Christmas!

Mac a hit!

Mikey still in the dark about Disneyland

"You got me a Mac?" he said as he opened the gift bag. "We got you THE Mac," Grandma answered, "It's the one you've been using," she added, as a grin surfaced on David's face. Outside of the chocolate-covered marshmallow Santa (consumed immediately), the only other thing that had brought a big smile to that point was an iTunes card.

When I started probing Mikey earlier in the month, "What do you want for Christmas?" he responded, "Presents!"

I tried to get a clarification - the best we did was when his Mom asked him. His response? "Candy cane!"

Because Mikey has no real concept of time, except short amounts, he has not been told that his present is an annual pass to Disneyland. The Southern California pass isn't good right now, and won't be, until Jan. 3 anyhow.

You never know with Mikey - this year, the one thing that caught on was a Sesame Street book with buttons and sounds that has Christmas songs and carols. The container of animals got an open but was quickly abandoned quickly.

This has been quite an up-and-down Christmas for me. Usually my favorite time of year - and still is - there have just been a bunch of downers that have sapped some - but certainly not all - of the joy out of the season. None of them had anything to do with the boys. Our daughter was in a car accident (everyone's more-or-less OK) and then she got sick right before Christmas. She was well enough to come over for a couple of hours, but not the usual whole day.

Some family members got upset with other family members, and refused to show up at the same place as the "other" family members (we elected the "Dear Abby" response of "Everyone is welcome here and we're not changing whom we invite.") It discombooberated the routine.

On the up side, I had a wonderful visit with one of my sisters in Florida in early December, and one of our brothers was able to join us for a day.

I did not get to the usual baking (minus) because of some construction we had at the house running almost until Thanksgiving - and the cleanup afterward really took a lot of time. OTOH, all the decorations got up (plus) in plenty of time !! And the house is VERY clean (double plus).

And Christmas Day, while somewhat quieter than usual with the reduced crowd, was actually very nice and much more placid than usual. My husband and I had a wonderful, quiet morning to share gifts and I even had time to add omelettes to our traditional Mexican hot chocolate and sweet breads. The boys had a wonderful day - not a single incident to report - and we did get to spend dinner with our daughter. So while it was not "the ususal chaos" it was a good Christmas.

Music, Maestro

David has become very interested in music. He is playing the drums - actually taking lessons and paying attention - and he has a iPod onto which he has loaded a lot of music, and he has created numerous mixes. His taste is definitely eclectic - not just "today's hits" but a whole array of music, from Ella Fitzgerald forward. (Unlike Mikey, he only tolerates symphony and does not care for opera.)

So yesterday I bought the new Sting Christmas album. The album is very non-traditional in the current sense; it contains many traditional and seldom heard carols, although there are a few standards like the Cherry Tree song.

I left it out on the piano; David saw it and started to comment on it immediately. He also looked it up online. He knew already who Sting was.

When asked if he liked Sting, he responded, "I appreciate his work. He is a modern-day Kenny Loggins"[!]

He launched into a set of comments made by other people, including those who think Sting "sold out" and several other criticisms. David has decided he likes the album, with the exception of one or two of the songs, and asked to borrow it (to add to his iTunes library).

Additionally, he has decided, "even though I don't really like your voice" that he would like to "make a cover album" for this one, using Garage Band, himself, my friend Richard and me. We shall see. (David has met Richard before but it's been a while.)

Captain Underpants

One of the book series that is - interesting - to the 10-12 year old male set is a series called, "Captain Underpants." The hero is - yup, you guessed it, a chubby male who wears diapers. I have not read them. David was into them several years ago; out of nowhere, Michael has suddenly taken a significant interest in them. This is progress, trust me. He brought 3 of the books with him today, and read through parts of them from time to time.

