Autistic Children Blog

Well I’m feeling really happy with Beth this morning. One of the conditions of her staying home with me for 2 days a week is that she needs to get more active. This means of course that so do I! Which is good for us both. I’ve let my gym slip somewhat since starting work as I’m on my feet for 9 hours and am stuffed by the time I get home. Now that I’m just working weekends though I really have no excuse not to go back to the gym during the week. I’ve done a couple of classes but always liked to do the early morning workouts before. Anyway, they had a ladies night at the gym a couple of weeks ago so my partner in crime (and gym) Eloise and I went for a sticky beak. We did a butt workout class. Luckily I was standing at the back because it was rather windy! I put it down to age. And poor core muscles. I reckon if I had a baby now it’d just fall out. Anyway, I digress……  You got a prize if you referred somebody so I put my hand up for Beth to do personal training sessions. Anything for a freebie! We’ve also started family tennis lessons at which she does about half a lesson before reading for the other half. I’m ok with this, as long as she tries hard for that half.

I spoke with the gym manager, Jade, about Beth. I said that she won’t want to do it. She’ll say she’s tired/sore/out of breath/thirsty/needing a wee. You name it, she’ll say it. Also, if she had a male trainer she’d try and crack on to him. So, I had a phone call the next day from a lovely young woman called Melissa. She said that they’d do lots of games. So off we went today. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Melissa was gorgeous. I told Beth that she had to do the right thing by Melissa. I was pleased that it was ok for me to go off and do my thing. I tend to over interfere which I know isn’t helpful but I almost over compensate for Beth’s lack of effort! While we waited I showed Beth the interactive bikes and we had a little ride. (Thanks Lois for the suggestion, she loved it!) Then, after filling in paperwork, off I went to do my workout and off Beth went with Melissa. They went to the workout room and I could see them if I looked over the edge of the ladies gym. I tried really hard not to though!

Here’s Beth chasing dragons on the bike.

Afterwards Beth came up with a big smile on her face. She said they did an obstacle course, just like she used to do when she was 4 at Irabina! My god she’s got a memory like an elephant! She did throwing the ball to Melissa, she did bowling a big ball, she did the big ropes. Melissa had devised lots of games so as Beth got tired of one (quite quickly) she could pick the next thing to do. And of course with breaks and drinks throughout. The good thing is that she enjoyed it though. It made me start thinking about what she can do with life again. Really, it’s always in my mind. As I’ve been thinking about my career too though I’m always thinking of businesses that we could work together. And I love the idea of a special needs gym! It would have to be fun, with interactive equipment and games, an OT type approach to all the exercises. I know from my own experience how exercise helps my moods and gives me energy to do other things. Kids like Beth can be very sedentary, she likes to lie on her bed watching telly and playing on her tablet. She does like to take the dogs for a walk and I’ve seen how that will regulate her mood. Anyway, we’ll see how we go, it’s early days yet. I’m so proud of her though. We went to the local supermarket afterwards where she chose her crispy m&ms for her reward.

Speaking of memory, we went trick or treating for Halloween. I decided this year to put a post on facebook asking who was doing it to save the embarrassment or annoyance of people who don’t celebrate Halloween. So we drove around rather than walking. An old friend from my HAGS support group said that they were doing it. Beth hasn’t seen her in several years but when we turned up she said ‘Hi Nicky, I remember you babysitting me!’. I can’t even remember it but it was years and years ago! She’s just amazing my girl.

Sorry, I just realised that it was May since I last wrote. I had to read over what I had written to see where I was up to! Lots of things have happened this year. I turned 50 in July. I got a job. I became a finalist in the Rapid Challenge competition. I go to Bondi in 10 days and 21 hours for a few days with the other finalists for pampering, yoga and makeovers. Not that I’m counting…..

Beth has been rather excellent I must say. After going and having a look at the media school in Ringwood she had a trial day which she loved. The subject she chose was creative writing so I believe she wrote for their newsletter.  Next year she’s booked in for one day a week. For the first term it’s the creative writing class that she’s chosen. I think it’s partially because she likes the Wednesday as currently she’s doing cooking at school and doesn’t like standing on her feet all day.

