Ever on and on » Autism

Pushing buttons

kaufman — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:23:36 +0000

The setup: I have a PC that’s a MythTV client (kind of like a Tivo, but open-source) in my living room. All the recording is done on the server in the basement, but to add verisimilitude I wrote a little script that polls the server, and when the server is recording, it turns on a blue LED on the client – actually it flashes a few times, then turns on solid.

The rest of the setup: M is a confirmed button-pusher, and always likes to know how to make the little lights go on and off.

So M was sitting near the MythTV – listening to music – and a recording came on. She noticed the little blue LED flash and turn on, but how to turn it off? She pushed the RESET button on the MythTV, rebooting the PC, and of course the light went off. In a little while, the PC had rebooted, and my script ran again, and noticed that a show was being recorded downstairs. So it flashed the LED, and so M pushed the RESET button.

PC: LED off, reboot, run script, flash LED. M: push RESET.

This went on for a while before I redirected her…

Piano

kaufman — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:39:55 +0000

We started M on piano lessons. She had been fooling around with ours for months, first because she was imitating a Blues Clues episode, then because Mom had shown her a few things. But she didn’t actually play tunes.

At her first piano lesson, after a little bit of discomfort with a new place and a new person, she played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star all the way through. Now she’s admitted she can do it, she plays it at home, too, experimenting with different octaves and really figuring out how she can make music. It’s pretty neat.

A Famous Victory

kaufman — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:37:00 +0000

Tonight, the schools superintendent reversed himself and withdrew his recommendation that M’s program should be moved. Moved, from the school that was built to accommodate her and her classmates (suspended equipment, bathrooms in the classrooms). Moved, from the school where she’s comfortable – the kids and staff know and accept her. Moved, from the school where she is finally settled after 12 moves in 4.5 years (including construction and summer school – but still!)

It’s not all good. M’s program is staying, but other children will have to move, because the school is full and there’s not enough room for next year’s projections. The parents whose children will move are upset, and – I was surprised by this – there are parents whose children are at the target school as part of open enrollment, who are afraid they will get forced out. This is overhang from the redistricting 2 years ago… always a messy business.

In the end, all we can do is advocate for our own children.

P.S. I’ve just found the reference for the headline quote, and it’s yucky. I’m using it anyway.

Sledding

kaufman — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:31:02 +0000

Driving home after a family party, after bedtime and in the dark. We went up Mass Ave past the hill we sometimes sled on. From the back seat we hear M saying “Sledding. It’s sledding.” She had recognized the sledding hill in the dark, coming from an unfamiliar direction.

It’s good generalization to know a place in the dark – I’m not even sure that her brother knew where we were at that moment – but there’s more to it than that. This shows that M is rooted in the community; she knows places and people, and her world extends beyond a few rooms in our house. We worry about this, that autism has drawn an artificial horizon around her world. It’s a nice feeling when M shares her world with us.

Funny joke

kaufman — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:24:17 +0000

I drove M to school today. (It’s a short drive, but the weather was yucky, and I was continuing on to work.) As she sometimes does, she locked the door from the inside. Her teacher met us at the curb, and I went around to open the door – which was still locked. Miriam was inside, looking at her teacher, and laughing – delighted with the joke, and sharing it with someone she likes.

Lookit

kaufman — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:27:56 +0000

Walking to school, pushing M in the jogging stroller, through a little bit of woods near a brook. A rabbit ran across the path, and M – completely unprompted – says “Lookit the bunny”!