My Poor Assless Boy

Leelo gained a lot of weight during his Abilify horrorshow phase: almost ten pounds in two months. In the two months since he switched to Risperdol, his weight has drifted halfway back towards its pre-drug-siege status.

But he still can't pull his pants up properly. He is an assless boy like his assless grandfather and assless mother, in stark contrast to his bootyful dad and big sister. When you cap that butt with a great big belly and compound it with questionable fine motor skills, not even elastic-waisted pants can save the day.

I know this because I thought the issue was waist size. So I bought him bigger pants: we jumped from husky sevens to husky eights. Which are indeed much easier for him to pull up and on, but spend most of the day inching towards his knees. He can't wear them to school. He can't wear them anywhere at all unless an adult is with him, because he -- like his assless grandfather -- is incapable of sensing when several inches of crack greet the world.

We got my dad to wear suspenders, but I don't think that's going to work for tactile-aversive Leelo. I guess we just need to keep helping him deflate that belly, and prompting him to pull up his pants.

Technorati Tags: autism, autism blog, husky, pants

Izzy Howser

Torn straight from Twitter and Facebook, with a nod to e. for the title:

My 10-year-old just gave me a detailed explanation of the difference b/t a colostomy, an ileostomy, & an ileoanalanastamosis (sp?). OK then.

She is just generally interested in anatomy and medical conditions. We got into this discussion via another discussion of why cancer can be fatal, e.g., cancer cells outcrowd the normally functioning cells in an organ and prevent it from functioning; her example was a colon blockage, I said that one could just get a colonostomy, she then learned me about the various large intestine surgical scenarios (and expressed disbelief when I didn't know where my sigmoid colon was). Right now she is telling me about infant blood transfusions to treat Rhesus disease (i.e., Rh incompatibility).

On Saturday night Jennyalice & crew came for dinner and stayed for a family sleepover. We four adults tried our best to stump Iz on the symptoms for various medical conditions; it took about an hour and Sjogren's Syndrome to trip her.

She is having big med school dreams at the moment, naturally. I don't have the heart to tell her how much sucky foundation learning, cut-throat peer competition, and intern/residency sleep loss is involved. I'll let her think it's all pure coolness and knowledge-inhaling, for now.

Technorati Tags: autism siblings

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's a Match!

This is the draft version of an icon matching activity I'm making for Leelo, in which he can match pictures to the picture and word, or just word to word. I figured using one of his favorite places in the entire world, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, would be a motivator.

I would enjoy hearing from other people who make their own materials as to how you've fine-tuned your sight-reading and matching activities, and/or other approaches you have used.

Happy Valentine's Day, Interweb. Leelo loves you.

Technorati Tags: autism, autism blog, Monterey Bay Aquarium, reading, sight reading

Come to Can I Sit With You? Live!, Wed. March 11 in Redwood City

Parents, children, or anyone who has ever been either one of those; fans of social skills development, special needs advocacy and/or special education fundraising; or anyone who simply enjoys a good storytelling session:

Come join editors Shannon Des Roches Rosa and Jennifer Byde Myers as we talk about the mission of the Can I Sit With You? Project, then laugh and squirm through live story readings by four of our most popular authors.

The Can I Sit With You? Project's frequently hilarious and often heartbreaking stories will be appropriate for anyone who has ever struggled with awkward social scenarios at school -- especially so for currently curious, concerned, or socially cornered children.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 7:00 PM
Redwood City Main Library, Fireplace Room
1044 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA 94063

Featured Readers:
Mike Adamick, The Weirdest Kid in the World
Amanda Jones, The Cure of Nowhere
Sarah Dopp, Will You Go Out With Me?
Judy McCrary Koeppen, Men-Stru-a-Tion

Copies of Can I Sit With You Too?, our second story collection, will be available for purchase (and signing).

Remember, all proceeds from The Can I Sit With You? Project (www.canisitwithyou.org) fund SEPTAR, the Special Education PTA of the Redwood City School District.

Thank you for your support.

Parents: please review the featured stories (linked above) if you have concerns about subject matter.

We'd really love to see you all there!

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Direct page link to the information above, for copious forwarding, Facebook Status updating, or Tweeting:

http://www.canisitwithyou.org/?p=345

Technorati Tags: Can I Sit With You Too?, Can I Sit With You?, Can I Sit WIth You? Live, social skills, special education fundraising, special education PTA, special needs parenting

Attitudes Under the Avalanche

Not sure when I'll dig out from under the avalanche that was the past few months, in terms of getting anything at all done ever including the occasional post. Though I have just finished all the laundry from our recent week-long barf-and-poop family symphony; there is that. (Seymour alone escaped illness, if not house-arrest drudgery.) So I'm going to send you elsewhere:

I only now watched Emily's remarkable video about autism parenting, attitudes, and advocacy:


This week's Can I Sit With You? story is quite a raucous one: high school shop, boys, bullying, and defensive urination techniques. Plus lots of swearing!
http://www.canisitwithyou.org/?p=339

We have to let love rule! (But don't forget to sign the petition.)

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

We had lice scare a few weeks ago, so I plucked the kids out of school for the day and headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. **Just me and my three kids**. We had a lovely outing. This should give you some sense of just how fucking awesome Risperdol has been for Leelo, so far.


Have a good weekend, Blogosphere.

Technorati Tags: autism, autism blog