She’s currently at school 3 days each week. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. When she starts at Your DNA one day a week next year she’ll still only be gone for the 3 days at this stage. We’ve upped her medication which has done wonders but going part time has also worked a treat. She knows that she’s not allowed to whinge about going on the other days. Even if she’s not feeling fantastic she has to suck it up for those 3 days, otherwise we go back to the other way.

I’m trying to get Beth involved in doing things with me on the Thursdays and Fridays but it’s going slowly. She does art class with me every second Friday morning and is going fairly well. The compromise is working for an hour, then she’s allowed to read for the second hour. Tiff is really good with Beth and we’ve had varying success with artwork. We’ve also started family tennis lessons on a Friday night. We’ve done this twice. The first time she was more interested in perving on the boys. She’s needing to wear her glasses most of the time and she forgot them that time so wasn’t great. She worked ok for 5 or 10 minutes though. Last time she was pretty good. She wasn’t happy about going mind you. Gilmore Girls finishes at 6.30pm and we can’t tape it. Lessons start at 6.30pm and we walk there. So she carried on big time but ended up going. The deal was that if she played well for the first 15 minutes she could read her book for the rest. She chose to take her dictionary. She did really, really well actually and played for a big longer, then she sat down and the rest of us continued on. It worked well and I was ever so pleased with her. When walking home she was nearly running up the hill, something I’ve never seen her do before. Unfortunately her pants seemed too tight so half the lesson she was pulling them up! I got her Disney workout leggings yesterday though so she can wear them now! The other exciting thing (let’s hope I say the same thing next week) is that I’ve got her into personal training! She starts next Thursday morning at our local gym. They have a special 3 for $90 to try it out. I’ve spoken to the trainer who plans on organising games to get her into doing it. I’ve explained that Beth will whinge and carry on and say that she’s sore but she needs to do something and it will be really good for her mentally as well as physically. And I can do a workout while she’s doing it so it’s win win. I’ll let you know how we go.

Beth has been so good since I started work. I was working all weekend plus 2 days during the week and she was just fine with Paul taking her on those days. Once she even had to change her day off but it didn’t worry her at all. Now I’m just on the weekends until business picks up. I’m missing being with the kids  but the money is good as I get penalty rates and after Christmas I can change my days around hopefully. It’s actually been really good for Beth I think. She’s ok about me going to Bondi too and wants to come with Paul to pick me up from the airport.

I’ve got a few things up my sleeve but until I know further details I won’t share yet. Suffice to say I’m sussing out a promising lead that links the gut to some symptoms of autism. Beth has always had gut problems so hopefully there’s something we can do about it. I’ll keep you posted.

See you after Bondi! xx

I took Beth to the media school that I have talked about in previous posts. I picked her up early from school and we had a 3pm appointment. The first thing I noticed was that it’s not terribly big. It’s in a group of businesses in a row, the type that has parking in front of each one. I think both Beth and I were expecting a school type of place, or even a place like Irabina (early intervention) was with lots of rooms off of corridors. This was a big room that you first go into with a few smaller rooms off to the sides. There was an animation room (they had Gumby) and a room they do they TV presenting from. There is an animal lovers group. Next year there will be a radio announcing group. They have a creative writing group. All sorts of things. The kids (I know they’re not kids anymore but I think I’ll always call mine my kids) learn and organise their day first, as in writing their script for the tv presenting. They can have their own little segment and it was quickly caught on that Beth’s segment would be on – drumroll please – Disney! She seemed rather keen on that idea. If they are doing the tv presenting then they also learn how to do the filming and the sound and all the other things that go on behind the cameras. If they do the animals then they do excursions once a month, then spend the other 3 weeks making something to do with the animals that they visited. Or making money to help certain animals or organisations such as the guide dogs. The activities are for the whole day so if it’s something that Beth is interested in she doesn’t have to dread part of the day, just look forward to what she’s doing.

