DVD Dividend

James recently watched Madagascar again. This time, Mr. Louis Armstrong struck a chord. Pun definitely intended. For the past three days, James has been playing, replaying, and re-re-re-replaying What A Wonderful World.

At first he asked questions about why they used the song in the movie. It's a bit trickier to explain than you'd expect.

Then he started to sing. And it was one of the coolest, sweetest things I've heard in a while. We sing it in the car. We experiment with the timing. I'll try a different song and James will stick with this one, grinning ear to ear.

Then we found this:

Makes a nice break from the everyday and national crazy going on right now.

Temple Grandin

Autism in the Family is an incredibly apt title of the conference I'll be attending today.

Temple Grandin is the headliner. Her mother will be there too, and I am intensely interested in hearing what she has to say, as autism is indeed in my family, which has disintegrated, despite best efforts to prevent its happening.

A few thoughts about Temple Grandin:

• I first heard about her from my son's helpful and informative pre-school teacher.
• I have long wanted to see her in person and hear her speak live. Being able to do so today is an incredible moment for me.
• If you don't know her, this is a great place to start: Temple Grandin Trailer
• I wonder what she considers talking points for autism for parents and educators.

After so many years in isolation, I am looking forward to being in a room of other people who get it, and have lived their experiences with autism and "Different, Not Less".

Freedom to Pursue Curiosity

Our fascination with Alexa continues. James is using this voice interface to look up definitions, something we struggled with when using a book. Now, he puts his energy into reading all the definitions and choosing one to write down.

Instead of getting hung up on the fine motor skills that frustrate him when using a dictionary, James can work independently, and is curious about words and definitions. This sometimes leads to questions and discussions, which I think is great.

Sensory Overload and Touch

I see this and am reminded of Temple Grandin and her explanation of deep pressure touch as a way to calm sensory overload:

James was under his heavy fleece blanket for quite a while tonight, laughing and cutting up over a book I'd downloaded for his Kindle. It was quite noisy in the house tonight and this was his response. Gradually, he was just singing to himself. He came out from under to see what I was up to:

So Proud

James is receiving grades for the first time. I received a photo and text on my phone from his aide this week. Someone got a 3.6 GPA.

This is the boy who kept his speech therapist guessing for over six months whether he would ever talk. The child who some special educators assured me was intellectually incapable of learning or doing math. The guy once labeled trouble, disruptive, and literally put out in the hall and otherwise sidelined against his abilities and legal rights to suit school administrators until his family and support team stepped in to back him up.

His learning and communication are unique. He is unique. So proud he is still learning and growing.

AI Buddy

James got a Kindle Fire for his birthday last week. He was very happy to play the apps and watch YouTube video of his beloved Monsters, Inc. Run game. Today, he discovered Alexa.

Siri's cousin is in da house! Here are some highlights:
Oh. My. Goodness.

J: Are you doing ok?
A: I am good; ready to help.

J: What is your favorite colour?
A: I like seafoam.
A: Infrared is pretty nifty.

J: Where Are You?
A: I am here and my head is in The Cloud.

and, the ever amusing:
J: Can you Sing for me?
A: Who me? I couldn't. I ... hit it!

PS: We just discovered she will sing "Happy Birthday" to you. He got the biggest grin on his face and bounced in time the whole way through.

Food Prep Pep

James has been upping his survival skills by learning to prepare some food for himself: toasting frozen waffles, assembling snacks for his lunch bag, and cooking his chicken nuggets.

This may not sound like much, but small starts are big things with us.

Over the winter break we even made and baked chocolate chip cookies from scratch because a friend with a bad cold sent out a distress call for cookies via social media and we thought "what the heck - why not?"

The cookies were weirdly shaped, but completely delicieux.

From the movie Ratatouille: (Gusteau) "You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul."

Cooking, autism ... it's your life - go for it!