I have added a link to the list, to an article called "Welome to Holland." It's been circulaing enough that some folks might find it trite. I noticed some autistic adults are upset by it, by I want to note that it is about being a PARENT of a disabled child, not actually BEING a disabled person (though I'm not sure why it wouldn't apply- it's about thinking life is going to be one way, and having it turn out another way- not better, or worse, but different than expected or intended).

Reasons

We've been having a bit of a bad week. Nothing particular has happened, but Joey has been tracking, scripting, and otherwise showing us he is having trouble. It would be nice if there was one stress we could point to and fix, but I doubt its that simple. Back to school, new stuff at school, maybe a growth spurt, the unusual weather and weather swings, normal growing-up type stuff...

It reminds me of a story of a woman in the kitchen on the table, screaming. You enter the room, and she's screaming, heedless of all else, knife in hand, clearly irrational. What do you do?

Find the mouse, of course.

One thing I learned when Joey was a baby, he doesn't scream without a reason. He doesn't take a backslide with no reason. I just can't always determine the reason. It must be horribly frustratng for him, because it's frustrating for me! What would that poor lady on the table do if we didn't know she was afraid of mice?

So we're having a frustrating week. I know a lot of "adult austistic" sites that get all worked up about trying to stop things like tracking and scripting, but they really do get in Joey's way. If Andy started, say, playing videogames at all hours and not doign his homework, I wouldn't think twice about shutting off the xbox. If a typical child doodles on his test paper instead of answering the questions, we reprimand them. So why would I be berated for moving Joey away from tracking and scripting, and back to the task at hand?