We also went to the park today, and Mikey engaged in play, with me, for the better part of 1/2 hour. (Also some progress - often when I'm around he pushes me into another place or room.) It was fun, but Grandma is not in the same shape as her 13-year-old grandson. The one who ate 2 hotdogs, a big mess o' baked beans, and 2 helpings of cheesy potatoes for dinner (then wanted dessert.) We suspect he'll shoot up to meet David soon.

As usual, after we got them home, they performed their nightly ablations, then went to bed. Not too sleep. We talked with Mom for a while and then realized that Mikey was still wearing the slippers that we keep at our house - so we went into his room to fetch them. Mom recovered him (he's a cover-kicker, just like his Aunt Evie), and Grandma bent over to sneak in one more kiss. "Sleep with Grandma!" was the response. I told him, "Not tonight" - but it was very sweet.

The Lion King on Broadway

A good part of last summer, Mikey would get on You Tube and look at clips from The Lion King on Broadway, and then he would ask, "May I have Lion King on Broadway, please?"

Now, he's never been on an airplane It's one of the things we are planning to try someday; Mikey is a pretty good traveler. However, starting with a 5-6 hour plane ride and a NY hotel is not our idea of a try-out. :-)

The travelling company is in the area - well, 1-1/2 hours away by car - and we got tickets. OK, it's a $200 experiment, but if you don't try, you'll never know.

Mikey usually wears elastic-wasted sweat pants - there are small motor issues, although he has been working on buttons. For the theater, we wanted something slightly upscale from sweats. So a very nice lady at Sears helped me find pants. We discussed 18/20 versus 30 x 30 and ended up with 30 x 30 twill pants. They fit! and he had a pink-striped shirt which, for reasons not known to us, he started calling his "theater shirt." (We do not tell Mikey in advance that he's going anywhere; if we do, he wants it NOW.) Grandpa loaned him a burgundy pull-over, zip-front sweater. What a treat he looked.

I did the usual prep of a "story" about the day. The story's purpose is to set expectations for Mikey. I do it with words and pictures. Here are the "words" from this story:

Mikey goes to the Theater!

Today, Halloween, Mikey is going to go to see The Lion King.

He is going to go in thecar with Grandpa and Grandma. It’s a very L-O-N-G drive in the car.

We will make 3 stops on the way:

1. To go potty
2. To have lunch
3. To take a break
When going to the theater we dress up. Mikey will get to wear his theater shirt!
What happens at the theater?
First, we park in a BIG parking lot, and walk to the theater.
Then we find our seat. There will be lots of people.
Everyone needs to behave! So everyone can enjoy the show.
When we like a song, and when the song is over, we applaud. When the actors on the stage are acting or singing, we watch QUIETLY.
During the show, there will be a break, called an Intermission.
That’s the time when we can walk around and go to the bathroom.
Then we go back to see the rest of the show.
After the show, we will go back to the car and then go to dinner.

OK I can't wait to tell you: This was an ENORMOUS success! He stayed through the whole show and behaved!

Here is what we learned we need to improve:

We need to add something about waiting to go into the theater after we park. We got there about 1/2 hour early. Mikey wanted to go into the theater (and presumably have the show start) immediately. Mikey did have a behavior issue - I guess he thought we were trying to keep him from seeing the show because we didn't let him go in right away (and the story implied we would)

We need to explain that Intermission lasts a certain amount of time, and even if Mikey is done with bathroom and getting water, we wait for the bells to tell us it's time to go back in

We need to set the expectation that it's a LONG drive BACK as well.

The latter two were not big issues.

Here are some things that did work.

Once we got into the theater, Mikey wanted the show to start. I told him that we had to wait for the orchestra and for the LIGHTS TO GO DARK. He kept looking at things and then finally said, "I want dark, please." However, he did not fuss.

I did bring some snacks and water into the theater. I know, I know, but ..

We got seats on the side of the theater. This particular theater had these loge seats sticking out from the side walls, that have only a few seats in each row. We had a row of 3 seats - This was PERFECT. Although we didn't need to use it, there was an Exit right by us where we could have left quietly. AND not having so many people so close was better for Mikey.

