weapons of massdistraction

My son’s teacher called. They are having a hard time getting him to attend to certain tasks. If he is presented with two options for a-thing-he-doesn’t-want-to-do he declares them both to be stupid. Sounds like a truth attack to me, but that’s not helping. Aside from learning academically a lot of these tasks are geared toward social learning. But often his autistic mind cannot fathom such abstractions. Either it’s something he wants to do or it isn’t. Yes/no. Black/white. In much more promising news, he has been picking up on body language and facial expression, at home and at school, in ways he never has before. He will actually stop to ask “why did you make that face?” or to say what a gesture means, like “when you move your fist like that it means you are frustrated” (said to me after I was caught pounding my fist slightly on my laptop). After years of over exaggerating, like a bad actor pantomiming on stage, I may actually need to tone it down a notch. The other news? I was looking into a reading tutor but I don’t really have the funds. But the school is offering some extra assistance at no cost. The lad has a long commute and one of the paraprofessionals would like to tutor him on the school bus, beginning with more Dolch sight words. I think this is a great idea. Though there’s something to be said for having some time to oneself, to sit and think (though the school bus isn’t always the quietest place). We’ll see how that plays itself out. And I’ve ordered some Mad Libs, which I think he’ll find more engaging.

Bonus: Stupid holidays. I keep finding all sorts of things that catch my fancy, but I don’t need. Like this bubble calendar and the I am not a paper cup travel mug or the pet’s eye view digital camera.
Plus: The lad and I were both tickled by these decorated trains in Japan.
And: Attention local yokels, get your chocolate fix, this week in cupcakes! Also, Dr. Wicked - the local creator of the Write or Die! web app - was interviewed on the nanowrimo site.