I was so impressed and James, the driving force behind it all was fabulous. He was so enthusiastic and said he grew up with his mum being involved in organisations with disabilities so it’s always been in his nature to enjoy kids like ours. They even do travel training. So (eventually, and I mean a long time in the future) I could potentially pop Beth on the train to get there. It’s very daunting but at the same time seems that it could be manageable one day. I could go with her on the train so that I can remind her where she gets off each day. Then eventually they said that some parents put their kids on the train and sms them the carriage that they’re in. Then the staff are at the station to pick the kids up. It’s not far from Ringwood station and they either walk or if it’s raining they will drive. Of course I’m anxious but I could even follow her for a while to check that she’s looking out for the station. As they said we’re talking a year or two into the program. Good to think about anyway.

As we don’t have the futures funding yet we can still access their services now but pay ourselves. So we discussed this and said that it would be good for Beth to go one day a week to try out all the things they have to offer. She could try something different every week. This would be about $75 per day so once a week would be manageable. That way she will transition and once we get the funding when she’s 18 she can choose the subjects she wants to do and she’ll already know them.

I spoke to Beth’s teacher last night and we discussed the whole rewards system thing. She agreed that she would let Beth read after lunch if she had cleaned up after herself to the teacher’s standards. She came out with Beth to explain what a good job Beth had done today and how she got to read a book this afternoon. And Beth looked proud as punch, so chuffed to tell me what a good girl she’d been. So so far so good, it seems to be working!

I went to the ASD clinic in Kew this morning.  Those who read my blog regularly know that I’ve been petrified of the whole adult thing with Beth. I almost pretend in my mind that it’s not happening as it’s such a scary prospect. But, as you know, things have come to a head lately and it’s time to get my head out of the sand and to admit that she is growing up and that I need to be ready for school finishing and either other training or working happening. Oh My God!

I look up Richard Eisenmajer because I have been to see him talk and I find him amazing. He works with adults on the spectrum and I thought it was about time that I dealt with Beth’s issues as a 17 year old going on to adulthood. If I am going to develop a working relationship with myself, Beth and a professional I don’t want it to have to be cut short when she reaches 18. I saw Laura Addabbo. I was so impressed with her. She just ‘got’ our issues. When speaking about things such as Beth’s organisational skills (she basically doesn’t have many) or her ‘I am a queen’ attitude Laura nodded and said that’s really common for people on the spectrum. She said that they need motivation, if there’s nothing in it for them then why would they bother doing it. That is soooo Beth! I was explaining about teaching her to do things such as folding towels, a pretty easy task. She hates it. And all the other things I am getting her to do. Again, if there’s nothing in it for her, why bother.

We discussed her attitude at school. About how there needs to be a link in with me so that behaviours are rewarded with the things she wants at home. The teacher she has this year is very open to me being told if Beth’s behaviour is bad, so that Beth knows that the consequences will be followed through with. But instead of doing the negative as in losing tablet privileges, make it positive such as a sticker chart or money to go towards a magazine at the end of her week. And of course when she said this I said inside ‘bloody hell, I knew that, that positive consequences work better than negative, why haven’t I been doing that?!’

We’ve also booked in to see a new paediatrician in Camberwell. Mainly because they have been recommended as knowing what they are doing with ASD kids and they come recommended. As far as Beth’s medication is concerned it was suggested that I see a new paed before she turns 18 to talk about her medication. She hasn’t had a review for a couple of years, there is room to move as far as amount and type is concerned. And, as Laura pointed out, Beth’s sensory issues could be worse if her medication isn’t at the right dose now. I’ve made an appointment for next Monday for us.

I’m already dreading tomorrow morning. Beth went next door to my inlaws house while I went to the first session with Laura. I went to pick her up and Bev (my mother in law) told me that Beth is complaining of having a sore throat and a tummy ache. I’ve told Beth that that’s not the way it’s meant to work, that she has to go willingly on the days she is going or we’ll have to do something else. That we’ve already got Wednesday off this week for our family trip to see Sound of Music on stage. The reality is though that she is the way she is and she can’t help how she feels. I will have a meeting with her school about not only the positive rewards but about the behaviours that we will be rewarding, such as leaving that boy alone that she has an issue with. I think I’ll also do a social story to try and help it along. Who knows though, it may be too late.

Anyway, I’m feeling much more positive this week. Even though I pooped myself driving on the Eastern Freeway! I feel as though we are moving forward slowly, and we have a direction to go in. Let’s hope it’s a positive new start. Hopefully if I can get things a little sorted, she’ll be all ready to start her transitioning to her future by the time she turns 18.

