of dried fruit (his not a lover of the raisin you know) were amazingly good and seriously lead me to suspect that his taking after his father when it comes to being in the kitchen.
I love that his expressing his interest in a more positive light while expanding on the things his good at why discovering new interests and abilities along the way. This is something we all deserve to experience through both our child and adulthood.
I always knew Little man was keen to get his little size threes in the kitchen door, lets not forget I found him trying to cook bacon in the early hours of the morning as a four-year old tot! I even found him last week heating the oven in preparation for his tea (anyone would thing I didn’t feed him).
I like to encourage all my children to pursue their interest! So… when the little guy offered to make us a pizza I thought,
“Why not, what’s the worse that can happen?”
Spending a fortune at our local supermarket that’s what can & certainly did happened!
I swear it was triple the price of your standard boxed pizza!
Why?
This would be his taste for the finer things in life!
Chinese chicken, (two types, not one) organic tomatoes, Italian Milano salami and a generous amount of parmesan cheese was what he requested for his masterpiece in waiting.
Once home with a bag of ingredients and a somewhat lighter purse, there was no stopping him getting started. The results, Yes… They were pleasant but the mess, well I guess you can’t be good at everything, especially tidying up after yourself.
Cooking isn’t the only skill the little man has acquired, his learnt other valuable lessons since attending his new school, some extremely important ones too!
In the past, little man would hit out in school and do so on a regular basis. He didn’t think about the other children stood in his way when he trashed a classroom in an angry rage. He often reacted to any upset by either absconding or hitting out at everyone, no matter how big or small the opponent. Little Man would often find himself excluded from school and any associated activities, he was a child with little if not any confidence.
Now, there have been one or two incidents in the school that Once upon a time, would have caused Little man to display the same challenges as those mentioned above. For instance, one child was angry and trashed the class, accidentally destroying little mans work in the process. Little man was terribly upset by the incident, but with lots of support and encouragement he reframed from engaging in a way that would have only see him land himself in trouble.
Little Man often finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was the case on Monday when his limits were truly put to the test when he was hit on the nose resulting in some bleeding. No, I don’t blame the child he was merely doing what my own child has done all to many times when upset, angry or stressed. Little man set chase and was ready to do something about it but again he was discouraged and instead allowed to come to the office and give me a call to talk through how he was feeling.
You see, I don’t want him to be a target for bullies, yet, I don’t believe these kids are! These are children like little man who have difficulty with self regulating their emotions in a controlled and socially excepted manner. I think to some extent Little man understood this too. As when we talked about the incident this evening, he explained how he wasn’t in an argument with the child he was just too close when the child got angry. What was actually quite surprising, was how he seemed to understand the situation so well! Later on that evening (much later) I was sat on my bed at gone 3 am when it finally hit me, “Why wouldn’t he understand? After all, he of all people can relate to that feeling of un-containable explosiveness that I’m sure his class peer had felt at that very moment Little man got hurt.
On the upside, I am overwhelmed by the changes being made and just how quickly such changes have progressed. I was speechless when the teacher phone me and told me what happen. As soon as I heard the words, “We thought you should know” & “Your child was involved in an incident” I felt that all to familiar churning in the pit of my stomach, the type I felt so many times before but thankfully haven’t for sometime!
I instantly thought that my child had hurt someone, and although I waited for them words expecting them to come, they never did!
Of course I did feel a certain amount of upset, purely for the fact my child had been hurt but almost instantly I felt at ease as I was reassured he was fine by both himself and the teacher who called me.
Now, yes… of course I was a proud mother when discovering my child was now learning methods to control his anger and when putting such methods into practice, he was succeeding. Little Man, was also a very happy Little man on discovery my plans to get him his much sought after Lego that he has overly requested I get him since he spotted it at our local supermarket a month or so ago.
Sat at home I felt somewhat troubled like something nasty was waiting to come along and wreak it all. It’s hard not to think in this way when it’s all you know and everything your used to! especially.
I need to discover a way to get that same reaction at home. His sister only has to look at him the wrong way and his throwing punches in hers or even my direction. This isn’t delightful for my daughter of course, and every-time he hurts her in some form her reaction is more intense then the last. I’m left feeling like I’ve failed them both, especially when my daughter loses her temper to such an extent she shouts things she is later left to sit and regret, beating herself up about it. I also release that something needs to be done more now, than ever before. Little man has said “I want to control my anger” through a stream of tears after many blow ups at home. I try to be consistent in dishing out a punishment (maybe a cut in pocket-money, or the removal of his computer) it just doesn’t work
Well, if any of you lot have some advice, I’m pretty open to suggestions, so please go ahead and leave a comment.
Still, regardless of anything else I’ve decided that this post should and will end on the high, it started on!
Other things that happened last week!
Here’s a positive, Last Tuesday I was again featured in the local paper (The South London Press) regarding the award I won (Mad blog awards most inspiring) I was also in the Newshopper on the Thursday of last week. Both articles were pretty good and apart from my horrid picture in the South London press I felt honoured to have gained the interest of both papers who also wrote about me a good few months before in relation to being a finalist.
Another bonus that added to last weeks positives, was the arrival of an email that brought with it great news on a project I’m hoping to pull together with the help of some great parents and their children. Although I’m more than a little excited about the whole thing, its best I don’t officially announce this exciting venture till a little more organisation and planing has commenced.
Here’s what I will state (well, more like request)
I’m looking for parents that have children on the autism spectrum either boys or girls between the ages of 2-17 who live in or around London who will be able to commit to a number of trips over to the South London area.
We are in the planing stages, but the whole thing is on track and set to be a hit.
Note: the project is likely to generate a little press interest so you must be happy with this aspect of the programme.
Lastly we are also happy for the child’s siblings to be put forward and therefore possibly become involved in the project.
Please if you have a daughter on the spectrum then please don’t hesitate to contact us so that you can be sent some further info (It’s all boys who have been put forward at present).
Full press release will be available on the blog for download in next few days.
So, there you have it! Everything is steadily coming together in our little house of madness. We hope your having an awesome week two.
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Tags: absconding, aggression, Asperger's, Autism, autism Project, Baking, challenging behaviour, Food Tech, hitting, improvments, Jamie Oliver, Mad blog awards winner, Media, Newshopper, Rock cakes, South London Press, Special school
A boy with Asperger's 
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