Yet another similarity between Autism Spectrum and ADHD:
Why Do Children with Autism Wander?
And yet somehow people still want to think that ADHD is caused by bad parenting or too much sugar. They can accept that an autistic child has behavior that they can't control, but think that an ADHD child just isn't trying hard enough. So many minds to change, sigh...
E turned 9 last week, and it has been an interesting time since then. And by interesting I mean, 'What in the world is going on with this kid?!' We had gotten him an alarm clock months ago but he always unplugged it or just turned it off. Waking him up in the morning was rotten, as he is such a heavy sleeper and never wanted to cooperate. But the day after his birthday he came down, completely dressed at 8am. I was stunned. He informed me that when he heard his alarm he decided that since he was now 9, he wanted to be big and get himself up. Then during breakfast he told me that he loved me. He then told me that the daffodils he had picked me the day before were a symbol of his love for me. I was quite taken aback, but also didn't think it would be a lasting change. It's now been 10 days, and not only is he still waking up, dressing himself and then eating breakfast & taking meds with no problems, today he got up a half hour earlier so he would have extra time to play a video game. I could eat this kid up!
Showing posts with label Wandering Boy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wandering Boy. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Felony
So a dear non-blogging friend was reading about our camping weekend and told me that I should blog about her favorite Wandering Boy story: The Felony. I hadn't thought about it, as it happened pre-blogger in my life, but it is another example of why my hair is turning grey, and certainly worth sharing.
When the Boy was around 4 years old he was in the living room playing happily. I being blissfully still ignorant of how the wandering thing was a big issue, left him unattended for a bit while I went in the kitchen to do something. When I came back out, he was gone from the room. I looked in every room in the house, realizing that he must have gone outside somehow without me knowing. I then began yelling his name. (My neighbors are now so used to this that they have almost all stopped coming out to help me look for him anymore.) I went back in the house and searched every room again in case he had gone back inside through another door while I was on the other side of the house. After fifteen minutes I had the phone in my hand, ready to call the police, when one of the neighbor's called out to me. There was the Boy walking across the next yard over, looking completely surprised at my distress and wanting a snack.
I eventually calmed down and gave him a lecture about telling mommy if he wanted to go outside and blah blah blah. It perplexed me that I had not been able to find him nor could he tell me where he had been, but I was relieved that he was alive and let it go. Fast forward a few hours. My neighbor John comes knocking on my door after he arrives home from work. He asks if I had seen anyone hanging around his yard or house today. I hum through an answer while he goes on to tell me that he wondered if someone had tried to rob him, because the door inside his back screened porch had been standing open when he got home. And when he looked around he found a CD player on the living floor. And the television on. In every room. And the video game system pulled out of the cabinet and plugged into the television and turned on. The keyboard turned on. The stereo system turned on. Pretty much every single electronic entertainment item John owned was turned on and left out. John wonders about prowlers while I silently wonder about military school.
I did eventually confess to John that the Boy had gone missing for a time that day, and that he must have gotten into John's house. John mentioned that he leaves that porch door unlocked while he's at work so his girls can get in the house after school if they need to. I felt relieved, knowing that when you remove the Breaking from the Breaking & Entering, that the jail time would have to be reduced for this lesser offense.
When the Boy was around 4 years old he was in the living room playing happily. I being blissfully still ignorant of how the wandering thing was a big issue, left him unattended for a bit while I went in the kitchen to do something. When I came back out, he was gone from the room. I looked in every room in the house, realizing that he must have gone outside somehow without me knowing. I then began yelling his name. (My neighbors are now so used to this that they have almost all stopped coming out to help me look for him anymore.) I went back in the house and searched every room again in case he had gone back inside through another door while I was on the other side of the house. After fifteen minutes I had the phone in my hand, ready to call the police, when one of the neighbor's called out to me. There was the Boy walking across the next yard over, looking completely surprised at my distress and wanting a snack.
