Back-to-School with Autism - Doggy Style

Yo, Mick here – the canine with the new hat, pointy ears and wet nose.

It’s been an insannnne summer at our home – and classes have resumed. (Bummer that)

The best part of summer is getting my boy back! I think Red missed me as much as I missed him

Red’s been taking me for walks, tossing the ball for me, and letting me sleep on his pillow. I do like sleeping on the pillow.

Summer went by very fast! Next thing I knew we’d transitioned to school already! But we’ve about got the hang of it…

The Transition from summer to fall can be huge for kids on the spectrum and are often causes for concern (can you say anxiety?) for the parents of kids with autism – often even more anxiety for the parents than the child.

There are probably hundreds of things to worry about in the transition back to school.

Try this - don't worry!
Find your inner-canine.

I mean think about it for a moment.

Did the things you actually worried about happen?
Sure, some things did while others did not – right?
But what exactly did worrying about them do to help the situation?

Believe me, I totally get that double transitions such as a new school, or district, or promotion from elementary to junior high, or from junior high to high school are huge.

I hear you – canine ears are sharp.

All I’m really saying is that worrying won’t help and takes way too much energy. Conserve your efforts to what works. Lock in those transitions that help.

For example, Red likes to get ready for going back to school by shopping for clothes, shoes, new backpack and supplies. These things mean that school is about to begin for Red. He’s a part of the transition process and gets to make some important choices (mum does guide him sometimes with “either – or” options). It’s a back-to-school ritual.

Rituals offer continuity and comfort.

It’s not too early to start using them and its not too late either.

Shop for school supplies (online if its too much to go out into the crowds) together.

Shopping is a natural opportunity to talk about the upcoming transition.

LOL – this may appear to be rather one-sided conversations but that’s ok too. It is what it is. The point is to keep the channels of communication open – you have no idea what is actually seeping through. Likely, a lot more than appears to be!

In these conversations, focus on what works, the students’ strengths, and resilience, and past transition successes (even seemingly insignificant transitions
Such as getting out of bed in the morning are places to build new successes on).

Remember there is a lot of comfort in the rituals of being in school versus the often, unpredictable schedules and social events of summer. Focus on the positives.

Play up the positives, build upon the positives, talk about the positives and act on the positives and you’ll find you wont have a lot of time to worry.

You’ll have found your inner-canine.

There will likely be a need for adjustments in the transition to back-to-school, but by establishing a habit of focusing on the positives, positive solutions will likely happen.

Peace out – peace in. Peace in Transition.

Rituals, Something to Howl About

Yo, Mick here, the happy howler with the wet nose.

We’ve been passing the days one at a time with our daily ritual a bit buggered. Mum’s Honda Odyssey Transmission died up at Grandma’s in Pacific Grove the day before Easter.

Our daily rituals are a wreck.

Did you know that there is a flaw with Honda Odyssey Transmissions that they are trying to cover up? Seriously! Mum has been onto all types of websites researching the hundreds and probably thousands of complaints.

She put a new transmission in when the van had less than 100,000 and now with under 200,000 she's going to have to put another in - and many others have had to do the same!

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I want to discus rituals. The daily rituals that make the day run smooth (or not) that people with autism truly depend on.

Red and I get up after Mum’s had her cup of coffee.

She used to get up between 4:30 and 5:30 to do homework but that’s a thing of the past (at least until things get sorted out with University of Phoenix and the problems they are causing her – she may have to take yet another class and pay an additional $1950 out of pocket because they lied!).

Oops, there I digress again. Sorry.

Rituals help keep the day flowing for us.

Even with the schedule mucked because our lack of wheels has caused us to adjust to walking more, scootering and hitching rides from friends, we depend on our rituals to motivate.

As I was saying, Mum gets her coffee, reads and answers a few emails and writes some on her projects and then at 6:30 she wakes us.

No matter how many times she has done this, I act like it’s the first time and bark a bit at her. Hey, I’m not a morning mutt. What can I say? I’m a grumpy grrrrr.