The production was almost 3 hours long, with 1 intermission. He sat through the whole first act, enthralled with what he was seeing. He did, as he does with movies and videos, point and name things he saw: "Antelope. Scar. Mufassa. Rafiki. Giraffe." We had to remind him several times to whisper, and after about 5-6 times he did. He was a little antzy in Act II.

Altogether this was a ROUSING SUCCESS!! and we are really glad we did it.

Assessment!

Lost 2

GAINED 12!

Got another email from David. I Lost 2 Pie Pieces :-\ but gained 12 :-$ , so i really have 10. :-)

Woo-Hoo!!

Periodically, and without any warning whatsoever, ALEKS presents an assessment. Once that happens, you cannot do anything else - including looking at the Dictionary or Review items - until you have completed the Assessment.

For the past few assessments, David has gained and lost roughly an equal number of pie pieces (see earlier blogs for more info on ALEKS - http://www.aleks.com). My assessment is that he is not retaining some of what he has learned. Mind now, he has retained a LOT. I hear it when he gets a problem on an assessment and says, "That's easy."

But ALEKS does not give a person as much review on items as a regular classroom might. Which is fine IFF you GET it and REMEMBER it. So I have approached the issue this way. Each week I assign 10 lessons from ALEKS (they are not that long). I select 7-8 from the REVIEW topics, and then 2-3 new topics for David to try. David is reponsible for completing them and recording what he's done. He's also to let me know what gave him problems. On Friday (my regular teaching day), we look at what he's done and spend time on the ones that gave him problems. Then we usually do 1-2 new pie pieces together.

I am assuming this is working! given the fact that, per his assessment, he was up 10 pie pieces for this review period.

HORRAH!

Slope-Intercept, Face, Freddy Fish and Phone Numbers

Math Stuff

So I got an email from David. "im having problems with SOLVING A SYSTEM OF LINEAR EQUATIONS. the explanation didn't make sense, as of now. :-)"

We covered this for the first time last weekend, and I knew it would take more than once. I told him to do other review exercises in his assignment, and he did. So we lined up the equations, reminded him of LCDs and discussed the signs - after all the goal is to get to zero - and off we went. I expect it won't be the last time ...

We are concurrently (ALEKS is like this) working on graphing equations, x- and y-intercepts; and of course, using the SLOPE-INTERCEPT standard linear equation form: y = mx + b. It took quite a while for David to parse this out so that he understands that "m" is the slope - not "mx + b" or "mx." So I finally gave him what seems to be working as an audio-visual memory tool.

If you are familiar with Children's TV, you may be aware of a character called, "Face." Face morphs shape and color to teach elementary concepts of shape and color. He often starts, "Hi There; Face Here." Many phrases are alliterative and exaggerated, with his voice going up/down and phrases semi-sung.

"R-r-r-ise!" I said, pointing my arm up and using a high sing-song voice and holding the vowel a couple of seconds; then thrusting the arm out in front, lowering the tone, and saying, "R-r-r-un." (This was later followed by "B-z-z-z-z-z." (for "b") It seemed to r-r-r-esonate with him. :-)

Freddy Fish and Phone Numbers

Mikey loves a children's computer game called "Freddy Fish." There are several iterations of the game; Freddy Fish IV lives at our house. In the game, there is a part where Freddy advises the game player to memorize a 3-digit number, which becomes the "combination" to unlock a safe later in the game. So on the way home Mikey started reciting his phone number and declared it was the combination! One never knows where his mind will go, but go it certainly does.

Ordinary Days

Yesterday was a "math day" for David, and I was at his house.

One of the types of problems that David forgot how to do is to find the nth value in a set if the average value of the set is some number. [For example, if a student scored 85, 95, 93, 82 on four tests, and had one more test to take, what would his score need to be for his average score to be 90?] I tried a couple of approaches that did not resonate with him.

