Oh my...

I sat on one side of the room this morning, reading the news on my mobile, while Shmoo and the psychologist did a couple of cognitive assessments on the other side of the room. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He started off okay but then the questions got a little trickier and he had to think a bit more. Which was fine. He did. Until he realised that E would accept 'I don't know' for an answer and not push him too much to have a go like The OH and I would at home. So that became his answer for many of the questions, anything that he thought might be too hard for him. And then because he wasn't putting any effort in, his mind started to wander and he wasn't paying attention properly, wasn't listening properly to instructions. Instead of answering E's questions, a lot of the time Shmoo ended up just repeating them back to her. And there were so many questions that he knows the answer to but he still said 'I don't know'. Like the meaning of the word 'island'. Over the last couple of weeks Shmoo and I have had sooooo many conversations about homophones and the difference between 'island' and 'Ireland' is one that has come up frequently. He knows what an island is! We live on one FFS!

*Sigh* But what can you do? So I just smiled encouragingly at him when he looked over at me for reassurance; and, as usual, we'll keep encouraging him to try, to at least have a go, to tackle things one step at a time rather than freaking out because the problem looks too big.

E ended up splitting the assessments so we'll be finishing them off next week.

Forwarded through our homeschool group list. Glad to see it's not just our shelves that are crammed full of books like that :)

TASDAS Assessment

We received a letter from TASDAS today... Shmoo's autism assessment will be over a couple of days in mid-April (there are 3 parts - a play/social interaction assessment; parent interview; and feedback and assessment findings session).

He has his assessments with the psychologist tomorrow morning.

Not sure how I feel about it all. Happy and relieved that things are finally moving; regret that we didn't know about all of this 4-5 years ago; anxious because... ??

Back to School

And so it gets busy again. Now that the mainstream school year has started, we're back to squeezing in swimming lessons, performing arts classes and community playgroup around our various regular appointments and playdates. On top of that, it won't be long before Early Intervention starts up again for Beanie and Loo (it'll be Loo's first time attending).

The boys' performing arts teacher is very keen for them to participate in the Eisteddfod this year (reciting a poem in costume). It will be a great opportunity for Shmoo and Loo, but... my stomach churns at the thought of the inevitable meltdowns that we'll get from Shmoo. I know it's important for us to keep nudging him, encouraging him to at least have a go at these things. It doesn't help that I can empathise a little too well - being an extremely introverted child and having to do the Eisteddfod every year was terrifying!

Playdough

The Human Body

Last year we bought the boys an awesome book about the human body - See Inside: Human Body. Big book, clear pictures, and it even has acetate overlays so you can see the different layers of the body.Shmoo and Loo love the book and periodically get it down to pore over, completely fascinated by all the bits that make up our bodies.

Yesterday morning they were excitedly showing me me various pages, reading aloud and asking me questions. We talked about muscles, veins, lungs, kidneys, reproduction, the brain, bones and the heart. When they got to the heart, I asked Shmoo if he remembered what the heart did. Even though he knows that I know he knows the correct answer, he did his usual "I don't know, I can't remember!" 8-| So I asked Loo. He pondered the question thoughtfully for a minute and said "It pumps, like this..." and thumped his hand against his chest. Just as I was starting to think "Yay, he remembers!", Loo continued talking, saying "...when you love somebody". Awwwww. Cute. Not quite the answer I was hoping for, but cute all the same. =))

Then for dinner we had a roast leg of lamb. It led to continued discussion about veins as well as bones. They were intrigued by the ball and socket joint of the lamb bone and spent a good deal of time fitting them together and examining the range of movement. Shmoo asked some more in-depth questions and was quite curious about cartilage and bone marrow.

Maths

Shmoo Bear sorting numbered craft sticks into hundreds, tens and ones (and yes, that  t-shirt says 'too cool for school'. Just a cheapie one that we got last year at a Kmart end of season sale, but it gave us a giggle and we couldn't resist getting one each for the boys)

Beanie, watching his big brother count and attempting to count his pieces of fruit. 

Peacefest

Today we spent a few fantastic hours at (the first and, hopefully, annual) Peacefest. It was a gorgeous, warm sunny day, perfect for such a lovely gathering. Shmoo got a cross-section slice of blue lace agate to add to his crystal collection; Loo got a pink tie-dyed singlet; and Beanie got a green and purple tie-dyed skivvy. The boys were thrilled to discover that a good friend of theirs was there too and, as always, they all had a blast playing together. Shmoo and Loo loved racing around the seaweed labyrinth. The food was amazing - vegetarian, great prices, and absolutely delish! A fun family day out...

 

 

45 minute drive to the hospital for a paed appointment that they had requested. Absolutely useless. Shmoo was weighed and measured and then I had to repeat the same old crap that I've been through a million times before (stuff that's all in his file) with a brand new locum. She then proceeded to scoff at the advice we were given to have as many behavioural/cognitive assessments done by a psychologist before his official TASDAS assessment (umm, hello, we were told to do this by TASDAS!). Then we were told to come back for another appointment in 4-6 months time, after the TASDAS assessment.

And the main thing I got from the appointment? The very strong impression that the paed was extremely pro mainstream schooling (because of the 'socialisation' of course!!). Maybe next time anyone asks me if Shmoo's in school I should just say yes and leave it at that... I mean, the word 'school' is in homeschool, isn't it?

:-< 8-|

Noise Reduction Headphones

Bought these a couple of months ago for Shmoo. Wish we'd known about them (and fidget toys) 6 years ago!!

We also have a Kid Companions Chewlery Heart on the way (Shmoo chose pink). Am desperately hoping it arrives soon so that the bite valve on Shmoo's water bottle doesn't get any more munched up.