Some regrets and some planning for the future

When you are raising two sons that are fifteen months apart on opposite ends of the autism spectrum some of their issues or needs might not be addressed due to one taking precedence over the other.

My son Matthew turned 16 yesterday and gives me time to reflect on what we have endured and gone through since the diagnosis of autism at the age of two. Nicholas was diagnosed first and when Matthew was diagnosed I had assumed he would not be as severe as Nicholas. The opposite happened instead with Matthew still not toilet trained and nonverbal. I wish I had done somethings differently and pursued other treatment options. This was at a time that having two with autism in the same household was not common. Every time I had an assessment for therapy for Nicholas or Matthew they wanted to give services to both boys when clearly they had different deficits and symptoms.

For five years we had medical students coming on Sundays for an hour to learn about autism and spend time with Nicholas. This was my way for him to get some individual attention. For two years we had the same girl coming every week. The last year was a guy who would bring his girlfriend with him and talk about girls with Nicholas, which was inappropriate.

I had an adaptive skills trainer for six months come and help him learn some skills, but then opted not to continue with that due to the way the guys dressed and feeling uncomfortable with them in my home.

For a number of years I was a member of a DTT-NET egroup, although I hardly participated and more just absorbed all the information shared. DTT stands for Discrete Trial Training. We did not get the services other families did through the Regional Center. I should have pushed harder to get some therapy for Matthew to teach him to talk instead of them always focusing on pecs and sign language. Neither one of those worked for him.

Now at age 17 Nick is interested in basketball. One of the Sunday volunteers had younger siblings involved in sports and she would share all about those events. I was hoping to get Nick involved in sports or musical instruments. Maybe had I pushed he would have had another activity to meet his peers. We could not do these though because of Matthew and his therapy appointments and issues with behavior and eating.

Nick missed out on a lot and I tried to make it up to him by introducing him to Yugioh and Pokemon. I bought the gameboy for him even though he had no interest. That helped him in Elementary school as he had more in common with the other students. At the time all he talked about was Dinosaurs.

From third grade on Nick wanted to go to the LA Zoo High School Magnet. His fifth grade teacher told me he would be good in Drama. Nicholas has recently told me he no longer wants to do online school and want so go back to public school. Next year he will be a Junior so we will use that time to prepare. The computer desktop is a loaner through his school so we need to get a new one. He needs clothing and to work more on his personal hygiene and communication skills.

There is also the issue of which high school to attend. There are several within our home address that are known as his home school to choose from. We are considering an art academy. He spent his elementary school years drawing in note pads. We had at one time over 100 of them with his comic book drawings and his stories and characters.

Other families helped their students explore and take their art drawings to the next level. We had ideas to make cards or sell mini books on etsy or other similar sites. I think Nicholas just needed some nudging to get there but due to issues with Matthew I could never find the time or money to help explore this venue with Nicholas.

Recently the regional center coordinator had suggested that when he goes to College and takes art he may get some feedback from a teacher that would be beneficial. He is now open to drama classes. I just feel like all these ideas I had three years ago are now coming to light so we need to roll with it while the interest is there. I guess it is not too late.

I cannot plan out his life for him but have shared with him how his interests can be something to explore for career. He loves watching some food shows like Cake Boss and I suggested taking a year to go to cooking school - this is good for his future as he will learn a vital skill. The art is a fun hobby he needs to be open to and learn about other aspects and not just be limited to drawing. He wants to work at the Zoo or at an animal Sanctuary someday. At this point he needs to work on learning some office type skills and do internships or volunteer at organizations for animals or shelters to get that experience.

Matthew will be going to high school until he is 22 so the has many more years in the school system. Once he is toilet trained I want him to take part in the after school track program for special ed kids and then move on to Special Olympics. I do hope to take the one-year certificate course at the community college to learn to be a special education assistant. This will help Nicholas when he attends that college so we know the layout and system. Also will be something for me to fall back on.

PE Activities for Homeschoolers

My 13 year old son who is high functioning on the autism spectrum is in seventh grade. We are utilizing California Virtual Academy, known as CAVA and utilizes K12 curriculum. This is our second year with CAVA. Prior to this Nicholas was in Elementary School in general education with just RSP consult with teacher.

We are doing CAVA for the Middle School years since it is our hope that he will get accepted into The Los Angeles Zoo High School Magnet, although it is College Prep. He wants to work at the Zoo and looking forward to reaching the age you are allowed to volunteer.

This year we will be visiting the Zoo on a monthly basis. I hope to get him a nice camera to take photos like animal photographers do out in the wild. He also likes to visit animal sanctuary websites and Humane society sites. His two main interests are Dinosuars and Cats - big and little cats. He did a report last year on Jaguars that he is very proud of.

The focus of this post is on PE Activities. CAVA has a form parents need to fill out and turn in each quarter, know as the Physical Education Activity Log. Students are required to complete an average of twenty (20) minutes each day. The teaching adult is responsible for completing and submitting the log.

These are activities that are structured, organized and supervised, like participating in an athletic class, dance class or sports team. Activities like bicycling, hiking, jogging or calisthenics are listed as examples.

We have an Exercise Bike from Sears that Nicholas started using last year, but with the September heat here in Los Angeles that is not comfortable. There is also yard work that is done once a week using the Craftsman Reel Mower. I cannot get him motivated to go down to the lake for a few laps, which is what we did last year on the way back from dropping Matthew off at school.

This year the bus picks up Matthew so we can go before 7:30 AM, but many bring their dogs and he is afraid of many of them. There is also a stench down there from the trash and the birds, etc. I had to put my membership with 24 Hour Fitness on hold due to the cost not within my budget at this time.

He is not interested in sports at all. I thought maybe some sort of DVD showing kids exercising might be good to alternate between the bike, outside and walking. I am looking for feedback from other homeschooling families on how they incorporate PE into their daily routine. Also ideas from other autism families on what types of exercise their young teenagers participate in, sports and extra curricular activities.

I would like to do an article on my autism site on the topic of PE and sports. It is a topic I have little experience with my boys and would like links to reviews on DVDs for all age groups and posts from blogs on this topic to include for resources within the article.

At summer camp this year Matthew's class went to the high school and ran around the track. The teacher mentioned to me how fast he was and wanted to know if I was looking into Special Olympics. Than the other day at school Matthew's assistant took pictures of him on the track and said he was really good and mentioned Special Olympics.

Nicholas has a friend from summer camp who swims and is in Special Olympics. Anyone who has a kid in the Special Olympics and has written about the experience is welcome to send me or post the link so I can add that to my article. I was already looking into the Parks and Recreation Services here in Los Angeles. Matthew already has a long day with bus time, so I need to see about weekend offerings in the area. We would probably need someone to assist and that would be through the Regional Center, but with California in a Budget Crisis and funding non existent that is highly unlikely.

Reminder - if you have any input to add about PE activities for homeschoolers or specifically for a kid (tween, teenager) on the autism spectrum, please leave a comment with details, link to post, blog, etc. I am working on an article and will include your link and also feedback for Special Olympics would be helpful as well.