What a difference a day makes! I’m feeling much more settled about things today. I spoke to Beth’s school yesterday afternoon. We’ve come to an arrangement that she is going to go 3 days a week. We’re going to look at the Your DNA media school in 2 weeks. They have said that they are pretty full at the moment. I found out that we don’t get the futures funding until she turns 18 anyway. The funding is for young adults who need extra help to train for an eventual job. Now that the school is aware that she isn’t happy and that we’re looking at other avenues, they’re going to start the ball rolling on the funding application. Then when she turns 18 in March next year she can go to either the media school or another type of training centre. She’s open to all of this and seems to be much happier since I told her that’s what we’re doing. Let’s see how she goes next week though. It’s easy to be happy when you’re still at home!

I’ve told her that she’s going to start doing jobs around the house on the days she’s home. I think it will be really good for her to learn to fend for herself somewhat. Today she’ll be picking up the leaves in the back yard. I’m going to teach her how to do washing and make her own breakfast and lunch. And put the clothes away. And, something she’ll no doubt hate, she’s going to go to a personal trainer! I went to the gym this morning and spoke to them about her. They said their exercise physiologist would be the best bet. I can claim 5 sessions with him under the enhanced primary care. He said he has worked with people on the spectrum before. Beth has really low muscle tone and poor gross motor skills. So she can come with me when I go and she can have a one on one session with Ben. I’ve told him the 2 things he’ll have to watch. One is that she’ll be very resistant to doing anything he tells her to do. The other is that she will probably ask him out! Watch this space to see how we go!

I’m feeling rather flat at the moment. Beth is refusing to go to school. She doesn’t seem to know what the problem is, she just hates it. Every morning she tells me she’s sick and this morning she nearly vomited with making it look like she was. She coughs and sniffs and sits on the toilet for ages telling me that she’s got the runs. She cries and yells and pleads and I just don’t feel like I can do it any more. I can’t keep sending her somewhere where she has no friends and it’s making her miserable.

I’m going to call the school today. There are packages that you can access that help with transitioning to training that will help with future employment. I know we’re told about them in year 12 for the kids that are leaving after finishing their studies. Apparently you can access these though once your child has a pension. So I’m weighing up our options. I don’t even know if this will make her happy but she can’t be much more miserable than she is now.

I’m also going to see a psychologist at an autism clinic on Monday. I’m meant to be going by myself first so if madam is home I guess I’ll just have to take her with me. The plan was to discuss her queen attitude, the one where everybody has to do what she demands. The one she has at school. Now I guess I’ll be talking about what’s next for her.

I’m thinking that, for her anyway, going to special school after mainstream wasn’t such a good thing after all. I feel like she either should have been in special all along or mainstream. Being in mainstream meant that kids pandered to her a little because they had that filter that stopped them from being annoyed by her, or at least showing it that much. Similarly having an aide meant that she wasn’t independent, something that shows up so much in special school. She’s a bitch to the other kids because they don’t do what she tells them to do. Then she says they are bullying her which probably has some truth to it. But is also probably in response to her treating them like shit.

A friend has a daughter in the same situation. She’s at home all the time now because of school refusal. What the f do we do with these kids? I don’t give in, I don’t let her play on her tablet when she’s home and in fact I’ve told her today that she needs to help me with washing and cooking and cleaning. I’m not a bad parent! But I feel so bad at the moment…

Well Beth turned 17 in the holidays. We did our usual catchup with Jessica and Erin who she went to primary school with. They went to the movies to see Zootopia. I let them go alone. Firstly because I didn’t want to pay to see a movie I wasn’t all that fussed about. Secondly because I think it was good for Beth to have some sort of independence, even if it really meant that the other girls were in charge. I’ve been doing that a little bit lately. Going to the gym, telling Beth she’s in charge, then telling Bill or Bridie that they are. She likes the title of older sister and boss even though she doesn’t actually do anything! She had a lovely birthday in the end. We finally got her the turtle we meant to get her last birthday, and another one added in as we bought the whole lot from ebay. So we now have new members of the family. Beth’s turtle is called Jess – from New Girl, and Bridie and Bill’s turtle is called Mr Turtle- from My Name is Earl. We are a tv watching family as you have probably already figured out by now!

