Autistic Children Blog

Beth has had  a good start  this year. It’s  so nice to not be one of the new kids for her, or in my case, one of the  new mums. She loves her new teacher and she came home with some  work she had done on Wednesday, her first day. I reckon it’s the best writing I’ve seen  her do. It was  very cute, she  had written about what she did  in the holidays and  drawn pictures to show what it was. One was going to see Wreck It Ralph which we took her, Bill and four  other boys to see for Bill’s birthday. Then they came home for a night of sleeping in the lounge and Austin Powers movies. I don’t even think I have to paint a picture here! Anyway, Beth wrote about that movie and how she wants to see Rise of the Guardians. She also wrote about  how  she had gone to see ponies and all about them, it sounded fantastic  and maybe it was just me who realised that it’s a fantasy from My Little Pony! Anyway, she did a really good job. Bill and Bridie were in the car as they didn’t start until the next day, they were so complimentary, both of them talking about how good  her writing was, how straight her ‘I’s were. Bill  even went so far as to say  that JK Rowling would be jealous of Beth’s  writing abilities! They’re such gorgeous kids. I was  pleased to see  Beth waving goodbye to a friend, the first time I haven’t had to elbow her to say goodbye to somebody  who was saying it to her.

We had our photos done last  week. The photographer was terrific  and excellent with Beth. The job was  to get Beth not looking quite as autistic as she can  often look in photos. I don’t mean that in a bad  way, she just doesn’t know how to naturally pose and puts  on a funny smile when  she poses. She also likes to do the finger thing in Star Trek and now in the Big Bang Theory, you know the one where  you separate your two first fingers with your two last fingers, I think the saying is “go forth and prosper.” Those shots made it which  I was glad of, that’s  who Beth is after all.

I went to my very first assembly  at Beth’s school this  morning. They have a lovely tradition which  I didn’t know about. They got everybody up whose birthday was in January, they all lined  up (including a teacher) and the rest  of the school had to put them in age order as they said their ages. Then they clapped up to the first birthday which in this case was seven. When  they got to seven the seven year old had to say what they wished for. Then we’d clap up to the next age  and so on. Most of them said they wished for a good day. One boy, bless his heart, said  he wished to be a lion. I must make sure  I’m there for Beth’s, she no doubt will go into a spiel about Hollywood or Disney, in a dramatic accent!

Beth’s in a right cow of a mood. She’s still not feeling the best, it’s that time of the month and she knows she’s only got a week to go before school goes back. Not happy Jan!

I took Beth and Bill for haircuts this morning. Bill wasn’t happy either as his hair had gotten so ridiculously long that it had no style or shape to it at all. I reckon they cut about half of it off. It’s still long and curly, it just looks much healthier. He’s just looked in the mirror for the first time, he’s realised that he can still do a cousin It impersonation so he’s not too bad! He can’t be in a bad mood anyway, it’s his birthday tomorrow. He’s turning 11. Beth’s hair is very short, just the way she likes it. I took the hairdresser aside to explain to her that Beth has autism as we haven’t been there before. I did think there would be comments made (from bad tempered Beth) as the girl who cut her hair had numerous piercings and tattoos. I wanted her to know that if Beth said anything to please not take it personally. I was imagining Beth asking why she had all the piercings or telling her she looked ugly but no, she was too immersed in her magazine to let her caustic side out. She did however continually ask if it was finished yet, turning her head to ask me which of course slowed the proceedings up. Also to shout at Bridie who was using Beth’s ipad. She also kept reading with her head bent down so she kept having to be told to put her head up. The classy comment that she made just put the nail in the coffin. “I’m all snotty!” at the top of her voice as she wiped her nose on the gown they’d clearly put on her for that purpose. Despite all that I love both the kids hair and am going back tomorrow myself while Paul is home.