Finally, I said, "David - look at me. If I gave you $.96 Monday, $1.04 Tuesday, and kept doing that; and if I gave you an average of $1.00 per day, how much money would you have by Friday?"

"$5!" was the almost immediate reply ...

Anyhow, that seemed to clear up the concept for him.

Oh, and I neglected to mention that David's mom interrupted his lesson, so David could show HER how to do something with iTunes on the computer!

I also waited for Mikey to come home. It was swimming day for him, so while he was chowing down on the M&M cookie grandma brought, I asked him what he'd learned in school. He responded, "Swim."

"Mikey, what ELSE did you learn today?" I asked.

"Australia!" was the response.

Wasn't able to get any more out of him. BUT - a friend of mine who lives in Australia did bring us a wonderful picture / coffee table book about it, so it will definitely be featured on the coffee table today. (It's usually there, except when the Christmas decorations come out.)

Looking ahead to the holidays

It's often a challenge to find a "good" present for the boys, let along one they'll like. David is a little easier these days - he's happy with a slew of iTunes cards. The Mikey Mystery-Wrapped-in-an-Enigma kid is a much harder challenge. His interests vary, wax and wane like the stock market these days.

However, that said, we are in discussions on two things: an annual passport to Disneyland for Mikey and the used Macintosh computer I bought to be given to David.

Mikey and Disneyland

Mikey loves Disneyland (as you can read in earlier posts) and Disneyland is VERY supportive of special needs kids. There are "special" passes for Southern Californians. They are cheaper than regular passes, and have more date restrictions. However, that's almost a plus for a pass for Mikey.

Think of it this way - How do you find the "best" days to take him? You look for the less-crowded days. How do you know what those days are? You can guess, but DISNEY knows. And BTW, that knowledge transfers into - passes with blockout days on the really busy days ...

And I think I can handle him alone for a few hours at Disneyland or California Adventure. He is very familiar with the parks now and he continues to improve by small amounts. He listens better. We still use "set the rules" documents (one pagers with pictures and words that set expectations).

David and the Mac

For a long time, we've had a PC that is referred to as "Mikey's computer." David uses it part of the time, but we got this used PC so Mikey could have a reasonable but not too expensive machine to access the Internet.

David has gotten totally into music recently. Mactintoshes have software called, "Garage Band" that is pretty sophisticated, and David's friend Bonnie and he spend time at her house making and recording music. She uses Garage Band.

SO I got this Mac as an experiment. The first time David tried it, he did not know what to do. (Neither do I but I understand Apple has a first-rate tutorial.) But I think David ascribes to The Music Man theory of learning - The Think System! Experimentation!

The next time we had the Mac out, David discovered "Magic Garage Band" which has a bunch of instruments and pre-recorded stuff you can use as background; he spend the next several HOURS recording what, to my obviously unsophisticated ear, was a bunch of noise - but it was a bunch of noise with multiple tracks. Go David!

There are several reasons to give it to him and several not to ... we'll see ...

Reality

In the autism community, we refer to non-autistic kids as, "neuro-typical," or "NT" for short. As I write this blog, I realized that a lot of what I write talks about the boys in many was as if they were NT. A lot of what all of us do is based on our knowledge of the boys, of autism, of personality, of what works and what doesn't. So we often don't think of the boys as anything "special," per se, just as themselves.

Sometimes something - a look or the realization of what someone else is thinking - call me back to the reality of their situation. Sometimes, it's just something that happens.

Today I was helping out with Mikey. David is back "in" school. He is home-schooled. Mikey is not back in school until next week. David cannot concentrate on work when Mikey is around; and, with the elopement issues, Mikey cannot be let alone outside. Mom got some respite help for two days this week; grandma is filling in some of the remaining time.

So today, I brought Mikey over to our house. (Grandpa went to work of course.) He asked for nachos for lunch, and I didn't have chips or cheese - kinda important for nachos ;-) - so I asked Mikey, "Do you want to go to Von's?"

