Archive for the ‘115689’ Category
Islands in the stream….
May 18, 2009
Originally uploaded by CleverIndie
That is what we are…
Anyway… Where was I…
Kiddo is a picky eater- he’ll try most anything, but he’s a creature of habit and has sensory issues- so he’s very specific about what he likes and what he loathes…. (and if he changes his mind he will admit nothing!)…
So, he likes everything bagels, corn, and cheese….
So I popped the bagel (with some shredded cheese) in the Rocket Grill and it squished the daylights out of it! So I put it on a plate, put two little morsels of grilled (rocket grilled, baby!) chicken “sunning” on the Isle of Bagel…Of course, the sun is powerful (sun=corn in nifty little pinch bowls…pinch bowls are a lifesaver when you have a kid who cannot handle different foods even seeing each other, never mind *gasp* touching…)
The broccoli is a unique specimen of palm, found only on the Isle of Bagel. By the way, the stars in the blue sea are starfish, and that orange slice toward the back is the mainland (ok, ok, it’s one of those make-a-plate things and it’s an orange moon and a starry night sky)…
So, why does food need this backstory?
Because my kiddo is *that* detailed. He is also very rules based, so artistic presentations of food challenges his deeply ingrained meal & food rules in a fun and somewhat novel way. It’s fun, he’ll argue with me that the palm tree is really broccoli, if he’s tired I know better than to present anything with even .05% whimsy or all hell will break loose. We are working hard to soften some of his rules and his rigidity as living in the world with other people often requires compromise and a little grace and we are getting there, albeit very slowly. How slowly? He’s rules based, he has no gray area, he can’t generalize, so if a scenario is not repeated exactly (ie temperature, light, people present, etc…) he can’t apply the new rule or the exception to the rule, or even withdraw a generalization from his brain/bank to really understand or function reliably.
If you don’t know any kids who are this rigid- imagine potty training a child at home and then take them to grandma’s- most kids can apply their at home potty training to other locations (sometimes with a little urging or reminder and a little modification on everyone’s part)- they can ignore the variables-to a point- and find the constants (the potty, having to pee, etc). Alex can’t ignore the variables so he can see the constants clearly. In the potty training scenario, if you switch up the variables from his home/training base, it’s like he has never seen a toilet in his life and you have to start from square one. (and this isn’t a far off analogy- I was on the verge of making a public restroom scrapbook for him so we could study up before leaving the house- and so we could focus on the visual similarities in the comfort of our home). Is everything this intricate and challenging? Yes. It isn’t getting easier as time goes on, but it is changing, so there is no such thing as boredom. And in all this I can’t stop marveling at the details he notices- it’s like wearing reading glasses- he can see the words clearly but all else disappears…It’s like he can read the words and get sucked into the story but if you ask him about the physical book he has no idea what you are talking about… Raising Alex has made us appreciate the intricacies of thought and reasoning and creativity. Ok, now where was I? :-)
Last night he was in a good mood. He let me explain the food to him. He announced “I like my food plain” and I countered with “it is very plain, I just put it on your plate a little differently”. He hesitated and quickly gobbled up the sun/corn…
I showed him how he can pull a little bit off of the chicken to just taste it (chewing meat type stuff makes him gag or hurl- depending on how far he is into the meal)… And he tasted it and then even ate another little piece without our urging.
Unfortunately, the rocket grill turned the cheese bagel into a crispy, tasty grilled panini sort of a thing, and it was too dense for him to chew (without again gagging…)…
But I feel triumphant… The chicken was no longer stranded as it swam into his mouth and down to his tummy…
Alex declared that it was turning to night as he gobbled up the corn (thereby making the “sun” go down)…
He wouldn’t try the broccoli until I remembered the key to a 5 year old boy’s laughter. He wouldn’t buy the tree devouring giant scenario and then I remembered…
I whispered to him that broccoli magically transforms into horrific, near deadly, rank gas when you eat it.
He giggled and took a bite…
Victory is mine.
By the way, I just received a copy of the Sneaky Chef cookbook in the mail… I’ll comb through it with an eye toward sensory defensiveness (particularly my kiddo’s, but there seem to be a few people cooking for kids like Alex and more typically developing kids seem to have many of the same food quirks) and let you know if it’s worth the purchase… I think kids can learn the joy of healthy foods without hiding them, but when dealing with sensory issues sometimes you have to go behind the scenes, hide the good stuff, and reveal it slowly… And sometimes you have to play with the food.
Autism Awareness.
April 1, 2009
Originally uploaded by CleverIndie
April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. In light of this, many articles about autism around the world are beginning to circulate on the web.
I just read an article on reuters.com (here: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm ) about Autism in China, that talks about how it has only been recognized as a disability since 2006 and parents struggle to find answers and the methods to help their children thrive.
I was expecting shocking news in this article, but these same stories happen here in the United States every day.
From all of the visibility Autism seems to get in the media, one would think awareness here in the US is much more prevalent than anywhere else, and maybe it is, but it isn’t enough.
Until parents are heard by the medical community instead of being rudely dismissed, until medical professionals actually pause and read the diagnostic criteria, until kids are raised to respect differences, and adults who should know better start thinking before they speak & judge and start listening, then the little awareness that we have in this world is nowhere near enough.
April is Autism Awareness month, in support of this I will be writing more frequently about some of our family experiences, personal experiences, and things that have helped us along the way.
Until later, please google… If you are not directly involved in raising a child with ASD, and are curious about what some of us face every day, I definitely suggest google, reading local news articles- including the comments…The comments on most online articles, from major news services, are most telling about what families and children experience and how much more awareness is needed.
Hugs all around,
Bek
ps. there’s a tag could on the right side of this blog where you can click on a tag to bring up all of my blog entries…
Alive and Chicken.
March 26, 2009(misheard song lyric)
Just a quick update to let everyone know that I am still here, but energy has been spewing everywhere but the blog! I’m caught mid-xfer…Trying to move everything to typepad, but don’t have the energy to reformat posts and deal with the tagging/category translation screwup… Soooo… I’m still here…Still updating here… Posting occasional photos over there… Trying to decide if I should separate my art and my adventures in healthcare and parenting, but at the same time they all co-exist, maybe not so happily all the time, but I never intended for this blog to be a pristine studio portrait, I wanted it to be a pile of polaroids, fingerprints on the lens and all…So I am still on the fence…Will announce the big move more officially soon.
The universe just keeps dropping traffic cones and those Bob’s barricades hurdle-y mini-fence things (pylons?) everywhere I turn…Just enough so I can put up my arms and say “why!” but then it dumps piles of paper in those outstretched arms, honey gets somehow dumped over my head, and then the freaking universe turns a fan on. A FAN! What the #*@&? (see I have been working on my potty mouth)
Wish I could handle all of this with zen like grace and a serene moon-like glow, wish I could post an entry about managing stress, illness, parenting a special needs kid, financial drama at homeplate, and how it’s all a great big fabulous TA-DA! learning experience, but we all know that when you are eyeball deep n the big steamy, chunky stew that insight will happen eventually, learning may be around the corner, but right now you’ve got to grab on to that carrot wheel and kick because your life, or at the very least your sanity, depend on it.
No really. I’m ok. I am. or at least I will be.
*insert primal yell here* (yeah, not really me…maybe that should read *insert slightly operatic and comedic bellow*)
Huge hugs all around…
xo
B
