Stage 5 here we come

I haven't written here for about a month. So much has happened.

Firstly, our funding appears to be secure until he is seven, thanks to our consultant and her clever reading of the appropriate documents. Yay and thanks.

Secondly, he has completed Stage 4 of RDI. Probably that means the most to me - I like ticking things off lists, and getting to a whole new stage makes me feel happy. We had a look at the 20 'Foundations' of Stage 5 today and we're confident he has those except for two, so that's good too. Once we've moved and settled in, we'll start working on the next objectives.

Thirdly... he's going to start school in Kangaroo Valley when we get there. I had a great meeting with the principal, kindergarten teacher and our lovely preschool teacher who drove all the way down for it, and everything went as well as it could possibly go. The principal listened, asked good questions and then asked me, "so, what do you want him to do?"

My answer was: "go to school part time three days a week please." And the answer was "Yes."

Bright Eyes was funny at the school. We bought the uniform and he wanted to put it on straight away. Then he wanted to go out and start that day. He was really disappointed when I said he was starting on another day!

How do I feel? Pleased, and terrified at the same time. My beautiful daughter came to me in tears and said, "Mum, what if there's a bully at the school and they pick on him?" I assured her that if anything of the sort happened, I would be in there like a flash and would do everything possible to protect him. In the end, her fear is my fear too.


Anecdote: These days whenever we go out shopping, Bright Eyes has no qualms about talking to the checkout ladies like this. "Hello, it's Bright Eyes here. I am number 5. I go to big school in Kangaroo Vaaaa-lley." (I'm trying to teach him to say "I'm 5 years old.")

Resource: There's a new book out about RDI entitled (appropriately enough) The RDI Book by Dr S Gutstein. I have two copies. If you're desperate to read one, let me know!

More reading

The homeopath lent me this book which outlines in fairly extensive, but not unreadable detail the medical issues behind autism.

The basic premise is that autism needs to be seen as a disease, not a disability. Rather than it being an untouchable brain/neurological/psychological disorder, it is a systemic, whole-body condition which can be treated.

I find books like this a lot more helpful than, for example, the book on George and Sam (see previous posts) because it outlines the problem and the possible causes and gives solutions.

And boy, I like solutions.

A depressing read

My lovely neighbour f0und this book in the library, read it to give herself some more understanding of ASD, and then re-borrowed it for me.

Too bad it was incredibly depressing!

Yes, George and Sam are a whole lot worse than Bright Eyes, but I could recognise a lot of what they did in Bright Eyes and started to feel pretty rotten about the whole thing again.

I put the book down halfway through and will be returning it to the library.

Books to read

Two books to recommend for anyone interested in RDI or child development.

I Love You Rituals is an easy to read, practical book of great finger plays and rhymes for the young child. Campbell has loved these, especially this one:

Clapping, clapping, one two three,

Play a clapping game with me.

Whoops, your hands have gone away.

I'll find those hands so we can play!

Awakening Children's Minds is much more technical and a little heavy, but it gives great explanations of things such as regulation, self-regulation, scaffolding, indirect prompting, the guide-apprentice relationship, and other basics of RDI.

Both books were lent to me by our consultant - thank you!