We then went to Bill and Bridie’s primary school to pick up their book boxes for this year. While there people were very nice to Beth, trying to engage her in conversations, including one of her lovely former aides. Beth of course would have none of this, answering in one syllable whereever possible, showing her annoyance. She also has the annoying habit of answering any questions such as ‘How are you?’ with a cough, to show you just how unwell she is.

Now the girls are watching Ice Age. Bridie put it on and kindly asked Beth if she’d like to watch it with her. Beth said yes then proceeded to try to take over the controls, despite being told repeatedly that Bridie was in charge this time. The first disc had a scratch but as Beth wanted to watch it she insisted that they watch it on something else, it was the machines fault, not the disc. She showed it to me, it’s very scratched. She said “See Mum, not a scratch in site.” She’s being argumentative and bossy and demanding. A surly teenager with a five year olds temper tantrums, that’s my Bethie at the moment!

I’ll leave you with a Beth funny. On the way home from school today Bridie was talking about a game where the lady was pregnant. Beth stated that she hated being pregnant. We were talking about how old people had to be to get pregnant and the other kids were horrified at the thought that Beth could now have a baby. So was I! I stated that no, Beth couldn’t have a baby because she hadn’t had sex yet. Beth then agreed saying “Yes that’s right, I’m a version!” Then Bridie commented that she must be a version too. Thank goodness for that.

Sorry I haven’t written much lately, there’s really not been much to write about. The school holidays only have about a week left and it seems to have gone by way too quickly. We’ve had a lovely break, Paul finished building the deck a week ago so Bridie and I have spent lots of time outside, me reading the paper and her playing in the cubby or having me hose her down. It’s almost unheard of these days, we’re still not doing it too much. I reckon the water restrictions have been around since my kids were born so it’s a special treat to be able to be squirted with a hose. I might even lash out and buy a sprinkler.

I’ve been trying to get Beth outside more. She’s spent half of her holidays watching dvds or on her ipad. Now that we’ve got the deck I can set her up out there, yesterday I took out a box of magazines and she sat reading them. We’re getting the table and chairs I ordered online this week so we can eat outside whenever it’s a nice day. It’s like having a whole new room, I love it.

A couple of days ago Beth got up and started doing feeble little coughs. She seemed well enough so I was worried that she was going back to her old habits of knowing that school was going back soon and bunging on the sickness. It really frustrates me and I told her so, seeing as we still have over a week left of holidays I didn’t want every day punctuated with her coughing. Anyway, it turns out that she really has got a cold as her nostrils are quite red around them. Poor bugger, here I was threatening to take her ipad away if she kept whinging about being sick and the reality was that she really is!

On Sunday I’m having some photos taken of the kids and dogs together. A friend posted some photos of her kids on facebook which were just beautiful so I contacted the lady to ask about having some done. She’s coming out to our favourite dog walking area – Birdslands Reserve in Tecoma. She charges $99 for an hour photoshoot and you get the disc with all the photos on it to get printed out yourself. We got a gorgeous photo frame for Christmas (well I bought it for myself and told Paul it was our present to each other) with holes for various photos. Then I realised that I have hardly any current ones. I emailed the lady to let her know about Beth and she wrote me back to let me know she has two kids on the spectrum so is autism friendly. It’s so common these days! I’ll let you know how we go and put some photos on here. I’ll also put a link to the website.

Well we’ve made it! I can’t believe another year has gone past. What a year it’s been. Beth starting at the new school, us moving to a new house. Me starting at the gym. (Incidentally, I’ve started a blog about that, if you want to check it out its www.gymjunkieyeahright.com )

We had a good Christmas. We had my family over for Christmas Eve and went to Paul’s nephews house for Christmas Day. It was busy and expensive but lovely to catch up with everybody. As usual we ate too much but that’s par for the course really. Beth’s enjoyed her holidays so far, mainly sleeping in, watching tely and playing on her ipad, normal teenage things.