I eventually calmed down and gave him a lecture about telling mommy if he wanted to go outside and blah blah blah. It perplexed me that I had not been able to find him nor could he tell me where he had been, but I was relieved that he was alive and let it go. Fast forward a few hours. My neighbor John comes knocking on my door after he arrives home from work. He asks if I had seen anyone hanging around his yard or house today. I hum through an answer while he goes on to tell me that he wondered if someone had tried to rob him, because the door inside his back screened porch had been standing open when he got home. And when he looked around he found a CD player on the living floor. And the television on. In every room. And the video game system pulled out of the cabinet and plugged into the television and turned on. The keyboard turned on. The stereo system turned on. Pretty much every single electronic entertainment item John owned was turned on and left out. John wonders about prowlers while I silently wonder about military school.
I did eventually confess to John that the Boy had gone missing for a time that day, and that he must have gotten into John's house. John mentioned that he leaves that porch door unlocked while he's at work so his girls can get in the house after school if they need to. I felt relieved, knowing that when you remove the Breaking from the Breaking & Entering, that the jail time would have to be reduced for this lesser offense.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Beginning of the Camping Season
We started our camping season this past weekend. It was beautiful on Friday, but Saturday brought cold and grey weather, and bored and annoying children. We managed to keep them busy with s'mores and the sandbox, and the Barnacle explored new ways to bruise every inch of his pumpkinhead.
This was the SAR-EX weekend, which is the yearly training event held by the Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Council. So our campground was overrun with search-people and dogs. This is one of my favorite weekends because I know that if the Boy wanders, I have hundreds of people just itching to search and rescue someone. I considered renting him out for a hefty fee, as I know he would certainly give them their money's worth. Come to think of it, I should sneak into the testing tent next year and try my hand at the written exam. I've certainly had enough on the job training. That could be a good speaking gig too I bet, or maybe a book deal. "How I Survived Raising the Wandering Boy", in stores now!
This was the SAR-EX weekend, which is the yearly training event held by the Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Council. So our campground was overrun with search-people and dogs. This is one of my favorite weekends because I know that if the Boy wanders, I have hundreds of people just itching to search and rescue someone. I considered renting him out for a hefty fee, as I know he would certainly give them their money's worth. Come to think of it, I should sneak into the testing tent next year and try my hand at the written exam. I've certainly had enough on the job training. That could be a good speaking gig too I bet, or maybe a book deal. "How I Survived Raising the Wandering Boy", in stores now!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
HE WANDERS!
The Boy had his first field trip recently, to a natural science museum. He was very excited but I was NERVOUS. I didn't have the option of going with him, as the chaperones were pre-selected from the PTO elite, darn them! I kept telling myself that they would have safety measures in place, like name tags and a buddy system and GPS chips - wait, ok maybe not the last thing. But really, if you'll recall the infamous church escape incident, you know that this is not something I am overreacting about. I briefly considered taping a note to his back with his name and my cell number. I also briefly considered writing 'I WANDER' in Sharpie across his forehead. Although this warning doesn't do much good, as in the cases of the aforementioned church escape, and as my mother-in-law can attest, the Great Dutch Wonderland Escape. He's quite stealthy.
When he was two he was playing in our back yard. I went in the house to do something housewifey, and his sister was in school. He must have sensed his moment had arrived, because when I returned to the yard a few minutes later, he was gone. I checked every nook and cranny of that back yard and finally noticed the gate was slightly ajar. And I say 'slightly' because it was, in fact, still CLOSED. And PADLOCKED. He being of skinny bones however, was able to push the gate just far enough open so he could squink his little self through. I don't know why I thought to unlock the gate and go looking, since I really did not believe he could have gotten through. I found him the next street over, trotting down the sidewalk and just beaming. After I recovered from my aneurism I was able to see the humor in the situation, in particular the part where he had not gone into the street and been flattened. Oh how I long for those simpler times, before he could run faster than me, before he learned how to use his father's tools to dismantle his room.
The Boy enjoyed his field trip immeasurably, and the bug exhibit was the highlight for him. I was just relieved to see him get off that bus at the end of the day. I'm still thinking about the Sharpie idea for next year though.