"Yes," he replied. So we stopped and picked up the required elements and came to the house.

As lunch time approached, I thought it would be a good teaching opportunity to have Mikey help with making the nachos - it's pretty simple: warm beans; grate cheese; layer chips-beans-cheese twice and pop in the oven. So here is where the reality sets in.

First, Mikey agreed to participate. I opened the can and realized - I have only a manual can opener. There is no way Mikey could open the can - he does not have the strength or dexterity in his hands to do so. I did get him to take most of the beans out of the can and put it in the skillet.

I tried to show him how to turn on the burner. I have a gas stove with an electric ignition. I showed him how to push down the knob, but he was not able to do it - same issue. He was able to adjust the flame.

Then I opened the cheese and cut of some chunks - he was able to handle the electric grater with no problem; he missed the bowl a little but not much.

I then directed him to put the layers on. He didn't put quite enough, and he didn't spread the cheese around - but he was able to complete the task.

I put the tray in the over-stove convection oven, and then had him turn it on. We had to do it 3-4 times before he got the steps in order - it involves the following:

Push the knob

Turn the knob to the right temperature

Push the knob

Turn the knob to the correct time (15 minutes)

Push the knob 2x

(BTW, it took me a while to learn the sequence; I wasn't trying to have him learn the sequence, just go through the steps under my direction.)

I think any "independent" living for Mikey will include helpers of one sort or another. One of my dearest friends reminds me that it's just a matter of an appropriate definition of "independent" that is at issue. It's not that I haven't thought about it before. It's just my "reality" check for today.

Birthday(s)

Thirteen!

It hardly seems possible that the boys are thirteen, but the years don't lie. The first Saturday in August, we hosted their 13th birthday party.

Mikey doesn't really have friends but David does. He invited 3 kids plus one of the women who does respite. My husband's parents (Great Grandma and Great Grandpa) and my daughter and son-in-law also came.

The kids who were invited are from "park day," which is something that evolved out of the home-school parents. Some of the kids are "on the spectrum." It's important to understand that, when you invited a kid on the spectrum, you've invited the whole family. So we had over 20 people.

Our tradition is to set up the bounce house - we bought one on closeout from Costco several years ago, and it's more than paid for itself - and not have organized games. Kids on the spectrum don't take well to most organized birthday games. They do bounce, sometimes even inside the bounce house!

This year, inspired by an idea in "Family Fun," I also set up our blue E-Z-Twist screen house - it's about 8'X8'X8' - and filled it with blue helium-filled balloons - thereby creating an "ocean" to swim in. All of the kids, at one time or another, got in the "ocean" and did whatever imaginary play made sense to them.

We set out all the "leftover" party toys - plastic flutes, yo-yo's and those things you blow in and the curled paper extends out and they squeal, and some punching bags.

Given that many of the kids are teens or close to it, I wasn't sure how they would take to these things, and it turned out they were all a hit. The punching bags (the blow-up-like-a-balloon kind), ignored in prior years, turned out to be a Big Deal this year.

For food, we went "easy" - Baja Fresh takeout, some watermelon and grapes, and some home-made nachos (they're easy). A tray of shrimp and my "big" effort: deviled eggs, completed the food bill. Iced tea, lemonade, assorted waters, juices and sodas. All outside; paper and plastic that will make it to the landfill.

In years past, we've invited everyone into the house for cake, ice cream and presents. This year, the weather was just perfect - not too hot, not too windy; just sunny and warm - so we held those festivities outside. The usual chaos, with one Brilliant Preparation on my part - I took the ice cream containers, put them into freezer bags, set the bags in a plastic tub (the kind you might put in the sink to do dishes), and put that in the freezer. I then poured water around the containers.This was done 2 days in advance, of course. Then right before we started cake and presents, I got it out and set it on the outside patio. The ice cream did not melt!