Beth has been pretty good with her new exercises. She doesn’t particularly like doing them so it’s slow and steady. There are a few. There is one when she had to have her left hand and right leg out, and alternate with the others. Like marching really but more like a hippo dancing at the moment! We ( as I do it with her) aren’t terribly graceful on our feet.) She also has to breathe while doing it, in and out through her mouth. She gets confused with this breathing and smiling so when I tell her to breathe she keeps smiling wide as if for a photo, but not breathing! But she is getting better at it. And this is just number 1, they get harder. She also has to follow a pencil with her eyes, up and down, side to side, round and round, also to make her cross eyes. I think she finds this difficult, she says it makes her dizzy. Again though she seems to be getting into a rhythm and is breathing in time with the rotations. She has to tap her fingers on the table, one hand at a time, one finger at a time. Other hand must be still. Breathing AND blinking for those ones. Blinking was another difficult thing to master, doing it on cue meant scrunching up her forehead and the aim of the exercises is to have no tension. But again, she’s getting there. Last one is drawing shapes in a line. Rounded ones. Sort of like joined ‘o’s, firstly starting with the joins at the top, next like back from right to left, then joins at the bottom, then figure 8s. Never letting the pen leave the paper in each line. I was amazed yesterday. First day back at school, no kicking up and happy enough to go. Then she came out of school with a piece of paper. She had done the writing exercises during class! I never asked her to and in fact said we would do that one when she got home. We’re building up to 3 times a day but the writing one is just once a day. I was so pleased with her! There is also a meditation thingy that I have but we haven’t done that yet. I think it will be slow going but it will be worth it.

So, she’s been rather argumentative these holidays. She lost her tablet privileges once because she carried on so much. It was nothing much really but it never is is it? She was watching reruns of The Middle and Bridie sat down to watch with her. Beth kept rewinding it and replaying a line over and over so she was asked to stop and she wouldn’t. I said it was Bridie’s turn for the remote so Beth cracked it and went to her room. Then Bridie was watching it alone but Beth could hear it so she kept coming out, saying it was her turn, saying it was her show, you get the drift. In the high pitched ‘I am the boss, I am 17, I can do what I want’ voice that I love so much. So restrictions were threatened and followed through with much to her disgust. On the holidays we went to an appointment and while she was waiting her turn she played on her tablet. She saw that wifi was available so asked for the password. I said that no, she could play without wifi, we weren’t at a friends but at an appointment and she could just deal. Well she carried on for a while, even with me reminding her that I would indeed follow through with a ban if she kept going. Then all of a sudden she was quiet and playing nicely. I said thankyou and well done and she said ‘you didn’t need to take my tablet away this time did you, I was a good girl.’ By jove, I think she’s got it! Another amazing development!

I was emptying out her bag last night and there’s a notice which is for drivers ed at her school. What the? She won’t be driving, at least not until she’s a grown up in her 30s I would imagine. Friend’s kids have done it though and it sounds like a lot of fun. So I think it’s a bit exciting for her. I will play on the fact that it means she’s a responsible girl. She knows that now she’s 17 she has to step up and be an almost adult and I think she likes the idea of that. Still, I’d love to be a fly on the wall of the car!

As most of you know Beth is nearly 17. For many years we tried different therapies; speech therapy, occupational therapy, allergy elimination, metal detoxification. If it didn’t hurt we tried it. We did gluten free with her when she was in kindergarten but it made no difference. Yes she does seem to get gut problems but none of the dietary things seemed to make any difference. When she started high school we decided that it was enough to just let her settle in to a new environment and, as it was a special school anyway, just let her be with her new way of learning. That, and the fact that we’d pretty much exhausted any new treatments or therapies and the money that goes with them!

