Avoiding talking about my crappy week
Only good stuff here!
Curls, now that he is in Year 6, has been getting his swimming lessons at the beach (they go from the school pool in Yrs 1&2 to Claremont Pool, Yrs 3,4 & 5, to Cottesloe Beach, Yrs 6&7). This has been a very good thing - he loves the beach, isn't frightened of waves at all and gets right in there. The upshot of this is that he has impressed the swimming teacher to the extent where she has offered to coach him for free. She thinks he has amazing potential and certainly he is built in the Ian Thorpe mould - very tall, solid, long long legs and enormous feet. He is currently wearing clothes that we buy from men's shops - they are a small man's size but still, not kiddy clothes. From a distance, he could pass for about 17. So free swimming coaching! What a surprise! We'll be setting that up next week
The Australian forwarded us our first piece of fan-mail. It is from a woman in Birmingham, UK who has Asperger's. She wrote us a 2 page letter about her own experiences growing up on with an ASD and included two of her poems. They were "rhyming poems" if you know what I mean but she meant well and I'll be writing back to her.
Spike has suddenly proved to be mathematically able which scares us because we aren't. I've been doing more of their homework with them these days and it is wonderful to see the speed with which Spike grasps a concept. I may have to go looking for a maths tutor to give him the extra challenges that he seems to need. It is so strange to see him get excited about doing maths homework which was something that I never did.
We had our first visit from the DSC (Disability Services Commission) in nearly 8 years.Our new Local Area Coordinator (LAC) is very nice and active which is why I think she is taking the trouble to visit everyone in her district which the previous LACs simply didn't do and just left us to get on with living as best we could. I have demanded all kinds of services, I figure that they owe us. For Curls, anger-management therapy to stop the more violent and destructive tantrums and for Spike, someone to talk to to help him come to terms with Curls' annoying behaviours and the chance of a DSC sibling camp where he can meet with other 'normal' kids who have 'weird' brothers and sisters. There is therefore every chance that both kids will have their own psychs. This will, rather worryingly, see the whole family visiting psychs as soon as I get my new referral. What does this say about us, I wonder???
Anywaym it is a long weekend and we have been sleeping and resting. Right now, we are about to head off to Gingin to visit the Gravity Discovery Centre and observatory, then have lunch by the river. It should be a nice day and when I am feeling better, I just might be able to express my feelings about last week.
Curls, now that he is in Year 6, has been getting his swimming lessons at the beach (they go from the school pool in Yrs 1&2 to Claremont Pool, Yrs 3,4 & 5, to Cottesloe Beach, Yrs 6&7). This has been a very good thing - he loves the beach, isn't frightened of waves at all and gets right in there. The upshot of this is that he has impressed the swimming teacher to the extent where she has offered to coach him for free. She thinks he has amazing potential and certainly he is built in the Ian Thorpe mould - very tall, solid, long long legs and enormous feet. He is currently wearing clothes that we buy from men's shops - they are a small man's size but still, not kiddy clothes. From a distance, he could pass for about 17. So free swimming coaching! What a surprise! We'll be setting that up next week
The Australian forwarded us our first piece of fan-mail. It is from a woman in Birmingham, UK who has Asperger's. She wrote us a 2 page letter about her own experiences growing up on with an ASD and included two of her poems. They were "rhyming poems" if you know what I mean but she meant well and I'll be writing back to her.
Spike has suddenly proved to be mathematically able which scares us because we aren't. I've been doing more of their homework with them these days and it is wonderful to see the speed with which Spike grasps a concept. I may have to go looking for a maths tutor to give him the extra challenges that he seems to need. It is so strange to see him get excited about doing maths homework which was something that I never did.
We had our first visit from the DSC (Disability Services Commission) in nearly 8 years.Our new Local Area Coordinator (LAC) is very nice and active which is why I think she is taking the trouble to visit everyone in her district which the previous LACs simply didn't do and just left us to get on with living as best we could. I have demanded all kinds of services, I figure that they owe us. For Curls, anger-management therapy to stop the more violent and destructive tantrums and for Spike, someone to talk to to help him come to terms with Curls' annoying behaviours and the chance of a DSC sibling camp where he can meet with other 'normal' kids who have 'weird' brothers and sisters. There is therefore every chance that both kids will have their own psychs. This will, rather worryingly, see the whole family visiting psychs as soon as I get my new referral. What does this say about us, I wonder???
Anywaym it is a long weekend and we have been sleeping and resting. Right now, we are about to head off to Gingin to visit the Gravity Discovery Centre and observatory, then have lunch by the river. It should be a nice day and when I am feeling better, I just might be able to express my feelings about last week.