Red though, he seems to like mornings, which is really pretty lucky for mum. He grabs his blanket, scoops Furball the cat up and we pile up on Mum’s lap in the living room.

Of course I get the top! Hound of the heap!

We rock for a few minutes and the day begins to feel like it has all sorts of possibilities for happiness.

Red almost falls back asleep, Furball purrs which is really weird because I’m usually sitting on top of him, and Mum smiles because she likes the snuggle peacefulness.

And then we howl!

Mum starts it off. She does this weird sound like a bird that gets me all worked up and I tilt back my head and howl and then Mum howls and Red says, “do it again”,

and we do.

It’s impossible to be upset when getting in a howl.

Transitioning to the next segment of the morning routine just seems so easy.

Howling sets the stage for a Grrrrreat Day!

Wait a minute; didn’t Tony, the Frosted Flakes tiger say that?

Oh well, he can have a grrrreat day; we have a day to howl about!

Here’s to howllllin a grrreat day too!

Review Your Rules

Yo! Mick here, the one with pointy ears and canine grin!

Thank you well wishers!

I am feeling better and Red’s (aham) out of the doghouse (sorry – I know that was a cheap shot but hey – pull my paw if you don’t like it).

Red earned back half of his two-week sentence by being a good sport and behaving himself while grounded. Go figure – he choose to have the weekends for his reprieve and being grounded on school days!

Red is one smart kid!

I’m sure not going to complain about it because I had a lot of time with him. Without the distractions of TV or games, Red took me on several walks a day.

While I’m not advocating that he get into trouble again – I sure had a good week and then some! Many of those good habits have stuck with him.

I believe habits, daily rituals and those autism rules can be a really good thing or a really bad thing.

I was woofing it up with another acquaintance with autism this week who was not having such a good time. It seems some of his “rules” were not serving his greater good and were actually keeping him from making and keeping friends.


Kids with autism often have a lot of rules.

I’ve cautioned Red before (and will probably have to many more times) about rules – Rules have got to serve you not the other way around.

This poor kid had himself backed into a very lonely corner because one of his rules is, “if someone is mean to me I have to be mean to them back”.

Well, you can just imagine what THAT rule does for his social life!

Sadly, it was his self-esteem and self-loathing that had him so far down in the dumps. Any lower and his ears would drag more than Betty Basset’s.

He’s not a cruel person in his heart - its just his autism rules that drive his choices in behavior that make him appear mean or just plain too scary to hang with.

He and I spoke for quite some time about autism and my number one rule but I’m not sure I could help him.

He’s still rather attached to that rule even knowing that it ultimately doesn’t serve him. Maybe he just needs time to process the possibilities my number one rule has.

My number one rule is quite simple – Here’s my number one, most important rule: I only have rules that serve me and help me grow as a loving soul.

OK – Mum says its bedtime – woof out mates!

Adjusting to Back to school with Autism and ADHD

Yo! Mick here.

The first week or so back to school is typically filled with adjustments for any child or family. For a student on the autism spectrum and their family there are even more adjustments and these can create some intense reactions or require some fairly extreme planning.

Adjustments may include:

• Back to school rituals for the student
  
• Family routines are shifted - again
• Getting up earlier than in the summer and going to bed earlier
• New schools (may be same or different school districts or different schools as in transitioning to middle school or high school)
• New teacher or teachers
• Meeting new friends
• Reacquainted with the bullies
• Switching to school or fall clothes from play or summer clothes
• Wearing shoes (with socks) and learning to tie them
  
• Homework
• Less time for preferred activities
• Less time with favorite pets or people (my biggest pet peeve! grin - thump, thump!)
  
• Returning to or adjusting medication doses
• Classroom rules may be different
• Higher expectations for the student and the student may have higher expectations of others or themselves (even unrealistic expectations?)
• Expectations which are too low
  
• Paperwork demands
• Learning new skills in and out of classroom
• Sports or other activities such as band

This list seems to go on and on. Going back to school is quite an adjustment for me too - I seem to have a compulsion to slurp from the garbage can. I just can't help myself. I am that pathetically bored. Sometimes I'll wait for Red on the couch but hey, I can only do that for so long.