We went to visit our friends Catriona and Jose yesterday with Bec, Will and Kasey. We always have fun, all the boys hang together, Bridie and Kasey go off and play, Beth watches Grandpa in my Pocket dvds (that’s what you do when you go to Joses) and the mums talk and eat as usual. Jose turns 15 today and Beth has always fancied him a bit. He has aspergers and is oblivious to this so I’ve let Beth say what she wants, there’s nobody for him to be embarassed in front of and he doesn’t seem to care. Yesterday though Beth informed me that she had in fact dumped Jose for a new love, Ethan. She has told me about Ethan before. He’s a mammoth! He’s the cute teenage mammoth in the Ice Age 4 movie and she’s decided that she’s in love with him. OK…. Hope she gets over that one before she gets back to school. Mind you they know what she’s like so they probably wouldn’t blink an eye.

I thought I’d share with you a few more of Beth’s funnies. We had a great night last night her and I. Hairspray was on and we watched it together. Beth got Pepe the King Prawn from the Muppets for Christmas, it’s a soft toy and she loves it. He watched the movie with us. He did the dances, always facing us so it looked like he was in the movie. It reminded me of the old days of Hi 5 and The Tweenies. Beth used to study what they did when they sung, then when they were on she’d be facing away from the television doing the singing and dancing part, as if she was actually part of the dvd and we were the audience.

Beth is full of facts, mainly about different characters and actors in movies. She studies them constantly, even to how people die and what year. Not in a gruesome way, just so that if somebody was in a movie who was no longer alive she could tell me who they were, what they died of and when. She decided to tell me about Pepe, telling me he is in love with Rachel Bitterman – a sexy banker lady and vilain of the third Muppet Christmas movie which came out in 2002.

Beth was very chatty throughout Hairspray, talking about John Travolta and Christopher Walken, telling me all the actors names, even the ones who didn’t have big roles. All the time with Pepe dancing. When Queen Latifah was singing Beth told me that it was like Ellen Kennedy. She then tells me to google people such as Ellen Kennedy telling me that she sings songs from the 40s and does voice over work. Indeed she does. I had the ipad at the time so as Beth gave me information she kept telling me to google it. I didn’t have to in the end, she’s always spot on.

The black fellow who the white girl falls in love with (forgive me if I sound racist but I’m just using them as descriptive words) is named Seaweed. Beth was asking me my favourite character and I described who he was and what his name was. She decided to combine it with her favourite black character and called him Cleaweed (Cleaveland and Seeweed!)

Beth also loves using unusual words, especially accented ones. She constantly refers to herself as moi. (Pronounced mwah). Like how some wanky people refer to themselves in the third person such as ‘Beth would like this’ she will answer by saying things like ‘yes, moi would like some icecream.’ She told me about something called putine last night. When I asked her what that was she told me it was potato covered in cheese curd. I didn’t know this.

She also rolled her tounge in a U shape, telling me that people who do this have a very special power. Well I must be magic then coz I am one of those people!

Beth did notice me writing things down so I explained to her about the blog. She loved this and if she said something she found particularly witty she’d tell me to write it down. I told her that I’d sit down with her today to get some insights into what she wants people to know about herself. Stay tuned folks, get ready to be dazzled!

It’s Beth’s last day at school for the year today. Bill and Bridie finish off tomorrow. Beth’s been in fine form this week, saying some really smart, knowledgeable things and all together pretty ‘with it’ which has been fantastic. Here’s a few of her fascinating insights :

When discussing Vincent Van Gogh last night Beth tells me that to be an artist you have to have one ear. When I told her that I do art but I have two ears Beth’s response was “Let me guess. You need both ears to hold up your glasses!” Well yes, good observation and good point!

The song from Ghostbusters was on the tv. Beth says to me “You know Ghostbusters Mum, it’s got The Dan Ackyroyd in it.” She’s never watched Ghostbusters. Thanks for the 80’s trivia 13 year old. You’re absolutely correct.

“Billy West plays the red M&M on the M&M’s ad. ” That’s all she said. Cheers, that’s something I’ve always wanted to know.

I went to the toilet last night and when I came in to bed Beth was standing on her head. She said she was going to watch television that way from now on. It lasted only a couple of minutes thank goodness!