So, how did the boys do? Mikey actually played in the bounce house with the kids, for a while. He foot wrestled with David. He then ran around the yard a bit, and then wanted presents before it was time (late arrivers were still eating). We set a schedule with him - play until this time; then presents, then cake and ice cream. With a little persuasion, he did pretty well. He did, however, take his own time out to play away from the chaos on the computer.

Mikey did pretty well with presents, although saying, "Thank you," is not something we've been able to get him to do on his own. A couple of the presents were hits and he ran off with them to play a bit before coming back to continue opening.

David got lots of cash and iTunes cards - he uses them up almost as quickly as he gets them. He is learning about money and had a significant amount - almost $80 - saved here. Mom took that and contributed the rest to get him Guitar Hero for the Wii.

It's really funny, when the boys were little, I could sing to them. For a while, they wanted NO music. Then Mikey started listening to symphony and opera, and would even ask for them. David then started to get into modern music - more on that in another blog.

At any rate, the party was successful and we ended it with party favors that honored the Space Program - Astronaut Ice Cream.

Happy Birthday, David and Michael!

More Math Techniques: PEMA pants

Well, Order of Operations is important in math. There is the default order and then there is the order cast by using symbols, such as parentheses. David is a visual learner, and pneumonics are helpful to him as well.

So on this particular Saturday we were working on this. It finally went well with this:

Parentheses
Exponents
Multiplication (he knows division is inverse multiplication)
Addition (ditto for subtraction)

which we remember by using the phrase "PEMA pants." [He is in Junior High, after all!!]

I owe it all to ...

David frequently asks how a particular math lesson will help him be a video game designer (this is his ambition). Often it's not too hard to let him know how, since game design is so math-intense.

Of course, sometimes the math lessons are challenging. Recently, after David finally mastered a difficult concept, he turned to me and said, "When I'm a game designer, I'll owe it all to YOU." (You can probably see the smile on my face from wherevever you are reading this.)

Math Techniques

So since we're talking about math (again), I thought I'd share some of the things I've come up with to help David with his math. We have been solving linear equations with 2 values, identifying slope-intercepts, etc. To solve a linear equation involves finding a single variable and equating it to something solvable.

So, in order to get David's attention, I tell him we have to find the "naked" y (or x). In order to do that, we "MARCH to the Other Side and Change The Sign." [I literally march around for this one.] Then we "Divide and Conquer." [We do this with waving of arms and pointing.] Just thought I'd share ..

The other day, David, who is almost 13, started watching several "Little Bear" episodes on tape. Little Bear is age-appropriate for 3-5 year olds. He also pulled out a Wiggles video! We asked him why, and he declared that he "must be reverting to my childhood."

Mikey has fixated on a feature on the Sleeping Beauty video disk #2. It is a walkthrough of the Sleeping Beauty castle. He watches it over and over, and looks up similar videos on You Tube. This has supplanted the more recent fixations with "The Lion King on Broadway" You Tubes and the "Journey through the Grand Canyon and Medieval World" from the Disney train ride. I wonder what will be next.

Speaking of Mikey, he has learned it is appropriate to greet someone when you see them for the first time in a day. "Good Morning, Mother." "Hello, Grandma."

He does this rather quickly then goes off, again rather quickly, to pursue his own interests. His Mom said that, one day when - hm, I'm not sure if it was on the bus ride home from school or a day when Mom went to the classroom - at any rate, someone in authority reminded Mikey to "say hello to your parent."

"Hello, Parent!" he said.

Mikey does continue to make improvements. However there are some core issues. One is that, when things don't go his way, he sometimes throws a tantrum. He'll flop on the floor and scream and do the hit-his-head-with-one-hand and bite-the-fleshy-skin-over-his-thumb with the other. AND he kicks. It takes 2 of us now to control it.

The one thing that is more scary is that he cannot tolerate a person crying, including babies. If David cries, Mikey will cry and hit him. You have to watch him very carefully at a park; where normally he ignores other kids, this is the one time he'll attempt to connect with them.

