I was so proud of Barney this week. He attended a summer scheme especially for kids on the spectrum. His therapist phoned to say there was a place on it and she felt it would be really beneficial for him. The poor kid was a nervous wreck. A new situation, new people, the unknown - an Aspie nightmare.
I convinced him to give it a try as I know theres not a hope in hell of him attending a regular summer scheme, and I thought mixing with some other kids who think like him might help him. He only gets to attend twice before school starts. The scheme has just 4 children in it, so it's pretty intense. Four kids and six adults! That's some ratio! When he found out there would only be three other kids he felt better about going, but when he walked in and saw all those adults he freaked out. He was very upset for 5 minutes or so but then F (his therapist) and I managed to persuade him to go in, with his timer, for 5 minutes at a time, whilst I sat in the kitchen.
I was so proud of him for giving it a go. After 5 minutes he was having the time of his life! I could hear him above all the other children, laughing and giggling. All the kids helped make him a Spongebob scene to get settled in, as Spongebob is one of his favourite things.
Each child is making a huge collage of themselves. They drew around the kids on a big sheet of paper and are filling in the outline with photos, art work and various different activities. Next week he will get to bring this life size montage home with him. He can't wait to go back.
Since he was so brave, and I was so proud, I bought a huge chocolate cake to celebrate :) This made him very happy. He came out of the summer scheme saying "Mum, those kids all seemed normal to me!" And so I was able to say that yes kids with autism are just like everyone else in lots of ways, and that autism is only a little part of them.
I convinced him to give it a try as I know theres not a hope in hell of him attending a regular summer scheme, and I thought mixing with some other kids who think like him might help him. He only gets to attend twice before school starts. The scheme has just 4 children in it, so it's pretty intense. Four kids and six adults! That's some ratio! When he found out there would only be three other kids he felt better about going, but when he walked in and saw all those adults he freaked out. He was very upset for 5 minutes or so but then F (his therapist) and I managed to persuade him to go in, with his timer, for 5 minutes at a time, whilst I sat in the kitchen.
I was so proud of him for giving it a go. After 5 minutes he was having the time of his life! I could hear him above all the other children, laughing and giggling. All the kids helped make him a Spongebob scene to get settled in, as Spongebob is one of his favourite things.
Each child is making a huge collage of themselves. They drew around the kids on a big sheet of paper and are filling in the outline with photos, art work and various different activities. Next week he will get to bring this life size montage home with him. He can't wait to go back.Since he was so brave, and I was so proud, I bought a huge chocolate cake to celebrate :) This made him very happy. He came out of the summer scheme saying "Mum, those kids all seemed normal to me!" And so I was able to say that yes kids with autism are just like everyone else in lots of ways, and that autism is only a little part of them.
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1 comment:
That's soooooooooo cool
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