This has been a really long week !
I don’t know if Alyssa was feeding off my emotions or not but her mornings were extra challenging this week . Friday she was very unhappy with her limited choice of pants . She was going to the zoo with her Day program which I knew she would enjoy . She was screaming throwing herself on the floor and getting herself all worked up . She eventually pulled herself together and got dressed .It was just the topper of a very shitty week .
I had to send a bagged lunch which I tried to sneak because she hates anything different . She has some kind of sixth sense ( I call it her spidey sense ) I took her bag to bring it out to the van which is the normal routine … and all of sudden she starts screaming rips the bag off my shoulder opens it looks in , throws the bagged lunch on her the table . I don’t know how she knew -if it sounded different or what but she was not having it . 🤷🏻♀️
Well when I got home tired and weary from an emotionally long week , she was sitting at the table with her Dad. I asked her about the zoo and she smiled and signed yes that she had fun .
Several things happened that seem so little to anyone outside of our world but are in fact actually break throughs .
I asked her to go get the iPad to show me the animals she saw .
She will rarely do this on command but she did it . She showed us some of the animals and what she had for lunch which is great . Of course I don’t know how accurate it is but that’s ok.
I then started talking to her Dad about her tough morning and I was talking to her too . It is really difficult to tell what concepts she can actually understand . I said you were mad because of your pants . She nodded yes and touched her pants . We went to the feelings folder and I said what was wrong . And she pushed mean , so I said yes you were fresh . And then shit hit sad and I said yes your were sad . What made you sad . ( I’m trying to see if she can remember and then show us ) if you say why she will just repeat the word why .. then she looked at me and hit sorry ~~ I was blown away , first of all I didn’t even know the sorry button was in that folder ~ secondly wow , she completely understood what we were talking about ~ and apologized WHAT ! There is still so much in there that we need to reach . Then we went to folder that had wash and I said tell Daddy wash what ? And she found pants !! And hit wash pants
Another thing she never does .
It was awesome .
Then we were discussing what to order for dinner and she was playing on one of the learning apps she likes ( Mita ) and I said do you want to eat tell me what you want . Now normally this will set her off . First to stop what she was doing and to then transition into something else is extremely difficult for her . Secondly she will never pick something for herself ever .. unless you prompt her and even then she resists unless it’s a cookie lol . She went in and picked pasta . I was like wow did I that just happen ?? Ok pasta it is !
As hard as it can be having a child with autism and it can be hard in many ways , for her and us .
This girl is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day !! She constantly suprises me and this is just what I needed to pull me out of myself and be put things into perspective . She had Like three breakthroughs at once . She never cease to amaze me .
Autism adventures with Alyssa 