Christmas day is over. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. I love seeing family and friends. I love eating. But I don't love the extra changes in schedules, the extra transitions, the extra excitement. Or rather I don't like the effect it has on Son.
He's a kid. He gets excited. He gets wound up. He has his highs and lows. But they are EXHAUSTING.
I made a calendar for him using Boardmaker. I LOVE this program. Enough that when I stopped teaching we purchased it so I could still use it for the Son. We've got a lot going on. Having a visual for him of where we are going each day really helps.
And visuals are always easier to process than reading. For anyone (think of when you go to McDonalds - do you read the menu or look at the pictures of the combo's?). And when you're escalated, pictures are easier to process to help deescalate.
When there is change, one of Son's side effects is to not eat. He get extremely picky about smells and textues, despite being on the GFCF diet which has eliminated so many of these issues. And when he doesn't eat, he gets moody and irrational. And crashes. And then it gets taken out on us. I've been trying to feed him his absolute favorites, but sometimes even that fails.
Christmas excitement is a test of patience for both children and adults. I'm ready for that test to be over. But first we are taking a 4 day trip to New England to see my half of the family.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Christmas with Autism
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1 comment:
Hope your trip goes smoothly and safely. I think the holidays are rough on all children. My son is just getting back into routine from the madness and my daughter won't until school begins on Wednesday. We are keeping New Year's Eve very low key because of my son this year. When he is out of whack, I am and I need some sleep!
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