Beth has been particularly attentive lately. When I went in to yell at her (and be prepared to do it five or six times) to put her shoes and socks on I saw that she had put both on without being told. This is a miracle of the 21st Century!

Yesterday she didn’t want to go to school and was being a sad sack about going on a barbecue at the local park near the school. She kept wanting me to say that they were going to the one near our home so that I could pick her up early. I would say it was near her school and she’d say something like “yes, near my old school – right?” Anyway, I told her to have fun and not to spoil it for everybody else even though she didn’t want to go. When I picked her up I asked if she had grizzled and she said “I was told not to mope so no, I didn’t mope.” I hadn’t used the word mope so she must have been told from somebody else too! I had heard her teacher at the end of the day asking Beth and two others if they wanted an icypole. The others had replied yes but I could hear the teacher “Beth. Beth O’Connor. Earth to Beth!” Then eventually from her “Whaat!” They so get her!

I had one of Beth’s friends come up to me yesterday morning. He very cutely asked if Beth could come for a swim in the holidays at their house. I’ve got a soft spot for this boy and his mum so of course I said yes. Yay! She’s got a playdate! It’s funny, when we go to the other campus Beth is constantly being said hello to (especially by the boys) and she’s oblivious to them all. Clearly she goes by the concept “Treat em mean, keep em keen!”

I got an email the other day from a lady who has developed an app for teaching kids how to write. She was asking if I would mind putting a plug on here and I said that no, of course I wouldn’t. Not only was the app a fantastic one but I was so chuffed that she thought my blog was important enough that it would benefit her! So here is a link to their website : www.writeforschool.com or to look directly at the app it’s  https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/writeforschool/id571423628?mt=8  It teaches children the right way to start and write letters and would be incredibly beneficial to any child.

Well this will be my last post before Christmas. Thanks everybody for continuing to read my little blog. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas and I’ll speak with you soon. xxxxx

It’s the 17th of December. I’ve finally finished my Christmas shopping. I only had a little bit to do really, I got most of my shopping for the kids done earlier in the year. I think they’ll all be pleased with their booty. Beth has got Muppets posters and a Pepe soft toy doll from the Muppets. As it must be it’s the same ratio in size to Miss Piggy and Kermit who she got last year. She’s got her disco ball coming from Santa as requested, sadly I couldn’t convince him to include the jacuzzi or the trip to Universal Studios in the limo like she wanted!

Beth’s had an up and down week. Last Wednesday her school was meant to go to an excursion to a park at a place called the 1000 steps which is near here. Down the bottom is a fabulous playground and then if the kids chose (one tip what Beth would have chosen) they could attempt to do the huge walk which by all accounts is a big one even before you get to the said steps. Anyway, the plan was that I pick her up there at 1pm before they head back to Dandenong. It’s only five minutes from me and would have been quite handy. My mistake was telling Beth that this is what I would be doing. I got a phone call during the day to tell me that due to a shortage in diesel the school bus wouldn’t be taking them that far after all and the plans had changed to go to a more local to the school park. I asked Beth’s teacher to explain this to Beth knowing that she wouldn’t be happy as she knew I was picking her up early. To make matters worse I got a flat tyre when out and my wonderful in laws had to come to the rescue as they do so often. Well, Bev tells me (my mother in law) that when it came time to pick Beth up she came out in tears, so upset that they hadn’t gone to the 1000 steps as planned. Poor love, I don’t know whether it was really the park or the promise of an early day but she was most put out. When I got home and went in to get her, once again her response was “You’re alive!” She hadn’t said anything to her teacher or my in laws so I’m not really sure if she thought something was wrong but even if she did a little bit it must have been awful for her. I wish I could convince her that nothing will happen to me. I think she associates the fact that I was 13 when my mum died and she is 13 now. It’s gone on for a while now, not to the extreme but clearly always in the back of her mind. Perhaps a social story might help.

