Living with Autism

Remember my Steps to being a special needs parent? - recently I had cause to return to the theme and examine the following. As usual they all look kind of the same:
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 
For years now I would have been in the camp of wanting everyone else to make amends to me. Sorry but when you find out you have not one, but TWO kids with intensive behavioural needs you very quickly find out who you can count on and who will spectacularly and hurtfully let you down.

After 10 years - I have learned to let go of some of that feeling.  Some of the people have apologised.  Some of the people have made up for it in other ways.  I guess some of them have realised what a selfish mongrel they were when they had their own children and reali…

and the winner of the Mr Thorne Does Phonics iPad App review code is Cynthia. The icons were allocated in the comments on the previous post. Video uploaded live to Facebook. I did not have the attention span to install a randomizer widget - so I hope this unscientific method suffices!

Everyone else - buy the app! its brill.

xx

Many people are surprised to find that both my kids can read. Yes, they are autistic as the day is long but Liam has been reading, AND comprehending what he reads since he was 3.

One of Liam's favourite games when he was little was reciting the alphabet; As a Hanen exercise he would give me eye contact in return for me saying each letter. He also loved to request that I draw an animal for each letter and as a result I think I know every animal in the world that starts or includes the letter X!
When he began using picture exchange I had to make a card to represent the word "Zoo" as we were going there on a "lets stimulate some language" trip. As you can see my drawing of a lion in a cage was so bad that I knew he couldn't tell what it was - but the first time I showed it to him, he very clearly said "ZOO" - and I knew he could read.

I can also tell that Gracie knows the order of letters in the word "Elmo" and how to type them into a searc…

Day one and the first thing I heard was Liam asking for the vacuum cleaner - never a good start to the day as it means there is a huge mess in the kitchen.
However, knowing I could have a quick coffee before I had to tackle the mess I actually bounced down the stairs ready to face anything.


Including this ↑

 Ironically caused by this ↑ The little coffee pod I left out last night ready for my first cup. Alanis Morrisett couldn't write this.

Thankfully the lovely Sandra at Nespresso's PR packed a selection of extra pods for the mother of the Teenage Boy (In the background preparing his next mess)

But fortified by this - I was able to clean up calmly without any fuss. Important when you are facing into a long day of 2 autistic kids vs one parent.

The machine is a Krupps Pixie with 19 bars of pressure. The coffees are going to be a choice of these:


Gotta love a drink that comes with a colour chart like a box of choccies!


Today I had an Arpeggio - intense and creamy but a bit cold becaus…

It is Easter School Holidays and the Kids are off school....




The tally so far is brand new sliding shower door: Nil
Liam: 1. 
So he has lost Wednesday Treat Day.


He is out for a walk trying to get a star for Friday Treat Day


As you can imagine - I am a bit strung out at this time of year. And I need my coffee more than ever. 
Mr Hammie and I are daily espresso drinkers and the average affordable consumer coffee machine is made for people who only use them on the weekend. (and drink that satanic poison INSTANT coffee during the week, Gah!) Our coffee machines therefore get about a year's use in 3 months - and tend to die at 13 months - just outside warranty!
Our latest - the much loved Gaggia Dopio retired exhausted late last year.
So today I am taking it to live on a coffee farm where it can chase espresso cups and steam away to its hearts delight. (Sshhh - that's what I am telling it. I am really taking it to Bray Recycling Centre)

At the moment we have a temporary replacement that …

Red Symons was the lead guitarist in Skyhooks - a very cool aussie band in the 70's. He then went on to be the "Simon Cowell" of a talent show on Australian Television.


It was lovely to meet him in person and explain where and how the Grace App came about.

I am just awful at film editing, but I hope you can enjoy these home movies mashed together on iMovie which was the easiest way to put up the MP3 to share.



I seem to have a thing for Radio Presenters who used to be in bands....

Got back from Aus last week. Forgive delay in posting as I managed to smuggle a cold back into the country - in my own head.
So a little photo diary of the trip:

First stop as always was Singapore. We flew Singapore Airlines and I simply cannot overstate how important it is to fly with a good airline when you have special needs kids. We get our priority seating choice, we get priority boarding. We get treated like Royalty when we do board and Liam gets to settle comfortably for the hour or so it takes everyone else to board and secure their hand luggage. We get our child meals and we get the worlds most fantastic economy service. Yes, I wish that they would fly direct out of Dublin - but they don't so we go via London Heathrow or Amsterdam..

This time I booked night flights and that was also wonderful as I got a good nights sleep prior to leaving and a full day to fuss around with suitcases and prepare. Also good to arrive in Singapore in the evening and get a good nights sleep in …