Alec scored his second goal at soccer on Sunday. I will try and explain why this is so fantastic, fantastic enough to make me cry.. again

When Alec was three he communicated with squeals, life in general would put his body into overload so all he could do was shut down, withdraw and scream. Scream in frustration, fear, anger and anguish. What few words he had he would repeat over and over again. Thomas the tank engine was his world, he would go places with a thomas engine in each hand, like they were his buffer against the world.

Then came speech therapy, every week I would sit there and watch his sessions, masking the tears as I saw how hard he worked and how wonderful his speech therapist was. We would make progress, then fall back a little but always going forward, each week another lesson learnt and lots of homework, our life had become a speech session. I remember when we started teaching Alec imaginative play. Rather than just line up all the trains side by side I introduced animals and some people, we were doing really well, the animals were all going to the train station to go on a train ride.. then the phone rang, 2 minutes later I retuned and there were all the animals lined up facing the rail way track.. imaginative play was obviously over but we had made a start.

The next year was hard, Alec was at kindy, doing 2 sessions at the early intervention centre and I session of speech each week and 4 half days of kindy, we drove a lot! We drove the same routes, there could be no deviation, routine was the most important thing in Alec's life, being able to predict what was going to happen next, which road was to be travel. No deviation no spur of the moment visits or stops. Then one day in August after 18 months of weekly visits we are told speech is finished! how far he had come, a little boy of few words and virtually no comprehension, how must it be to hear the words but not understand what they mean, I still can't comprehend what it must have been like for him not being able to tell what other people were feeling, not able to read facial expressions or body language, these were all things that had to be taught. Next up was pre primary and more early intervention, seeing him grow and learn, how good were those therapists, how much they cared and loved the children and how much do we love them for what they have given us.

Everyday is a new day, we still have issues, autism has its characteristics that are always there, but we built a framework for Alec to build on, learning communication, how to approach social situations, how to handle his sensory issues. In the last 18 months Thomas has been outgrown, he finally added people to his play and his brother, no longer was it just Alec.

We put a lot of thought into soccer, would he handle it, could he take direction and would he be able to work in a team environment. Each week he is getting better, listening, following direction interacting with others. Those arms are a bit less flappy, that head a little less wobbly and those legs aren't tripping him up 1/2 as much as they were in the beginning. And he has scored 2 goals! To see his face and body language, he literally walks on air when this happens. We are so proud, the work this little boy has done, never did he complain about doing therapy, it was always an adventure. Always bright always loving we are so lucky to have this beatiful boy. Autism is a challenge but I would do everything I have done again, I still worry, could I have done more what am I doing for him now and will it be enough. We take it day by day, week by week.

Labels: autism, soccer

we awoke this morning to no power, the only problem with this was how was I going to dry my hair before we went out!!!

The boys were great they came in for cuddles then went off to play in the lounge. If we had just been doing soccer I wouldn't have even worried about washing my hair but we were also meeting friends for dim sum afterwards. Soccer was great and so was dim sum.

The crowning glory of the day were the croissants I made. You see Alec loves croissant and at $2.40 each from the bakery it was going to really start adding up, so for under $8 I made 24!! The boys helped roll them and they got the thumbs up from every one. It took a whole afternoon but it was worth the effort.

Labels: cooking, soccer

Alec started soccer 4 weeks ago. Yeah that's nice you say, well it is actually pretty fantastic. You see it is very hard for autistic kids to play team sports. So many different rules, things changing from second to second. Yet here we have Alec who is thriving, getting in there and loving it. Every goal he celebrates as though it was his goal, he feels, and I think he likes what he is feeling, instead of confusion there is euphoria, he looks as high as a kite, he flaps his arms and he makes funny noises and I think that is part of the appeal for him, he doesn't have to hold those mannerisms in because most of the other kids are doing the same thing.

Now for the not so good news, he is having trouble recognising peoples faces, it is made so much harder by the fact that the kids wear a school uniform now. We are going to do a set of photos for him with everyone photo and name for him to keep in his desk. Emotionally he is on a bit of a rollercoaster right now, up one minute acting like a teenager the next, he can be so dramatic. Last week I wouldn't let him play his computer game, or maybe I said he couldn't bring something somewhere, well the next thing you know according to him I had ruined his life.. Michael pointed out he was about 10 years too early to be feeling that way.

We have reintroduced his schedule at school, it helps so much and it is one more thing to reduce any stress he might be experiencing. Stress for Alec is bought on by not knowing what to do next, not knowing what is expected of him, too much noise and things like not knowing how to react appropriately to a situation. I sometimes find it hard to remember the little boy that didn't talk and hid under tables and screamed all the time. He has come so far and he has embraced every bit of therapy we have given him but some things will always be there and we teach him coping strategies.

And as for Riley, well he is such a complex little thing. We try very hard to make sure he is getting everything he needs, right now he needs lots of positive strokes, we give him little jobs to do, bringing in the washing, emptying parts of the dishwasher and tidying the playroom and give him lots of praise, we are building his self esteem up, Alec has it in abundance but as Riley is very shy we want him to break out of his shell a little more and this is the first step. Funnily Riley has the confidence to speak to adults but almost looks afraid of other children.

Here is my gorgeous big boy coming off the field, couldn't think of a title so this is how it stays... we are all off for flu shots this afternoon and Riley is getting his 4 year old vaccinations, wish me luck, I hate needles and I will probably get mine first to show them how brave mummy is...

UPDATE: the doctors went well after an initial hitch, they had booked us with the wrong Dr Chris, we see the same doctor all the time, it is really important for Alec and he wouldn't see the other one, so in the end our Dr Chris was good enough to see us during his lunch break, I went first, then Alec who was a bit shaky but happily announced it didn't hurt at all I didn't have to be brave after all!

Labels: autism, scrapbooking, soccer

Today was my first day as a soccer mum. It was a bit chilly and blowy, we turned up at 10:15 for our 10:30 game and there were all these people we knew, I loved that as I am so bad in social situations but you know I even talked to the other mums and dads from Alec's team. Two of Alec's class mates are on his team, this was why I signed up. Another mum from school is in another team and we also saw Alec's aide as she had come to watch her son play in the under 13's. He had so much support from everyone I was really touched that they all watched him and told me how well he did.

I am a very proud mum tonight.

He played so well, he looks a little gangly and gets the ends mixed up and keeps going even if the game has started heading the other way but he did so well! I was so proud of him and he had fun so that is all that matters. Oh and they won their game too.

Labels: soccer