Last week I was looking on facebook and came across a movement therapy. Now our Beth is not big on movement. Since I joined the gym however I’ve been seeing the benefits in movement and the brain, how it lifts mood, how it puts me in a good frame of mind for the rest of the day, a calm frame of mind. How it gives me more energy to get stuff done, whether it be physical stuff or studying. Beth loves to take the dogs for a walk and I’ve been thinking of different ways we can incorporate exercise into her life and what sort of exercises. It grounds her and I want her to do more. In fact I even considered taking her to the gym with me. Anyway, I saw this movement therapy thing and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I called Tony who runs the program and asked him if he’s worked with kids on the spectrum. He was honest and said not really though he’d worked with a child with mild aspergers with success. I wondered aloud if, the more severe the case is, the results would be more obvious and he thought that perhaps they would. We took Beth to see him today. He showed us the way he works, he showed us the exercises that he does and how Beth isn’t terribly good at any of them. Which always gives me hope, makes me think that if she can master them then there would have to be improvement. I wont pretend that I really understood what he talked about but I sort of got it, it was all to do with motor skills and left and right sides of the brain communicating. I can’t explain it but I did get it because it made sense. So, now, finally, I have something new to write about! Jo and I are going to interview Tony for our show JAS CHAT and film some of Beth’s progress. I say progress because that’s what I believe she’ll have. Beth liked Tony and so did I. He’s local which is handy too. I think it will be a good venture all around. He can see if his program works with kids on the spectrum as well as the kids that he says he works with, such as ones with ADHD and Auditory Processing Disorder. On one of his posts on a local page a woman jumped on her high horse when I dared to ask if he’d worked with kids on the spectrum. She quickly told me that autism can’t be cured, or words to that effect. I said that I believe autism is a combination of issues and if we can help each issue then there has to be some improvement. I’ll let you know how we go. Here’s a link to Tony’s website. Hopefully it will be a whole new type of therapy for our kids. We start on Tuesday. I can tell Beth that it’s what we do after we turn 17 as it’s her birthday!

Beth has been particularly trying lately. And when I say trying, I mean she’s actually been particularly turdy. For those not familiar with the term, to put it in straight talk, she’s been a right shit!

We had parent teacher interviews last week. Beth’s been having issues with a boy in her class called Jesse. She had told me last year that he’s mean to her and he calls her stupid. We had talked about it and she’d told me that he’s mean to everybody. I said that it’s not so bad when they’re just mean kids as it’s not directed at her in particular and she agreed. This year though she’s been saying she’s sick more often than not so I asked her if she was getting along ok with the other kids. She said that Jesse and her were on the same bench in cooking and he’s still being mean.

The week before last she had said that her heart was hurting at school. They called me and asked if there was any predisposition to heart issues and I said no and that we had been to the doctors and got everything checked out. She had had an ear infection the week before and the doctor had checked her heart and said it was a bit fast but probably because of the infection. We had been back and told it was ok but she had a sore chest. The doctor said it was probably inflammation due to the infection and Panadol would do the trick. We’d also gone to the osteopath to make sure it wasn’t her ribs due to posture so got it fully checked out. Anyway, she’d figured the heart thing out and told the school that her heart was sore. The issue was that she was incredibly rude about it. She demanded ‘call my mother and have her pick me up immediately’! She also demanded that they gave her books to read in the sick bay. When told no she cracked it. All in her horrid high pitched ‘I am the queen’ voice. They did ring me and I told them that there was nothing wrong with her so she stayed there. And found the first aide books and read them!

Anyway, at the parent teacher interview we discussed Jesse and how Beth tends to get a bit obsessed with people and things they do that annoy her. The teacher positioned herself where Jesse would stand where Beth said he ‘just keeps looking at me’ and pointed out that Beth wouldn’t know this unless she turned around to look at him in the first place. He obviously has realised what buttons to push with Beth and she’s reacting and is now annoyed at everything he does. Then there’s her attitude to the teachers. When given a tub of icing and lots of choices for decorating her cupcakes she promptly tipped the tub on top and said she was finished. When told they didn’t look like the ones made by the visiting teacher she said that hers looked much better than the nicely decorated ones. When the teacher pushed it Beth told her that she didn’t know what she was talking about and that Beth was the expert! When confronted with the news that I had been told ALL about her behaviour and that I would be told in future she wasn’t terribly happy as she knows there will be consequences. I did ask if she is finding being on her feet a bit of a strain all day for the 2 cooking days a week. Her solution was that they supply her with a wheelchair!

