Summer Schooling

It is blasting hot here. We have just settled into our new place, finally access to a backyard, and a gorgeous neighbourhood. We have many new faces we see on a regular basis, and a great deal of respect to the other residents of the area. Opportunities abound in outdoor activity, we are in walking distance to all shopping needs, we are in the core of the community but off to the side in a quiet corner tucked away near a college campus. Freedom from the concrete jungle, we are all feeling grateful. Both boys immediately settled in, the calm of the area, the etiquette of the social people around us, the understanding offered for eccentric behaviour is more pronounced in these neighbourhoods than where we started out from. A great sigh of relief moved through our family.

It is still quite hot. We spend our days simply remaining cool, waiting out the hottest parts of the day, saving up for aquatic adventures in the new outdoors, focusing on our lifestyle challenges, of seizures and hydration. Moodiness and lack of sufficient heat-beating nutrients always catches me off guard in July, I don't know why.

There is a tree outside my window!!

Smule's Piano app for the ipad

I have been working on cause and effect training with 'A', building more on the basis that sensory needs are to be understood, respected, and fulfilled but in appropriate ways. Working towards the goal of summer field trips and errands on a more age-appropriate level of behaviour expectations. This is something I find we take two steps back and three steps forward, in every issue, obstacle or challenge. With each move ahead, we gain wisdom and insight. I offer alternatives, but he truly wants to focus on understanding self-regulation, through his own nervous system and neurology, through his eyes not just ours. For this I feel grateful, because you know they have the desire and intention if its something they truly wish to change their vision to. I respect and acknowledge this wish to be integrative in this sense, a want to be like others. Getting him there, is a complex emotional balance for myself, goes against everything I was ever raised with; an assimilation or GTFO sort of attitude. For our connection however its beautiful. My son has taught me what it means to educate someone like him, what it means to be responsible for another human being, and insists out of simple maternal protective instincts, to help him in his survival education. Survival of sensory deficits, of motor delays, and most significantly help him to save himself from the appearance of intellectual deficit.

I have aided, and accommodated his special interest lately, otherwise considered stimming by the pseudo behaviour analysis community. It's how I establish their current focus, and teach through and around it. 'D' loves angry birds, so what if his writing prep, math and language skills are developed through activity and sticker books. For 'A' he takes after his brother's lead a great deal. In this instance however I learned that he is adept at measurement, analysis, trends and statistics, as well as an amazing grasp of physics principles, yet he does not read or write. With these things in mind, I have been pondering how to bring all of these things together, not interfering with his project, but maybe allow the energy to flow to sophistication not overwhelming his options and causing yet another destructive scene to our home after an epic fail of a tower or experiment goes wrong. I love to help him refine and practice his abilities, I mean.. it works.

He is designing his own ingenius understanding of math and patterns of measurement. he uses series of similar items to map out a curve or diagram that represents a physics principle. He's almost 5 years old. So my summer efforts are to find the tools he needs to do so. I wonder where he is going with this! He doesn't approach math from a cookie cutter learning style like his brother does. He is creative, meticulous and insightful. I learned math the way of 'D', recognizing trends and memorizing them.. our creative outlets being language and our designs being through stories or constructions, again for the purpose of story. 'A' however is in love with music and the math or science behind it.