I took Beth for an eye test on Saturday. The optometrist says she has better than 20/20 vision which was a relief. We then popped in to Big W to get a few clothes. Of course Bridie has weaseled her way in to come knowing we were going to the shops as she’s a real clothes horse. They both ended up with thongs (the kids you wear on your feet if you’re not from Australia, don’t want to alarm anybody!), t shirts and shorts and I got shorts for Bill. Beth has worn the same pair of crocs for three or four years so she picked some quite pretty thongs with a flower in the toe. She is a bit of a nightmare with clothes though, I don’t think she cares that much so if she says yes I often don’t know whether it’s because she wants to stop or because she really likes something. She’ll do something dramatic like say “Awesome” and fling her hand out but who really knows? She was quite helpful though, helping Bridie pick shoes which took longer than the rest of the visit put together. She was also rather annoying at times, doing things like saying yes to Bridie when I’d said no. And quite convincingly so too. If Bridie was nagging for a new dress for example and I put my foot down after the third time, saying something like “Don’t ask again or I’ll put everything back and you’ll never come clothes shopping with me again” or something equally as dramatic, Beth would whisper “Don’t worry Bridie, of course you can have it, just bring it with you.”

I’ll leave you with a Beth funny. We were looking at the shorts for both girls and Beth pointed at a pair she liked which were almost obscenely small. I pointed out “They’re too short Beth.” Her response “That’s why they’re called shorts Mum!” Thanks for that love, you’re probably right!

I am in a bit of a walk down memory lane mood today so if you’re not in the mood for some sentimental bullshit then perhaps don’t read this post! It’s the day when all the preps for next year come to the primary school and all the grade sixes go to their high schools.

When I dropped Beth off at school this morning there were a group of nervous looking parents and kids. It’s twice as hard when you’re going to a school like Emerson, especially if you’ve come from a mainstream school. Chances are you know nobody else where as your so called ‘normal’ kids often go where their friends go. Often it’s the first time parents have dealt with a special school setting and don’t know what to expect. I remember being so relieved to get in to what I thought (and still do think) was the answer to my prayers, such a wonderful school. Luckily Beth had enjoyed her transition days and was happy to go along to the ‘big’ day when all the newbies got together.

I’ve also been lucky to fall in with a great group of mums from the school. We have our coffee afternoons fortnightly and are having an end of year lunch next week. It’s hard for the parents whose kids go on the bus as they don’t have that connection with the school. But I guess that’s high school isn’t it? You’re not meant to have too much of a connection. And I would love Beth to go on the bus, so there’s pros and cons for each. Hopefully some of the new mums will feel brave enough to have coffee with us next year. I must admit I am glad that a year (has it been that long) is over and I feel comfortable with the school, the staff, even some of the kids. Amazingly I’ve gotten used to the huge amount of hours driving too. I remember turning up at the kids primary school in the first week in tears. Bec and Bree were there and I just sobbed “how the hell am I going to do this for the next six years?” I hate driving at the best of times but now it’s the routine and it’s just what I do. And what do you know, it’s now only five years.

I have also been reflecting a lot on the friends I have made at the primary school. One gorgeous boy James was a great friend to Beth right from the beginning. His mum Lisa and I hit it off right from the start and we’ve been lucky enough to have them both for an extra year as James repeated one year. He’ll be going off to high school next year. He’s the boy who always tells Beth how much he misses her when he sees her, even when with friends. And Beth actually says it back! Lisa has been such an incredible support to us both, she just ‘gets it’ if you know what I mean? We don’t see each other as much as we’d like but when we do it’s great. I know we’ll keep in contact and thank goodness for Facebook!

