Conference Night

I talked a lot at Charlie's parent-teacher conference last night. It is all a march to him turning 21 now and I know these conferences are finite in number. I enjoy every moment sitting around a table and talking to teachers and aides.

The vocational teacher was there along with Charlie's (really great) teacher and (really great) aides and there was talk of sheltered workshops. I said I thought Charlie would do best with work not at a desk -- sorting and folding are things he can do but too much of that and he could be heading to OCD lockdown -- janitorial work, working in a recycling plant, outdoor yard sort of work would suit him.

One of Charlie's aides has gone to India to study yoga!

The OT asked about shaving which Charlie certainly does well with at home, though only with Jim. I looked at the electric shaver we had sent in a few years ago and dumped it; will send in a new one.

'Behaviors,' aggressions and the like are all averaging less than 1 a day.

Another student and Charlie seem somewhat to be pals. They play Connect 4 together, the other student prompting Charlie to take turns. They give each other high-5's. Sometimes when Charlie is unhappy it helps that he goes and says hi to the student.

The other day Charlie was giving his teacher a lot of stares (the kind he gives us often before getting quite upset) and then occasional smiles and even stares. He had grabbed earlier in the day and is teacher wondered if maybe he was trying to express 'sorry.'

He is drinking cups of water at school.

Reading single words remains very challenging. Charlie has been working on 'cracker' and 'cereal' and not getting too far and I asked if he might be confusing the words as both start thigh 'c,' plus Charlie does ot eat cereal. Perhaps 'water,' 'bagel,' 'apple,' 'watermelon'? Or, veering from the food words, 'bike,' 'helmet,' 'strap,' 'gloves,' 'cap.'

Comments

[Alice]

Wow, that's a great conference. Must feel good to hear all that. Especially nice about the behavior and his having a buddy.

[Think_inclusive]

I am hopeful that Charlie will avoid the sheltered workshops. From what you share with us about him, it seems that it would good for him to be in a more inclusive community placement. Good luck going forward. Have you used the MAPS/PATH process for any of his planning?

[autismvox]

@Thanks, Alice! It was good to have a good-natured conference with good news.

@Think-inclusive, I haven't heard about the MAPS/PATH process, am looking it up, thank you! I'm hopeful he could be in more of a community setting, doing something active, with a job coach. I think it's his behaviors (the worst ones which we always have to account for) keep holding him back. But I know no one would have thought Charlie could ride a bike in traffic, much less for miles, so we will keep on it, as we say -- thank you for the encouragement!

[Jen]

One of the very few things I liked at the residential facility I used to work at, was the job program, or the reworking of the job program they were in the process of doing. I don't recall whether it was students or classes that rotated through the job areas, ie- cafeteria, janitorial, gardening/groundskeeping, clerical type tasks. The students had a chance to try and learn all the jobs. If they could, they could then tell what jobs they preferred, and if they were not able to indicate in some way, data could be used to determine what they might prefer (lower rates of problem behaviors, which did they learn more quickly, etc). Given the number of typical college students who change majors, and the number of people who end up in a job they don't like, perhaps job sampling for the masses would help.