Today Red is traveling on a flight from Baltimore Maryland with a lay over in Chicago, where he will catch a flight into Austin. He lost his cell phone on this trip, so we are relying on the staff of American Airlines to get him from point A to point B. He is fascinated with airplanes and Chicago is a great airport for seeing all kinds of planes up close and personal out of their huge windows. I didn't get much sleep last night, imagining him deciding to wonder off to film a plane, getting lost or missing his connection. I am asking for prayers, positive thoughts, good energy whatever you can send his way, to make sure he gets home safely.
Besides staying awake last night worrying about his flight today, I am still contemplating the school dilemma. Private...small scale school vs. public huge high school. The good news is I found out today that the private school doesn't actually start until September 7th, so that gives me a little time to decide. I will go ahead and enroll him at the regular high school and give myself some time to see how he does and then make a final decision.
Part of me feels like I need to give him the opportunity to see how things go with the new medications on board. There are a lot of resources that a public school has to offer especially since he has such an interest in multi-media.
At least we have an option should things not go as we would like them to. I have to continue to stand up for what he needs and insist on it. My biggest worry is how he does in those unsupervised moments in the hallways and at lunch time. He can get overwhelmed by the noise and the thoughts inside his head which can lead to impulsive actions. If they can't give me what he needs to guide and protect him, even if it's from himself, we will take his education elsewhere.
Prayers, comments, and positive thoughts are all welcome here.
p.s. just before I published this we received a call from the airline to say that he indeed missed his flight into Austin. There was a gate change and the employee took him to the wrong gate. By the time they got to the right gate, the plane was gone! Just WONDERFUL! The good news is, they are going to escort him to a private lounge and feed him until he can take the next flight. I will not stop twisting my hair nervously until I see his face. Needless to say...he will not be taking any layover flights...ALONE in the near future.

Besides staying awake last night worrying about his flight today, I am still contemplating the school dilemma. Private...small scale school vs. public huge high school. The good news is I found out today that the private school doesn't actually start until September 7th, so that gives me a little time to decide. I will go ahead and enroll him at the regular high school and give myself some time to see how he does and then make a final decision.
Part of me feels like I need to give him the opportunity to see how things go with the new medications on board. There are a lot of resources that a public school has to offer especially since he has such an interest in multi-media.
At least we have an option should things not go as we would like them to. I have to continue to stand up for what he needs and insist on it. My biggest worry is how he does in those unsupervised moments in the hallways and at lunch time. He can get overwhelmed by the noise and the thoughts inside his head which can lead to impulsive actions. If they can't give me what he needs to guide and protect him, even if it's from himself, we will take his education elsewhere.
Prayers, comments, and positive thoughts are all welcome here.
p.s. just before I published this we received a call from the airline to say that he indeed missed his flight into Austin. There was a gate change and the employee took him to the wrong gate. By the time they got to the right gate, the plane was gone! Just WONDERFUL! The good news is, they are going to escort him to a private lounge and feed him until he can take the next flight. I will not stop twisting my hair nervously until I see his face. Needless to say...he will not be taking any layover flights...ALONE in the near future.

Adelaide Dupont · 285 weeks ago
And for those of us who knew and appreciated these points in high school to a greater or lesser extent - always good to have a refresher and feel them through the current and future generations who we survived to be able to see.
I especially appreciated points 5, 7 and 10.
And young women not settling or settling down yet is a good thing.
"It's never too late to live our dreams" - but it may be too early for some of them!
And 8 of course.
nicole · 243 weeks ago
Risa · 230 weeks ago
LAH · 221 weeks ago
Maira L. Coral · 216 weeks ago
I was looking for information for my Multi-Genre Disability Research Project from my Early Childhood Special Education class on the web, when suddenly I came across your blog. I started reading this out of curiosity and I want to tell you that as you said yourself, you will not be Amanda Gorman, but you managed to make me shed some tears, perhaps because I felt totally identified with your words, especially in the part that you speak of your son. My son also has Asperger's syndrome, he is 19 years old and he is in the second semester of College. Also like yours, he takes classes from home, likewise my eldest daughter is also taking college classes from her room. At the same time, that I work as a preschool teacher from my kitchen through a computer, my husband sleeps in the room during the day because he works at night. Also in the afternoons I myself take virtual school classes. I am a 51-year-old Latin woman who began to learn the English language as adult, so maybe you find some deficiencies in my writing, however, I was very moved by how proud you express yourself about your son. Referent your mother, I liked the humorous tone that you give when your talk about her, so I did not want to miss this opportunity and stopped my assignments for a moment to let you know that your words do make a difference, since they reach the heart of at least those who have opportunity to read you. I want confess you that is the most long I have written to someone I don't know, because your words inspired me, thank you...
Gavin Bollard · 209 weeks ago
Thanks for this post. I've been very distracted of late and so this was how I found out about our friend Kate. Kate's struggles were very real but they were so constant and so wide-ranging that it was difficult for people around her to address them. I think it's going to take a while longer for me to process all this.
I learned so much from Kate because she was always quick to point out the many injustices in the world. In her glory days, she was very much a crusader and she cared for everyone. Over the years, as her situation took its toll, I came to realise that it was the fact that she couldn't be put in a single specific category, that made the system fail her. She needed help that they weren't set up to provide.
She needed more care and she needed to be less alone. I'm so sorry that this has happened.
For a long while we were corresponding almost every day but a couple of months ago, I realised that she had become so stressed that nearly every interaction I had with her was starting to trigger her. I backed away to give her a bit more space. She only had a little time that she could stand to be online and there were too many things that she wanted to do in that time. I thought that by taking a step back, she could reach out to more people who might be geographically closer and able to assist.
Kate was a beautiful soul and she will be sorely missed by all of us.
diyalabs6192603 11p · 192 weeks ago
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Spoil your cat · 122 weeks ago
Many of these living arrangement aren't good, and many of the people who run those places really don't have the residents' best interest at heart. Those places are like old age homes and foster homes, where you sometimes hear horror stories. They're hard to trust. But then there are good ones, of course.
The best thing for an autistic adult is either to go on living at home or working and renting an apartment and living independently, but that isn't always an option.
Duncan · 112 weeks ago