As the kids get older I know less and less parents at the primary school. Once upon a time I knew them all, having my oldest in grade 5 and my youngest in grade prep with Bill in between. Now Bridie is going in to grade 3 and, except for the siblings of older kids, I don’t get to know the families much. And that’s ok. Two of our favourite teachers are leaving this year, both retiring. Both had Beth, our prep teacher had all three. Said prep teacher was the first ‘outsider’ to hear Beth speak. Mind you it was in a growly voice for the first week. She’d had selective mutism for years until medication helped, just as we started school.  It’ll be sad to say goodbye. Next year will be my ninth year at our Primary School, by the time Bridie finishes it will be 12 years! Wow! Bridie was only three months old when we started. Gone are the days when Bec, Bree, Prue and I would sit in the playground with giant sombreros! Prue is working, Bree is now home schooling her youngest and Bec is chasing around after her two year old most of the time. And again, that’s ok, time moves on. We still see each other all the time, will always be great friends. We’re an odd lot and with Eloise and Liz joining our motley crew have found each other and know how blessed we are. What a support your friends are aren’t they, especially when we’ve got kids like ours.

It’s also time for me to get a job. So if anybody knows anywhere hiring please let me know! I’d like somebody to discover my blogs and offer me an obscene amount of money to turn them into books so if you have any contacts please feel free to suggest me!

Anyway, enough of memory lane. It’s suffice to say that it’s been a great year. Beth has settled in beautifully to her new school, we are finally in the new house (though not sure when it wont be called the new house anymore) and I’m blessed to have such supportive family and friends around me. Life is good!

Beth went to Luna Park today on a school excursion. For those of you who live in Melbourne you would know it was a revolting day weather wise today so I pity the teachers and kids, especially those ones going to the water fun park in Geelong. A lovely man who I shall call Mr Marchant got Beth off the bus back at school and told me she had a lovely time. She had been on the merry go round five times and the dodgem cars and had loved the hall of mirrors. She’s not big on scary rides which suits me. Beth then informed me that the man was Old Mr Marchant as I was asking if he was a teacher. It seems that he was the teachers’ Dad, how lovely that he comes and helps out on days like today.

Beth got the student of the week award this week. She was so excited, coming out and showing it to me straight away. It was for working so well on her food pyramid poster. I saw her teacher as we were leaving and she was so pleased that Beth had told me so soon.

We went to an exhibition for Bridie’s section of the school last night. As it finished a bit before we had to pick Bill up from cubs we waited around. Beth (not having her ipad) decided to entertain herself by doing what the songs were telling her to on the radio. For example she kept turning the car light on because the song had the line “leave a light on for me” and she would tell me that I had to do what the lady was saying. I had to stop her though when there was a song with ‘get up’ in the line and she tried to stand up in her seat while we were driving.

I’ll leave you with a Beth cheeky funny. I went out with my support group the HAGS in the Hills today for an end of year brunch so I made a bit more effort with my makeup. Beth came in and plonked herself on the toilet, watching me do this. I was putting that Thin Lizzy powder on and Beth was commenting and asking questions. After I had finished she said “You forgot to do the black rings under your eyes mum.” Thanks for that! I think she’s got it from the ad, that’s what I’m telling myself anyway!

Beth’s had a good week. She’s been communicating really well, even telling me things that she is doing on her ipad or who she is watching on the television. She does think I know exactly what and who she is talking about however which was often difficult as was getting frustrated if I didn’t instantly know what she meant. For example she was talking about Halle Berry who was on an ad on tely one night. She told me that she is 46 like me and was born in 1966. I was surprised at this, after all, I look so much younger and more beautiful than Halle Berry, she’s a bit of an old hag really! Beth thought that I knew that she was born in the same year as me, I said I would google it and she then looked it up on her ipad for me on Wikipaedia. Now whenever she tells me something I don’t know about she insists on doing this which is good because it alleviates her frustration and means that she’s communicating to me in the way she can. I don’t really doubt her facts actually, she’s like an elephant with her memory, especially about movie trivia. I still let her look things up though as it means we’re talking. Incidentally one fact I was very interested in was that Will Wheaton who I only really know from the Big Bang Theory was the lead in the movie Stand By Me. I knew he was in Star Trek but I didn’t know he was in anything else. We googled that one and yes, there he was! (It shocked me almost as much as finding out Amy Farrar Fowler was played by the chick who played Blossom!)

