Making Money

Marshall is my entrepreneur.  He is always trying to find ways to make money. Last year, he sat out on the driveway and sold books that he wrote, and paper airplanes. A few people were so kind and actually bought something from him! This winter, he and the kids next door went door to door asking of the people would pay them to shovel their driveway. I told him he needed to quit bothering people. He must not have heard that part. Yesterday, I found out that he and the other kids were going door to door asking if they could wash people's cars. I asked the kids what they were using to wash the cars. They excitedly turned to Marshall who held up his squirt gun. I busted up laughing! I asked if they had any soap. They told me they were just going to ask the people if they could use their soap. Oh those kids....they make me laugh!

Autism Awareness Month

It is still Autism a Awareness Month. I have a Facebook friend who has posted little snippets about their life with Autism. I've enjoyed reading those posts and feeling like I'm not alone. 

I've posted some things about life with Marshall here and there, but for the most part, I reserve those feelings for a special Facebook group I created for people who have family members with Autism, or who have Autism themselves. It's safe there. People in that group are living with Autism every day. They get it. 

If at all possible, I avoid taking Marshall shopping. It's not a good experience for either one of us. The time finally came where he was out of shorts and T shirts, and I had no other choice, so off we went. 

He has huge issues with the way clothes feel that I knew it would be better to take him to the store. That way he could decide whether or not he could tolerate wearing the clothes.  It was pure torture. I got him back to the boys section of clothes and he grabbed one pair of shorts and said, "These work." He didn't want to try them on. His limit was one pair of shorts, and even that took a lot if coaxing. He hates, Hates, HATES changing his clothes. It is complete torture for him. He doesn't like the way clothes feel. If the shorts have snaps or buttons, forget it! If there are tags, don't bother buying them. If the clothes have seams on the chest area, like in Rugby style shirts, absolutely not!! If they smell funny, look funny, or aren't soft, he won't wear them.

As I made him try on clothes, he got increasingly anxious and upset with each item. He was very near a complete meltdown when he asked if he could just play a game in his head. Like a genius that I occasionally am, I immediately said he could, and that I would play pretend Pirate 101 with him. After that, we checked out and went outside to continue our game. Meltdown more was avoided, and we were able to leave much happier. 

Spell-A-Thon and Asperger Syndrome

I was cleaning up the living room and I just found a paper about Marshall's school Spell-A-Thon. They are raising money to help buy shoes for kids at their partner school in Uganda, Africa. While I think this is such a worthwhile cause, I think Marshall will not enjoy it one bit. (I am in NO WAY trying to bash the school. I am simply trying to help others understand how Asperger Syndrome makes our life different than a typical kid.)

 While I fully realize my children are two very different people, and that not all children are alike, I also understand some of the things that make Marshall different. Sometimes I wonder why I try. I wonder why I keep trying to make people understand. Why can't I just let them think he is normal? I mean, he tries SO HARD to appear normal. I do this because there are other parents out there who are just like me, who have children just like Marshall, who are desperately trying to hold it together. They need to know they are not crazy, and that there is something wonderfully different about their child. Asperger Syndrome is extremely hard to deal with because it seems invisible to others. They act like the parents are just trying to get attention or something. Trust me. This is NOT about me needing attention. I would much rather have a typically developing, silly, fun 9 year old son instead of a boy who still doesn't understand personal safety, struggles with processing information, has sensory issues, and is so very quick to anger. Anyway, here are my reasons Marshall probably won't enjoy the Spell-A-Thon or the rewards that go with it.

Reason #1: When he is put under pressure to do things quickly, he often can't get his brain to process fast enough. For example, they have an awesome math program that the kids can do on the computer to practice their math facts. He gets really upset and hates this website because it is timed and he really struggles to get his brain to process things that fast. He is a genius, don't get me wrong, it's just his processing speed that is slow.

Reason #2: He can't keep track of anything. I get that most kids are distracted little beings, and we have to make sure everything is in his backpack, but that is as much as I can do for him! I can not make him keep it zipped up while on the bus. I can't make him hand in the papers that are in his backpack either. He lost his case for his recorder twice now. We got it back the first time because he left it on the bus. But, so far, it hasn't turned up yet. Ok, so maybe this is more of a reason for me. Why try to raise money, (and I only have one day to get this done mind you) just to have him lose it?

Reason #3: The rewards for raising a certain amount of money are less than appealing to him. Reward number One sounds great actually! If the student body raises $1,200 the kids get a sweet treat. He might like that. He might give his treat to someone else. (Isn't he just so sweet?) That's no big deal in my book. Reward #2 won't be very appealing to him: If the students raise $3,300 they can get a pajama day. Marshall won't participate in Pajama Day because he says kids will make fun of his pajamas. He is SO worried about being made fun of. Poor kid. He misinterprets things kids say ALL THE TIME to mean they are making fun of him. Reward #3 is a sensory nightmare. If the students raise $6,600, they get a students vs staff silly string war assembly. Can you say utter and total chaos? Can you imagine the noise that will go along with that assembly? It sounds like a BLAST, if you have a typical kid. If you have a child who is sensitive to noises like mine is, it is not fun at all. He absolutely HATES assemblies but he won't ask permission to not attend because he forgets, or he doesn't want to be different.

See how having a child with Asperger Syndrome changes the way you look at things? It has certainly changed the way I view things.