Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Summer Break

The boys' started their summer break last Thursday. Summer break generally strikes fear into the autism household. It means a complete change of schedule, which throws kids like Nick into a tailspin. The first day was the hardest so far. He woke up around normal time and asked about the bus. I told him there was no bus today, no school, and he was off kilter all day long. It did not help that we had an appointment with his new pediatrician at 11am. All went well considering. He ended up getting one shot which he did not like, but was consoled immediately with the band aid. Nick loves band aids. We took Friday "off" and just let everyone relax. Nick has three weeks until he starts his ESY program. So, I have come up with our own sort of 'homeschool' until then.




We have number matching, shape matching, and letter matching. Doing lots of fine motor skills work with beads, foam art projects, puzzles, etc. For what I have above all you need is a laminator with sheets and velcro. Spring for the electric laminator, not the ones that you can do by hand. We have had both, and the electric one works much better. A little more expensive, but well worth it. Of course you will also need a printer, but if you don't have one you could just use a marker and write or draw what you want. HERE  is a link to a wonderful website for ideas.    


And we are not all work and no play! Nick absolutely loves this inflatable pool we set up this weekend :) He is going to be quite tan by the time he goes back to school! Can you say BEST reward EVER?! He will complete tasks in record time to go in the pool! It also keeps him occupied for longer than a microsecond.  This morning, however, we almost had a fatality! This little chipmunk fellow somehow ended up in our pool. I spotted him from the kitchen paddling his little heart out. Michael made the rescue while I got a dish towel to dry the little critter off. A few minutes of some TLC and he was on his way. Poor thing was too scared and cold to protest being handled. I am sure he was grateful :) It made our day to help the little guy(or gal?) out in time of need. Michael wants to be a Vet and help all animals, so this was the absolute high light of his summer so far. Hopefully, no more critters find their way into our pool.