David is doing very well in math. The past several concepts, save one, have come to him rather easily. He will probably finish the pre-algebra course a couple of weeks from now. We'll be able to start the following year's math before this year is out. Heaven knows what Grandma will have to brush up on to keep helping him.

Also, how creative I'll need to be. This past year we have "MARCH to the Other Side and Change The Sign" and "Group the Troups Together." It's tough to "literalize" abstract concepts and I expect it will get tougher. It is very rewarding and not terribly infrequent for David to turn to me and say, "Thank you, Grandma, for explaining that to me."

David is turning into ...

"So David," I asked, "What is happening on July 30 this year?"
"My birthday!"
"What else?"
"I don't know - what?"
"What does it mean?"
"I'll be an eighth grader."
"What else? What will you turn into?"
"WHAT?"
"An icky, terrible, stinky teenager!"

Yup, the boys are going to be 13. And David has turned into a Weird Al fan. He has an inexpensive MP3 player and 5 albums loaded. He now sings/recites the words to dozens of Weird Al parodies. And yes, David knows what a parody is - he has even told us in detail about "Bob" - the song comprised of all palindromes. And yes, he knows what that is too.

Disneyland Redux 2

Mikey has on-and-off been interested in our car GPS units. I have a Garmin device - I think a C650 - and it is small and will operate on battery power. Hubby's GPS is really old; it's a larger model and not terribly portable. Recently, Mikey has been staring intently at street names - or something - while we drive.

Last Saturday, as we got ready to go back to Mama's house, Mikey asked, "May I have GPS, please?" so I got mine out of my truck and let him hold it on the way home.

He did push buttons; we could hear them - they beep. Then the GPS unit said, "Turn right on Heather Street."

Now, the GPS gives directions only when a destination has been programmed, of course. And we needed to turn left. It took a moment to realize that Mikey must have pushed the "Go Home" button. So I told him, "Mikey, 'Home' on the GPS is Grandma's house."

I took the GPS from him and programmed it to go to HIS house. I also told him we would not be following the instructions exactly. As we approached intersections where I knew the GPS would give different directions, or if it did give different directions, I would reassure Mikey by saying something like, "We are going straight here" or something equivalent to explain our variance from the proscribed path.

We soon got close enough to "Mama's house" that the directions were accurate. However, as we approached one particular street, the GPS said, "Turn right on B---- street."

Hubby asked, "Why is it asking us to do that?"

I responded that it sometimes directs us around and in from the other side. He said, "Yes, but we would need to turn LEFT to do that."

We were stopped at a light, so hubby took the GPS and looked at the instructions - Mikey had managed to find a set of directions to Disneyland!! and executed them. We guess he thought if he programmed the GPS, the car would go there ...

Feb. 7

It has been raining for a couple of days, and the yard was really soaked. The boys came over, as usual, of course. We had tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches, and the boys got goldfish in their soup. [The crackers; not real fish ;0]

Disneyland Redux

We were surprised last week that Mikey did not ask to go back to Disneyland. No worries - or maybe many worries - this past week, he said, "May I have Disneyland, please??"

We told him, "No," of course; even if we were to get him a "Southern California" pass, weekends are blacked out for most of the year. Also, I don't think we could take both boys at the same time; they like totally different things.

David, who, for a long time, said he did not want to go to Disneyland (an assortment of fears), has now decided that he wants to go as well. So I'll pick out a time for him. I can take him on my own and we won't get a "Guest Assistance" pass.

Aquarium

We are also members of the Aquarium of the Pacific, which is in Long Beach. The boys have loved going there. Our favorite times are "Member Nights" which *used* to occur the first Tuesday of every month. On those nights, the Aquarium would open at 6 pm for 3 hours for "members only."

Before I retired, I worked practically next door to the Aquarium. Mom would bring the boys around 5 pm and we'd go to Tequila Jack's for their Tuesday special: $1 tacos and half-priced margaritas. (Only Mom and I had margaritas.)

