Bubbles

If you ever want to see a kid run and scream and holler then just break out the bubbles. I don't know what magical property they have but it works like a shot of pure lightning to set Mr. Energy running around a room at top speed.

We got a little bubble machine - a hand held one like a bubble gun - and believe me you never saw a kid more excited. Sure my daughter was happy too. She's four and four year olds love bubbles. I never knew a kid who didn't like bubbles. But Mr. Energy got so wound up he couldn't even begin to hold it in. Jumping, hollering, running in circles.

He's quite the sight to see when the bubbles come out and of course its a pretty good way to wear off some of that energy so maybe he will sleep a bit better tonight.

Smearing

Okay, this is one that I’m really glad he appears to be getting over. Smearing.

For those of you out there wondering what smearing is, well it is one of the most disgusting things that autistic children tend to develop a habit of. In essence they take their feces and wipe it on the walls or whatever happens to be handy.

From what I understand it has to do with a mix of textural sensations as well as the discovery process of dealing with something appearing suddenly in their diaper.

Let’s just say it is very, very frustrating to deal with, especially when you know that they are just as confused as you are by their own behavior.

So, what do you do about this one? The best solution that I have found is to simply watch the boy like a hawk. When you see the potty signs coming, take him in and see what you can do.

Unfortunately he is scared or frustrated by the toilet. I’m not sure why. His current alternative, which is much better than before, is to use the bath tub. At least it makes cleaning things up much easier. In fact he really enjoys the tub and would spend all day in the bath if we let him.

If anyone out there has solid advice, please send it my way.

Introducing My Boy

I have a little boy who is now 5. He is autistic (pretty obvious from the blog title). I wanted to introduce him here since this is the first post. Naturally I’ll keep his name anonymous because after all he will grow up and the internet has a way of making things permanent.

We discovered his autism quite early on. At first we thought he had a hearing problem because he simply didn’t respond when we called his name. He would just keep going and going. Well, three hearing tests later we finally convinced someone that it might be something else. A bunch of tests later they said autism.

For a run of the things that he does differently, let me just go over a few of them.

At 5 and a half he is just now beginning to talk. By this I mean he said “mommy” and “daddy” for the first time just two months back, and he still doesn’t say them very often. He knows words for the foods he likes but we still have to encourage him to use his words.

He is not potty trained (still working on this one)

He does not come when called.

He does not keep a “normal” sleep schedule.

He is hyper-active nearly all the time (he runs and jumps constantly).

He hates wearing clothes.

He likes to play with gooey, soft objects such as mud and especially make big messes with them.

We love our boy and hope that he can overcome the challenges that he faces.