What?

One of the first blogs I ever wrote was called "Never Ending Questions".  I think I posted a total of four entries to it, and it dealt with dealing with RR and his being twice exceptional (gifted with Asperger's).

Tonight he posed such a question to me I actually considered resurrecting that blog.  

As I was tucking him in tonight he asked me what the difference was between carbon-monoxide and carbon dioxide.  I explained the molecular make-up and we began discussing where each one is found in the world around us and how they are different.  His conclusion was that neither was very good for humans since one can kill you quickly and the other lends a hand to global warming.  But if he had to live with "just one" he would pick the carbon dioxide since it won't kill him as fast.  

Where does he get this stuff from?

That Was Easy

I remember when I found out Santa Claus wasn't real.  I was in 4th grade and was getting ready to walk out of my school at the end of the day, I can still see the front double doors in my mind, and an older student told me.  I was crushed.

Obviously, being the super awesome cool mom that I am; I wanted to spare my own kids that heartache.  Not that I blame my parents for my lingering Santa Claus belief.

Now RR, he's a special case - he's been doubting the Santa Claus / Easter Bunny / Tooth Fairy gig for a while.  He started questioning when he was 3 or 4 years old, and I've managed to string him along; one holiday after another, for the last few years.  Until today.

RR found a notepad that Husband left laying around with some Easter notes on it and he started making comments about how we needed to "hide" these things better.  I just looked at him and said "Do you think the Easter Bunny is real?".  He smiles.  The smile of knowing the truth.  I told him it was OK to not believe anymore and he smiled even bigger.  Then I told him now that he knows the truth he needs to keep the secret from other kids, especially his brother who has many more years of believing in him.

And  breath a deep sigh of relief.  That was easy.  Honestly I had been trying to figure out the right time to say something to him; and now it's over and done with and we can move onto the next stage - older siblings conspiring with parents to make the holiday magic happen.  I loved helping my parents get the baskets and presents ready for my brothers when I got older and I am looking forward to this next stage with RR.

Time to Study

When I went to RR's parent teacher conference earlier in the year his teacher commented "Parents always want to know how they do in spelling, because it's a more of how did we do."  I wanted to snicker, but I kept it to myself; spelling wasn't an issue for him.  We never studied spelling words and he was getting perfect marks.

Then his 2nd trimester report card came home and his spelling grade went down a whole level.

And then tonight came.  He got a 65% on a spelling test.

Part of doesn't think the issue was whether or not he could spell the words; he had some words entirely wrong.  Like he's wasn't even in the right ballpark kid of wrong, which I guess is about right since he gets baseball and football confused.  For instance the correct word was "price" he wrote "callum".  Can you see me scratching my head.  When I asked him about the spelling of "giraffe" - "jerafe", he tells me "she threw in some curves that word wasn't on our list".  Try again kiddo it was on the list.

So we're going to start studying spelling words this week coming up.  I'm not really sure studying is going to help, but it sure can't hurt, right????

Bueller... Bueller.... Bueller

Whatcha Readin'

Apparently last Saturday was "Take Your Kid to the Library Day".  No, really it was.  That really is a national "holiday".  And it really was last Saturday.

I had no idea.

Not until later that day when Husband told me about it.  Bummer our library didn't do anything fun to mark the day; but it was crowded anyhow.

Anyhow, I digress.  I dropped Husband off at urgent care, because he starting coughing up blood which is never a good sign; and the boys and I went and hung out at the library.  I got the cutest picture of them using the library computer together on my phone, but I have no idea how to get pictures off my phone so I won't be sharing it.

The books RR picks out always amaze me.  He has the most eclectic taste in books sometimes.  Currently on his Kindle he's reading the bible in a comic book form, The Children of Nox series (book 2, The Kiss), and some sort of Christmas story.  So I shouldn't have been surprised by his library selection: Ripley's Believe it or Not, Enter if you Dare - a book about Count Dracula - a book about evolution and the first Spiderwick book.  Have I mentioned Spiderwick has been an obsession for the last 5 months or so?

Yup, he has some interesting taste.

Thinking About the Spectrum

I invite you today to head over to John Elder Robinson's Blog "Look Me In The Eye" and read his post about looking forward on the autism spectrum.

Turkey is one of those whose “substantial communication impairment" is defined as “has difficulty reading body language and interpreting unspoken messages.”; which is typically why many people see him as eccentric and not on the spectrum (because he is so verbal; with verbal skills greater than many adults).  

We are learning, on our Asperger's journey, that the schools do NOT understand the needs of those with this disability.  They keep crying that he needs to be failing subjects in order to receive many of the services he desperately needs.  But being as gifted as he is, it will take a lot for him to fail subjects... he would need to totally disengage from the classroom.  Is this really what the school system wants?  To build him back up again, after THEM being the ones to drop the ball?  I would think not.  

