A few things happened in the week following the munchkin's diagnosis that made it easier to come to terms. The first happened at work. A former coworker stopped in and was chatting with all the people he remembered who still worked there. He asked about the boys. I mentioned how I go from being elated that Monkey Boy starts school full time in September to near tears at the same thought. And then I mentioned how we were told the munchkin had autism. Brad started asking some very insightful questions. Then he explained his brother has autism. Growing up together he didn't really pay attention to all that was going on, they're very close in age (year and a half, not sure who is older) So his brother is in his mid to late 20's and has graduated college. And some of the things like the hand posturing when excited are still there but to a much smaller extent. Family and friends don't really think about because to them that is just how he is.
The second came from the service co-ordinator with the school district. She mentioned how she feels Q is on the verge of talking and his cognition is very high. To the point he can match written words to pictures of the same items. She wanted permission to start early reading exercises with him. She also said that the three year old program for children with developmental delay will be good for him. Though she didn't feel the autism program the school distric runs would be a good fit, the children in that program tend to have a lot of behavioral issues in addition to the learning, communication issues. She agreed with me that Q's behavioral problems are entirely age appropriate. She laughed when I mentioned that Q's tantrums aren't nearly as bad as the ones A can throw. (She's met A).
I can usually head off most of his tantrums, the only ones that are hard are the ones caused by Monkey Boy. It doesn't seem to sink in, no matter how many times I explain it, or how many different ways I explain it. The Munchkin plays with things for five maybe ten minutes max. Just let him play he'll put it down and move on to something else. Monkey Boy still rips toys out of his hands. Most the time Munchkin shrugs it off and moves on to something else. Sometimes he protests by pushing MonkeyBoy, then moving on. But certain things will set him into full tantrum. He has a set of Nick Jr books he absolutely loves. He looks through them or brings them to me to read. At the end he closes them and puts them back, you can't inturrupt the routine or you get munchkin on the ground crying, kicking and flailing. It doesn't matter if Monkey Boy was on the otherside of the room playing with something else he will come over and take whatever his brother has in his hands, incuding these books. :sigh:
Oh and the other joy of having boys. Monkey Boy told me the other day as we were coming home from preschool, that he was going to have lots of surprises for me for my birthday. "Girl ones" He sits behind me in the car so with all the car noises I don't always hear everything. I hear this "that was one of your surprises" "What was?" "I burped, it's one of your surprises" "Gee thanks, honey." "Oh that was a boy one."
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