Happy Towel Day ... And What It Takes

Getting kids to dress when they'd rather be doing something else is rarely straight forward. Eight year-old boys are famous for finding just about anything more interesting than getting dressed. Add autism, and figure at least another 10 minutes of shepherding to get him changed and out the door.

Step 1: Heads-up announcement that current activity will be ending (this morning, it was playing an Incredibles video game) in X number of minutes (usually 2 to 10), and getting dressed would be the next activity of the day.

Step 2: Announcement that it is now time to stop activity. This involves prompting as needed to wrap up and stop/put away items.

Step 3: Accompany James to room to change. This cuts down on whining, detours, and attempts at negotiations to go back and keep on doing prior activity.

Step 4: Make sure he starts and is not likely to hide under the covers or get distracted by toys or math flash cards.

Step 5: Hang around for inevitable trips to the bathroom and cries for "new underwear!" Make sure he takes care of business properly in the bathroom (includes proper hand washing). This step can take a while, because James has started to be extremely fussy as to which underwear is worthy of wearing.

Step 6: Socks. The dreaded socks. Lately, I put out 2 pairs and let him choose.

Step 7: Shoes. James can be pretty good about this, but he does tend to choose his mock Crocks over tennis shoes (not allowed on school days or for baseball) and likes to put his shoes on the wrong feet on purpose. Gah!

Meanwhile, it's Towel Day! The kids have heard some of the BBC radio shows and have enjoyed the BBC series on You Tube. And on days that frustrate me with struggles with bureaucracy and feelings of isolation from mainstream life, it's rather soothing to read about the adventures of Arthur Dent, Dirk Gently, and Susan Way. And smile.

“Don't you understand that we need to be childish in order to understand? Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn't developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don't expect to see.”
― Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Yes, we know where our towels are!