Some New Skills For My Autistic Son

We are wrapping up spring break for my son Matthew while my other son Nicholas has been on his spring break from California Virtual Academy since Friday. As I mentioned in recent articles Matthew has been in good moods lately and not having serious behavior issues.

I wanted to make note of some new skills he has shown this past week. Normally when Matthew comes home from school he will just leave his jacket somewhere in the living room on his way to the bedroom to remove his sneakers. He will place the sneakers in the crate where shoes are stored. Next he goes through his backpack for homework.

While we went on some errands this past week Matthew removed his coat and then proceeded to fix the arms so they were not inside out. He left the jacket on the bed instead of the floor.

The weather here has been mixed with one day wearing short sleeves and no jacket, but then the following day needing a jacket. I had asked Matthew to get his jacket. He brought me his heavier jacket so I told him that was not the right one. A few seconds later he was in front of me with the same jacket along with a hanger. I was impressed since it is hard for him to reach the bar with the hangers.

When I ask Matthew to remove his socks he will just take them off and leave them there on the floor inside out. This week he sat there and fixed them by inserting his hand in and pulling the sock out. This is much better than a rolled ball of socks on the floor.

I usually give him his meds around 5:15 so that he is asleep between 7:00 and 7:30 pm. On spring break I wanted to sleep in a little so I gave him his meds later, one day by even an hour. He still wanted to go to bed at the same time. He knows what show is on Noggin when he is in bed, so there was no escaping the usual bedtime.

He has two bottom corner teeth coming in, which appears to be bothering him as he is putting his hand in his mouth to touch them. He now is going to the mirror in the kitchen and regularly looking at himself. I have never seen him do this before and not even Nicholas who is 14 does this. It is funny to see Matt look in the mirror, open his mouth and look inside. Plus he is touching his hair and smiling or laughing at the mirror. He seems like a young teen checking himself out.

While at the grocery store he chose a box of unsalted saltines. I figured if he was not interested in eating them they were good for soup for me and Nicholas. Turns out Matthew likes the saltines and handed me the last package from the box this morning to put into a baggie so he can have some throughout the day.

Matthew will turn 13 on June 30th. He loves to look through photo albums.