Prepare to enter the wild and wooly world of an adult with Aspergers Syndrome, a form of autism characterized by intellignce, quirks, social difficulties and downright strange and oddish behaviours.

People with Aspergers generally are high functioning in everyday life but have great difficulty connecting with others due to the inability to read faces, body language and subtle verbal clues. They also tend to take words literally and have a hard time multi-tasking.

Oversensitivity to touch (clothing has to be soft and often the tags removed), light (do not leave home without the sunglasses), sound (loud noises and noisey places are avoided), taste (many Aspies have quite a limited diet and are frequently very picky eaters) and smells makes the everyday existence more of a challenge.

Fasten your seatbelts and come on in...
To find out more about what Aspergers is..please check out my earliest blog entries

Thursday, January 27, 2011

One-Hand Challenges..Momma Steps Out-of-the-Box

Having one-handed Younglink has really forced me (in a nice way) out of my box. I have to be more aware of those everyday things, that the average person doesn't think about, so that I can help him adjust. I have to look more, see more and be much more aware for potential challenges. Its a learning curve, as this is all new for our family.
Sure, playing the piano would be a challenge but so are simple things like zippers, putting on socks (seriously, try it sometime), buttoning jeans, putting on a stocking cap, opening and eating a banana, carrying trays and certain things like large dinner plates, cutting food, riding a bike when you can't reach both handlebars (we had an adaptive device made special) and...and ice skating.
Today, at school, was take the class to the ice rink day. Sure, it was written in the school bulletin and I had actually read said bulletin, I just failed to retain that little tidbit. So, I get to school and Younlink balks and gets upset at the idea.
Hmm, last year for this event, I accompanied him and it was so extremely chaotic and stressful that I just didn't have it in me to do it ever again. There were not nearly enough helpers and as I helped Younglink get his skates on three other kids would ask for my help...then out on the rink I kept picking up the ones that had fallen and then, usually, they never let go. And I like to help but I couldn't help everyone or as many as needed it so it was very frustrating.
Younglink needs one-on-one because he is not proficent at ice skating and yeah, his one-handedness comes in to play. If he falls, he is unable to protect and brace himself like others. Because of his foreshortened arm, he falls towards that side and usually ends up hitting his head. Yeah, one of those odd challenges that we quickly learned when he first started walking/ running at eight months. LOL, he never really walked...he just ran. I did briefly entertain the idea of getting him a helmet but would he really like looking that odd compared to his peers? I think not.
So, instead of all that, I opted to call the school, pick him up before the procession to the rink and drop him back off once his class returned. Younglink was absolutely overjoyed when I showed up to get him.
Yes, I do love the box within which I live and its comfy and cozy and extremely quiet...but for the love of my little guy, I venture out.

Feeling even a wee bit better today...maybe as high as 90%. I engaged one of Younglinks teachers in conversation (his music teacher who I had not previously met) and whilst I was able to convey my message...it could have been a bit clearer, less choppy, haltering and erratic. But, overall, momma done well!