On Friday I made the call to keep Amy home from Kindy. She did have a bit of a cold going on. But mainly, she'd had a few challenges at Kindy this week and I thought I'd give her a morning off. Unfortuately it rained for the next two days so she ended up suffering from a bit of cabin fever. But I think the mini-break from Kindy was worth it.
To be honest, I had had enough of it all myself on Friday - several professionals on board not quite seeing eye-to-eye around Amy's ASD this week. It gets tiring explaining, and then mediating between professionals.
At one of the Nelson Autism NZ support group meetings I went to a few months back, a couple of Mums shared how they gave their kids a day off school every now and then when it seemed they were (sensory) overloaded. I think it is a very sensible thing to do. Actually on Friday there were three variables going on that led me to think it would be best if Amy stayed home: she had a cold, it was raining (so an indoor day at Kindy with forty kids) and she'd been unsettled sleep-wise for several nights. She'd also had a few issues at Kindy this week with confrontational behaviour/conflict going on which is all regular four year old social stuff, in a way. It's just sorting out social dynamics is quite exhausting for her at the best of times, let alone when feeling tired and under the weather.
Friday night Amy got a break from being inside for two days when she went to her first ever PJ party! It was held by a local ballet school - she was invited by a friend who goes to lessons there. The whole ballet school was there plus friends - over a hundred girls clad in PJs between the ages of four and sixteen! They watched Peter Pan on the big screen while eating chips and lollies. Then afterwards had a dance-off. Amy had an absolute blast! She just loved dancing in a big circle with all the big girls and was totally into the game where they had to sit down when the music stopped - and then get up to dance again when it started up again. The last ones to sit down went into the middle of the circle. Amy went into the middle when asked then slinked back next to her good friend later on! They played another game: "People to people" where the ballet teacher said a word like "bottom" and they had to stand bottom to bottom with a friend, or "nose" and they had to stand nose to nose etc. Amy thought it was hilarious! They also did an enormous conga line. Amy was well and truly pooped when it was all over!
It is always so rewarding as a Mum of an ASD preschooler to see Amy fitting in, just like any regular child. It is so great for her self-esteem, and her sense of belonging. And it makes me so proud!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Taking it all with a grain of salt
I am grateful that a year post-ASD-diagnosis for Amy, we are fully entrenched in "the system". By that I mean there are a team of professionals and organisations on board to "help" Amy : a teacher's aide, Kindergarten teachers, special education, an occupational therapist, a speech-therapist (who I have yet to meet!), a paediatrician, the family GP, and a respite carer. In the pipeline there is also a social worker and a psychologist.
Even in a town of 40,000; there seems to be what I consider to be, quite a lot of support. Autism New Zealand continues to be the best form of support that we have, now that I've started making connections with some of the other local Mums of ASD and Aspergers kids.
Sometimes though, the professionals and organisations we deal with get it wrong. It was interesting when I did the SAMS course (a free course for parents of special needs children) recently, a big focus was on maintaining relationships with professionals/organisations. There were several horror stories from the Mum's present. Most of us had struggled to keep our emotions in check when dealing with difficult situations in a professional setting.
It is great having the access to this team of people that are there to help my daughter; yet sometimes it feels as though Amy is scrutinised more than she should be. Things are occasionally picked up that I believe are totally irrelevant to her autism.
This happened in recent weeks when a professional went into her Kindy without telling me and proceeded to tell myself and Amy's teachers aide that she had some issues in an area that was completely unrelated to ASD. My husband and I were flabbergasted. After talking to another professional about it (because not all the professionals/organisations on board are on the same page at times!); I was advised to just ignore that piece of information. So I will.
Overall, the help we get for Amy is outstanding. But every now and then, I am left wondering what a particular piece of advice was about or why certain observations were even made. It alarms me that a true understanding of ASD is not something that can be taken for granted with professionals.
An organisation I'm really rapt with right now is Support Works. At the end of last year we were allocated, after an assessment, several days of respite care. All we had to do was find a respite carer. We appointed a neighbour who seemed perfect for the role at the time but it fizzled out as she is a busy Mum with three kids. However three weeks ago we hired a new respite carer - a teacher-in-training at Amy's Kindy and it is all working out really well. My husband and I are going out on "dates" on a Friday night - just for three hours (7.30 - 10.30pm). Amy is asleep by the time our respite carer arrives so it's all pretty straight-forward.
It has been so good for us as a couple to go out and have some fun/time out of the house the last few Friday's. We have put in the hard yards with Amy for the past (almost) four and a half years so it feels good to give something back to ourselves at this point.
Even in a town of 40,000; there seems to be what I consider to be, quite a lot of support. Autism New Zealand continues to be the best form of support that we have, now that I've started making connections with some of the other local Mums of ASD and Aspergers kids.
Sometimes though, the professionals and organisations we deal with get it wrong. It was interesting when I did the SAMS course (a free course for parents of special needs children) recently, a big focus was on maintaining relationships with professionals/organisations. There were several horror stories from the Mum's present. Most of us had struggled to keep our emotions in check when dealing with difficult situations in a professional setting.
It is great having the access to this team of people that are there to help my daughter; yet sometimes it feels as though Amy is scrutinised more than she should be. Things are occasionally picked up that I believe are totally irrelevant to her autism.
This happened in recent weeks when a professional went into her Kindy without telling me and proceeded to tell myself and Amy's teachers aide that she had some issues in an area that was completely unrelated to ASD. My husband and I were flabbergasted. After talking to another professional about it (because not all the professionals/organisations on board are on the same page at times!); I was advised to just ignore that piece of information. So I will.
Overall, the help we get for Amy is outstanding. But every now and then, I am left wondering what a particular piece of advice was about or why certain observations were even made. It alarms me that a true understanding of ASD is not something that can be taken for granted with professionals.
An organisation I'm really rapt with right now is Support Works. At the end of last year we were allocated, after an assessment, several days of respite care. All we had to do was find a respite carer. We appointed a neighbour who seemed perfect for the role at the time but it fizzled out as she is a busy Mum with three kids. However three weeks ago we hired a new respite carer - a teacher-in-training at Amy's Kindy and it is all working out really well. My husband and I are going out on "dates" on a Friday night - just for three hours (7.30 - 10.30pm). Amy is asleep by the time our respite carer arrives so it's all pretty straight-forward.
It has been so good for us as a couple to go out and have some fun/time out of the house the last few Friday's. We have put in the hard yards with Amy for the past (almost) four and a half years so it feels good to give something back to ourselves at this point.
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