Just stick your head in a bucket to listen to Brahms

Well, the Aspie geeky one and I hit the historical society today but not before he completed some work online.
Walked into the kitchen to find him with the radio blaring 1940s tunes while he was bopping away, doing his Maths Online, with his lapidary ear-muffs on.
Ahuh.
Reason?
He loves old records - 45s, 33s, even 78s - and he loves the crackles, hisses and pops that come through the speakers, hence why he has roaring 40s music roaring.
Plus, music helps people study, focus, pay attention and it works for Aspie geek kid.
But the crackles, hisses and pops are just ever so slightly distracting to him while he's doing Maths Online (which has spoken instructions for each equation).
Sooooooo....the industrial ear-muffs he uses for his lapidary work were the perfect thing to block the crackles, hisses and pops without blocking out the rest of the music.
Makes sense to me!

Why I saddled up this hobby horse in this horse race

Blogging is not new to me but personal blogging is.
I have a history blog I write under another name, referring in passing to my son's autism (and his giftbag of other labels) but never giving out many details of him.
Until recently.
He finally allowed me to burble about him and the issues he faces, no longer feeling that it was merely more grist for 'them' to tease him with.
And plus I was over-flowing with stuff I couldn't talk about.
Honestly, I was bursting at times, wanting to talk to other mums of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) kids but unable to openly discuss Aspie teen, even with some friends.
Since I started this blog it's been amazing.
I have found some fabulous parents to get ideas from, borrow strength and to share jokes with.
Sometimes the Autistic Spectrum creates a select niche of people who aren't fully understood by those looking on; we're weird, we talk in a form of short-hand together, we get where each other is coming from, sometimes we've been on the same path together, maybe a little ahead or a little behind the other but the same seemingly roundabout path of therapists, specialists, neurologists, allergists, GPs,speechies, physios, psychologists and psychiatrists.
Then not to forget trawling through the latest medical breakthrough that gets trumpeted from the rooftops by the media and discuss it back and forth, swapping urls, names of recommended specialists, medicines, routines, etc.
We have little time to ourselves, we're forever running about for our kids, mostly we're just.too.tired to deal with other people who (for example) whinge about their child who can't recite their alphabet at age 3 when ours is yet to learn to crawl but can write the entire alphabet at the same age.
Sometimes plodding on the ASD road can be bloody lonely, hard and exhausting yet there's a million other ASD parents out there willing to give you a gentle pat on the back to help you get your second wind and tackle another day.
This personal blogging lark has paid for itself in spades with all the lovely people I've met.
Thanks :)

Happy geeky joy joy

He's in 'a mood' today.
Hyper-sensitive to everything, being uber-concrete in his thinking and processing of what we say, not really engaged in this reality and getting crappy with us for daring to make him focus, to concentrate on the here and now.
Yeah, we're wicked nasty like that.
Even made him prepare his own anti-anxiety medication!
Consisted of him dropping 2 tablets into half a glass of water to dissolve.
Then he had to throw 6 various oil tablets down his gullet.
Simply savage parental units the poor mite suffers with.
He's off to a discussion with scientists tonight on evolution at the Melbourne Museum and he's currently got his 30 mins allowance on his Nintendo.
Geek kid is in his happy place!

The coming of the Aspergians

While we know we have a clever child we have never told him as such.
Yes, it sounds odd but it's not, really.
He knows he has Asperger's, he knows all about the Autism Spectrum, Tourette's, ADHD, OCD, etc, but he doesn't know he is what some call 'gifted'.
Because we have never used that word.
We have always encouraged him in his interests - mummifying the fish at age 9 (which I just found again in the cupboard the other week), completing several archaeological digs on the backyard, building mudbrick pyramid tombs for the deceased chooks (as you do), completing 5 university subjects so far, etc - but we've never referred to him as 'gifted' or 'a genius', he just is.
He knows he can prattle off the names off the geological ages of the Earth, explain what the climate is like on each planet in our solar system, describe the process by which iron ore is formed within the earth and extracted by man but he still takes awhile deciphering analogue time, tying laces is a slow process and his handwriting (like most Aspies) is akin to chicken scratchings.
Some people assume that because he's 'so clever' that everything comes easily to him - it doesn't.
Nor is he a novelty, a nine-day wonder or a freak act in the sideshow of the circus as some people tend to parade their 'gifted' kids.
He is Aspergian, he's an Aspie with ADHD, Tourette's and OCD (don't ever bump his things out of line!!!!!!) and he's my beautifully wired pumpkin-pie who subscribes to the Big Bang theory (and tv show) and thinks most people are bizarre little freakazoids.
No, the Martians won't be taking over; it'll be the Aspergians.
Be afraid, bizarre little freakazoids...be very afraid!