Last year about this time I did the word resolution thing. My word was discipline and I think I forgot about it about a week after the post. This year I'm going to go back to having an actual list of goals. I never get them all done, but I do get some of them done. I think this will work better for me because when you are smack in the middle of the forest, as I always seem to be, you can only see the trees, not the forest. I need the details (trees) of a list, versus the forest of a word. Plus, I like reviewing the list at the end of the year and realizing that I did get some goals done. I'm working on a list now.
Are you doing a word, goals, or resolutions?
The big thing going on right now is that my son and I are starting a business. It's On the Job Janitorial and we just got our first job, a building in downtown Greenville. We are both really stoked about this. We start on Tuesday the 2nd. It's only a few hours a week. We are responsible for the public areas, not the individual shops. After we get the routine down we hope to add a couple more office cleaning accounts.
Some of you who have read my blog for a long time will know that our son has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He is high functioning--what many people call Aspergers. He's 19 now and has not been able to find employment. He's not interested in college, and with his dyslexia he'd have to be really motivated to succeed at a college or university. I've been racking my brain for a job that would be a good fit for him. I finally decided that working at a janitorial service would be good. He doesn't do well around a lot of people, or if he's pressured to work fast. I'm pleased that he likes this idea too, and is very motivated to do this work.
I will have to get up earlier than I like, since most of the work will be done before the shops open in the building. I'm not a morning person. I'm thinking that the upside will be that since I'm up, I will just go work on jewelry after I finish with the janitorial duties. I'm hoping I'll get more done. And of course, the big upside which is employment for us both.
It's odd that it took me this long to think of a janitorial service. That's because I kind of did this before. Years ago I helped a friend find employment cleaning houses and apartments. I booked the jobs and she did the cleaning. After a period of time she learned enough English to get a good job at a hospital in addition to the apartment cleaning.
Now is the perfect time to have thought of it though, because a year ago our son wouldn't have been ready for it, and now he is. It's a blessing.
I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. We had a great Christmas visiting with family. We spent Christmas eve at my parents and had Christmas dinner at my brother's place.
Happy New Year! May 2012 be a great year for us all.
This is the trailer for a new movie about autism.
There are so many children with autism. What will happen to them when they are grown? As the parent of an "adult" child with autism, I can tell you there are no resources.
The past few months have brought a major change in our family. About six weeks before the end of last school year I started homeschooling our son. Then this summer I took him to a pediatric neurologist who diagnosed him with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Ironically, we took him to a different pediatric neurologist when he was three because my mother insisted that we get him checked for autism. At that time he wouldn't make eye contact most of the time and did a lot of spinning. He would flinch and cover his ears when he heard a car engine starting. And boy, was he obsessed with vacuum cleaners, just as long as you didn't turn them on.
Naturally he looked the doctor right in the eye and interacted quite well with him. The doctor was also impressed that Stefan could ride a bicycle. He thought he was okay, but did mention that he might have ADD.
In the end, Grandma did know best.
He was later diagnosed with ADD, Dyslexia, and anxiety. Things didn't quite seem to fit and I took him to the neurologist because I felt we must be missing something.
At first I was relieved to know what was going on. All the little things that didn't fit his diagnosis before all fit with this one. Then I was bummed for a while. Stefan is still the same kid he has always been, he's high-functioning, and I've decided to quit being bummed. Things could be a lot worse. I know people for whom things are a lot worse.
Luckily we did a lot of things for Stefan when he was little that turned out to be the things we should have been doing if we'd known about the autism. We read to him from birth, we took him to Kindermusic, mother's day out, pre-school, sports, scouts etc. Starting in Kindergarten he had speech therapy through 7th grade. We worked on writing in the summer because his fine motor skills needed improvement.
I've quit subbing at the Middle School for a couple of years until Stefan graduates. He's in 11th grade this year. His interest is in filming skateboarding, so hopefully he'll go to a college after high school to learn videography.
I'm enjoying being at home with Stefan and teaching him. So far it's working out well, although we never seem to get as much done as I want to do. Part of that is because I don't have a handle on how long it takes to do things, part is technical (we are getting him a laptop for his birthday, which should rememdy a lot of the technical problems) and part is just because we don't always get everything done. He is learning and the stress we had when he was in the local high school is gone. Also gone are the hours and hours of homework after school. I'm also able to do life skills with him at home that he couldn't do in school.
I've been reading a lot about autism. One of the books I read is Homeschooling the Child with Autism by Patricia Schetter and Kandis Lighthall. It's been very helpful.