My "Asperger's Goal" of 2012 is to get the schools to provide the services he needs and is entitled to.  

8:30 and a Skit

At 6:15 this morning Monkey woke crying looking for some boobie milk.  I was tired, drop down tired still... so as I walked down to his room to nurse him I was hoping he wasn't up for the day.  Well my prayers were answered; I fed him and he promptly went back to sleep.  I myself woke in a start at 8:30; it had been ages since I slept that late and had not been woken up by the baby and/or an alarm clock.

Turkey on the other hand was up bright and early.  At 8:30 when I staggered down the hall to check on the baby I noticed he was dressed already, and playing in his room.  Within minutes he was back in my bedroom with breakfast in bed for Husband (oatmeal), Monkey (brown rice crispies) and I (oatmeal).

Then he told me he wanted to put on a skit, and he needed me to be in it.

Once I made my way downstairs he showed me the sign he made for the TV.  It read "Out Of Order", and with this he explained to me that he wanted everyone to come to him for their entertainment of the day.

Which brings us to his skit.  Apparently the most profound and impact-full event of 2011 was the birth of his brother (nearly in the car with him there); because we were "acting" this out. (Considering everything else that happened his year, I have to say I am OK with this.)  He had written a script with Husband and Wife parts, which detailed the Husband driving the Wife to the hospital while she said "Owwww" over and over again, and asking where they were going.  He replies to the hospital (driving using a race track as a steering wheel).  Once the Husband proclaims they are at the hospital the Wife (played by yours truly) pulls a pillow (aka baby) out of her bathrobe and the Husband says "it's a boy".  Turkey had him and I rehearse it a few times, then he edited his dialog some (he actually wrote out by hand the script with direction), and we rehearsed some more, then I made coffee for Husband to enjoy while watching it.

Um yup... I have a 7 (almost 8 year old) writing plays about child birth... that's all I have to say about that.

Spelling

Spelling was never my strongest subject in school.  I recall many many tears over the subject in grammar school.  I can honestly say that I couldn't really spell until I was in college.

Thankfully that is not Turkey's case.  He's an excellent speller, on spelling quizzes at least (spelling in context not so much, but that's a different story), but he typically tests great at spelling.

Today he came home with a 90% on his weekly spelling test.  Many parents would be thrilled, but his spelling tests grades have been slowly declining over the last few weeks.  But the declining grade wasn't really what bothered me; what bothered me is that he misspelled  the word try.

I know he can spell try.  I know this for a fact.  He can recite how to spell this word without thinking twice, and spells it correctly when he writes stories and letter.

He spelled his bonus words of "frequency" and "magnify", but he misspelled try.  For the record he spelled it t-r-i-e.  Really???

When I asked him about this, he said "Why do I have to spell it right on the test?"

Me: "Well, that's the idea of the test.  It's to make sure you can spell the words right."

Him: "I don't see the point.  What do we have spell check for than?"

Me: "You need to, you must, spell the word correctly on the test IF you KNOW how to spell it."  And with that I imposed some real studying guideline for his spelling quizzes, which are in effect until he starts doing what he's suppose to be doing.

Such an odd problem to have.  Many parents make their kids study so they learn.  I need to make mine study to ACT the right way.  Sigh.

A Fine Line

Turkey is a complex guy.  I've blogged before about his Asperger's diagnosis, his anxiety diagnosis and his ADHD diagnosis.  But the other side of the coin is his intelligence.  His IQ is in the 99.6% and his intelligence level is considered "far superior".

Often times gifted kids are afflicted with Dabrowski's Overexcitabilites (or Supersensativies), called DOE in this blog.  There is a fine line, a very fine line; between many of these characteristics and other "development disabilities" such as ADHD.

There are 5 areas of DOE, psychomotor, sensual, emotional, intellectual and imagination.  Sometimes when Turkey is being, well Turkey, I often wonder if I am watching a DOE or if it really is ADHD.  This is partly why, we have decided to medically treat his anxiety and see what falls into place from there.

From About.com:

Psychomotor

The primary sign of this intensity is a surplus of energy. Children with a dominant psychomotor overexcitability are often misdiagnosed with ADHD since characteristics are similar.

·         Rapid speech 

·         Impulsive behavior

·         Competitiveness

·         Compulsive talking

·         Compulsive organizing

·         Nervous habits and tics

·         Preference for fast action and sports

·         Physical expression of emotions

·         Sleeplessness

Turkey "suffers" from 7 out of these 9 characteristics.  He does NOT have a preference for fast action sports (although that may be partly blamed on his flat feet, but he does love wrestling with Husband) and he often lacks physical expression for his emotions (but that's the Asperger's).  The compulsive organizing is new, and it's only in respect to his time.   He is into listing his time and what to do, and when to do it.  It makes you wonder... ADHD or DOE.  Hhhmmmm.

More about the other DOE to come.