When he was two he was playing in our back yard. I went in the house to do something housewifey, and his sister was in school. He must have sensed his moment had arrived, because when I returned to the yard a few minutes later, he was gone. I checked every nook and cranny of that back yard and finally noticed the gate was slightly ajar. And I say 'slightly' because it was, in fact, still CLOSED. And PADLOCKED. He being of skinny bones however, was able to push the gate just far enough open so he could squink his little self through. I don't know why I thought to unlock the gate and go looking, since I really did not believe he could have gotten through. I found him the next street over, trotting down the sidewalk and just beaming. After I recovered from my aneurism I was able to see the humor in the situation, in particular the part where he had not gone into the street and been flattened. Oh how I long for those simpler times, before he could run faster than me, before he learned how to use his father's tools to dismantle his room.
The Boy enjoyed his field trip immeasurably, and the bug exhibit was the highlight for him. I was just relieved to see him get off that bus at the end of the day. I'm still thinking about the Sharpie idea for next year though.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
The Boy is faster than western security
From September 4, 2007
We've missed attending church a lot this summer since we've been away most weekends. We had been wanting to go to church somewhere in the area of the campground but hadn't ever managed to do it. Some of our friends who have sites at the same place recently went to a megachurch nearby and really liked it. The man who owns/runs our campground goes to this church which is how we found it. It's so very different from our church, in good and bad ways.... They had really amazing classrooms for the kids though, and you register the kids at one of the check-in desks. They put you into the computer and print labels that go on each kid, and on you, and you get a pager too. The pager is on each sticker, along with any special instructions. (Yes, I was in OCD heaven, haaa) When I was filling out the paper with the kids' info I wrote under the Boy's special needs 'He wanders'. (My husband laughed, but he KNOWS that this is true and people must be warned!) Well, anything you put in that section goes onto their tag by code, so if they don't have a code for it I guess it doesn't go on the tag. After the service we went to go get the kids, and the Boy met us in the lobby area of the kids classrooms! He looked about ready to cry too, probably since the place is huge and it was crowded. The Man asked him what he was doing and the Boy replied, 'I was looking for mommy!'
I told the Man that I'd better go tell them in his classroom that he had gotten out so they didn't worry when they realized. (They check your stickers when you come for your child, and if you don't have your sticker you don't get your kid!) The main teacher happened to be our campground owner, lol, so I found him right away. I told him that the Boy had met us in the lobby and his eyes popped, lol. I told him that I had put it on the card I filled out, and he said that he would try to get that added into their coding system..... which totally cracked me up! We found out later that they even called a staff meeting afterwards to discuss the failure! I guess I shouldn't laugh, because it was a big deal to them, since they are really very thorough. But the Boy just threw them all for a loop because nothing and no one can keep him in. He's always been an escape artist and a wanderer!
We've missed attending church a lot this summer since we've been away most weekends. We had been wanting to go to church somewhere in the area of the campground but hadn't ever managed to do it. Some of our friends who have sites at the same place recently went to a megachurch nearby and really liked it. The man who owns/runs our campground goes to this church which is how we found it. It's so very different from our church, in good and bad ways.... They had really amazing classrooms for the kids though, and you register the kids at one of the check-in desks. They put you into the computer and print labels that go on each kid, and on you, and you get a pager too. The pager is on each sticker, along with any special instructions. (Yes, I was in OCD heaven, haaa) When I was filling out the paper with the kids' info I wrote under the Boy's special needs 'He wanders'. (My husband laughed, but he KNOWS that this is true and people must be warned!) Well, anything you put in that section goes onto their tag by code, so if they don't have a code for it I guess it doesn't go on the tag. After the service we went to go get the kids, and the Boy met us in the lobby area of the kids classrooms! He looked about ready to cry too, probably since the place is huge and it was crowded. The Man asked him what he was doing and the Boy replied, 'I was looking for mommy!'
I told the Man that I'd better go tell them in his classroom that he had gotten out so they didn't worry when they realized. (They check your stickers when you come for your child, and if you don't have your sticker you don't get your kid!) The main teacher happened to be our campground owner, lol, so I found him right away. I told him that the Boy had met us in the lobby and his eyes popped, lol. I told him that I had put it on the card I filled out, and he said that he would try to get that added into their coding system..... which totally cracked me up! We found out later that they even called a staff meeting afterwards to discuss the failure! I guess I shouldn't laugh, because it was a big deal to them, since they are really very thorough. But the Boy just threw them all for a loop because nothing and no one can keep him in. He's always been an escape artist and a wanderer!
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