We did have a bit of sad news, with Bridie’s rabbit dying. I told Beth and she did all the right noises then the questions started. “Did you take Sammy to the vets?” A. No, he is already dead, there’s no point. Beth “Did you try giving him some water?” A. No, he’s already dead. And on, and on. Poor Grandpa had put the the rabbit in a box for me so Bridie didn’t see him when we got home, he’s also the one who covered our old dog when she died, I don’t cope with dead animals well. Beth insisted on seeing Sammy dead which I let her do when Paul got home. I thought it would be good for her to see what dead means, she doesn’t seem to grasp the concept well.

I’ll finish with a Beth funny. Beth’s been a little inappropriate lately, pushing what she thinks she can and cannot say. Yesterday I had to stop myself from laughing though. She was watching a muppet movie that I had downloaded for her and I was reading the paper in the same room. Clearly not wanting me there she made a suggestion to get me out. “Why don’t you and Dad go and have sex and leave me alone?” I replied that that was a really rude thing to say and very inappropriate. She thought about it and then said “Oh sorry, I meant to say why don’t you and Dad go and have intercourse and leave me alone?”! Cheeky little shit!

Well for the first time in a long time Beth’s enjoying going to school! I expected that it would never happen, especially as I hated school with a passion throughout my whole school life. I’m sure my whingey kids were sent to me as payback for the hell I would put my mum through each and every morning. I would scream so hard that when mum would eventually look at my throat it would be red raw so she couldn’t tell if I really was sick or not. I’d have weeks at a time off. I’m much more bitchy as a mother and I will threaten lots to make my kids go to school. Bill is the only one of my children who loves school so much that he even misses it during the holidays. Strange boy!

Anyway, I discovered this dirty little secret of Beth’s when she received an email from a school friend from last year. The girl had just sent one line which was rather sad. It said simply “Oh Beth, I miss you so much!” I think the reality of high school has hit and she longs for the simpler life of primary school, even for the simpler life of playing with Beth as only children and special needs people seem able to do. I made Beth write her back and she answered that she missed her friend too. She was going to just put this but I encouraged her to write something more, perhaps to tell the girl about school. She wrote simply “School is cool.” I was dumbstruck. Since when? I questioned her and she let me know, she does think school is cool. Yippeeeeee! Since then she hasn’t grumbled about going to school much at all. She still does the little coughs now and again but on the whole she has enjoyed going most days. She tells me what she’s doing on the day and smiles when she says goodbye in the mornings. It’s taken 10 long months but at last she’s happy.

I too am so happy with my choice. When I picked Beth up last week her teacher came out to see me to talk about her lack of traffic awareness. There is an awareness program that is offered to senior students, I guess for readiness for using public transport and being a bit more independant. She suggested that Beth started this earlier than most. I think Miss L was a bit relieved when I didn’t baulk at the idea that perhaps Beth may not be able to work independantly, I’ve known this all along but I guess it’s a touchy subject for many parents. As the school is for higher functioning kids it makes me feel even luckier to have gotten Beth in as I think she’s probably one of the most dependent kids there. I suggested that they give Beth a turn at working in the library sometimes to see if she enjoys it. As she loves books I thought it may be a good place for her to work, even if it is working for the pension. I guess if she’s not getting paid as such it wouldn’t matter too much if she was found lying on the floor reading the books once in a while!

Last week Beth brought home a Christmas wish list that she made. Unlike most high school students Beth still believes in Santa and they didn’t discourage it which is rather cute. The list reads as such : Dear Santa, I want a hot tub for Christmas, a Family Guy DVD, a cruise on the Disney fantasy, A Limo, Tickets to Universal Orlando Resort, A discoball, A rainbow, Muppet movies, a ticket to Unicorpia and money. I think perhaps the disco ball may be possible! As for the rest, yes please Santa, I’ve got my companion card ready!