This morning was a doozy. It’s the last day of term and she thought I’d give her the day off. We had one of those mornings where she just kept going and I got angrier and angrier. She did things like having a shower and going to put her pyjamas back on. She doesn’t let go of an idea and kept insisting she was sick with a chesty cough even though the only time I heard it was when she did it when telling me about it. When we left the house she shut me out and said goodbye. She lost her Samsung tablet for the car ride as I had told her to be quiet. Then in the car she went on and on and on. When I told her to stop talking to me she seemed to invent an invisible friend. Usually when she talks to ‘somebody’ else it’s her fly Cuddly or her spider Leggy but there was nobody there. She kept talking about me in a quiet voice. Things like ‘maybe next time she’ll believe me’. Or ‘she’ll let me have the day off next time.’ This went on and on and I kept getting madder and madder until finally I snapped and swore and told her I didn’t want to hear her voice talking to anybody for the rest of the trip. I took a sip of my traveller coffee and as I did I heard her whisper ‘she’s thirsty’ to whoever the hell she was talking to about me!

Sorry it’s been a while. (I seem to start most of my posts like that these days!) I can’t believe it’s February already. I also can’t believe that Beth is in the equivalent of year 11!

We had lovely holidays. They were nice and quiet as we didn’t do much. The kids are of a lovely age where they entertain themselves for the most part. Bridie still finds it all a bit challenging and needs a bit more, but Beth and Bill would be happy if I just let them play and watch tv all day. Which for some of the time I must admit I did! If we did go out they’d often want a jarmie day the next day (wearing their pyjamas). Paul took the younger ones camping for a couple of days so Beth and I had sleepovers and ate pancakes and lasagne. So not much to report really.

She’s doing essential cooking this year for her VCAL subject. Not that she’d ever let me know but I think she quite enjoys it. She seems happy to go off to school and happy to tell me what she’s done while there. They don’t start their actual cooking until next week. From Monday they go shopping to Coles and buy the ingredients they need for the rest of the week. I told her that my friend’s son did this subject last year and they went to Sydney for their camp and surprisingly she seemed quite excited about the prospect. Considering that she hasn’t been on camp for the last three years I consider that to be a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately she’s had a cold most of the week so yesterday when cooking she had to sit it out. I ended up keeping her at home today which was a bummer because I was to return to art class and piano lessons this morning. Still, it’s nice to have an enforced day at home with my big girl.

We went to the dentist in the holidays. We go to Smile Place in Tecoma for anybody that may be looking for a dentist in the Dandenong Ranges. They’re amazing there. So, so good with Beth, and with a scared old mum like me who needs work done too. All the kids had checkups and all were clear, except for Beth. We were told she needed a filling, and a big one too. So big that they scheduled an hour appointment just for her. Last week off we went and she was good as gold. She wanted the pen thing that they can click on the jaw to make it seem numb. Unfortunately they had ordered it in but it hadn’t arrived. She’d clearly gotten wise to the fact that even though the fairy juice was in the syringe it wasn’t just going to be dripped on to her gum but rather be given to her as a needle. She said no, there was no way she would have it, she’d rather have the filling done with no pain relief. And she did! It took quite some time but she preferred that than the alternative. I was amazed. They said that often kids with autism feel things differently. Things that barely hurt others can be extremely painful in their minds. And other things such as a broken arm or something else serious can barely register at times. I was so impressed with Beth as she handled it beautifully.

We had a funny incident last week. For some reason there was a bus running late who pick up from the same bus stop as Beth’s in the morning. Beth got on this bus so I was told, and some of the other kids went to also, but got her off of it. Paul dropped her that morning and was explaining that it was a new bus driver on that bus so he wasn’t sure of the kids he needed to pick up. When speaking to a friend though, I got the full story. Being a new bus driver he had his clipboard ready and asked Beth if she was on the role. She apparently took his clipboard and said ‘oh you’re new here, let me do the role for you, I know all the kids names!’ When told to get off the bus she then took the clipboard too. The poor driver must have wondered what planet he was picking up from! Serves him right for being late I suppose!

I’ll leave you with a Beth funny. She’s been really quite amusing lately and a bit cheeky. She was running up the corridor and I told her to stop and walk. I asked her why she was running and she said ‘You don’t have to interrogate me you know, you’re not a cop!’ Cheeky bugger!