Then we'd go to the Aquarium and have it pretty much to ourselves. The boys were better able to concentrate on the exhibits without the distraction of the crowds.

Mikey was always pretty much touch-and-go, or just go, for the longest time. Lately, however, he has picked up a "fish finder" (the Aquarium's brochure that lists the items in the exhibits), and has actually spent time looking at the fish etc.

David / Math / Follow Up

At our last session, David said he was going to send me homework. He did!


answer these questions

1. how many bricks are on the great wall of china?

2. what is the ingredient found in Cheese Whiz and Krazy Glue? :-\

3. solve this equation

A. Y = Y(3)
B. 2 (Y /+ /2YX - 9) = 4


4. what accordian player parodied popular rock songs since 1979?


5. were ANY episodes of /THE SIMPSONS /ever rated TV-14-DLSV?

David's Head is Exploding

Since I retired, math tutoring got moved to Tuesday mornings. We still do some reinforcement on weekends if needed, but Tuesday is our Math Day. As I've mentioned in some earlier blogs, the more abstract the concepts get, the more creative the tutor has to get ;-).

Today, we worked on solving linear equations (2x + 7 = 13) and followed it with slightly more complex linear equations [ 2(x+3) = 4x + 10 ]. The first set, he seemed to understand or at least understand how to process. Well, actually, he seems able to get to the answers - they normally come out even - in his head and he can't explain how he got there. When we get to the more complex equations, doing it in his head doesn't work quite so well.

So Grandma breaks down the steps. However, doing steps is not fast. Anything not fast is frustrating.

So today, in the middle of all this, David declared, "My head is exploding!" as he held his head in both hands. No doubt he was in serious angst; as nearly as I could tell, nothing actually fell out of his head.

I do the standard thing - get quieter and calmer - when David gets like this, but press him to continue. The most gratifying this is that, every once in a while, when I force him to take the time to do the steps, he will grasp the concept. I know when it happens, and not just from the look on his face. David will look me square in the eye and say, "Thank you," when he gets something that has taken a while to sink in.

Oops

Once in a while, I make a mistake when we're working together. (It happens, OK??) When we figure out it's wrong, David will accuse me, "You're trying to mess me up!!"

When the lesson is over, I send homework sheets to Mom, with a key, so she can check his answers. This morning, before I went over, I talked to Mom and she said, "David did really well on his homework this time. Oh, and he found an error YOU made." Apparently, I posed a problem in yards and instead of labelling the answer as "square yards" I labelled it as "square feet." Smart kid, huh?

Today, during one of the "frustrated" periods, David added something new: "I'm going to send YOU homework, Grandma!!"

All in all, a good day, I'd say!

Disneyland - Part II

This is the second part of the Mikey / Disneyland blog.

When lunch time came, Mikey went to lunch. That is remarkable - during the trip we took to Sea World several months back, he screamed through most of lunch, because he didn't want to stop doing what he was doing. As I've said, he's made some significant progress following directions.

We went to the Mexican restaurant in Adventureland for this because, of the things we offered him for lunch, he wanted tacos. I ended up getting him a kid's meal, because that was the only place we could get plain chicken tacos. He ended up eating all his taco - which had lovely white meat chicken in a generous portion for a kid's meal - then he ate most of my beans with some extra chips we'd bought, and then he ate about 1/3 of Evie's very large burrito. And THEN he actually waited while we finished and went to the bathroom and washed his hands. Now, for an NT 12-year-old this would all be expected behavior; it is Major Progress for Mikey.

Star Tours

After Space Mountain, we went on Star Tours. We told Mikey it was a space ride, and then had to add, "but not in the dark" and other things to convince him it was not like Space Mountain. [Star Tours gives you a Star Wars type adventure. there is a lot of motion and it simulates "going in" to the Death Star. However, it does not have the twists and turns and roller coaster action of Space Mountain.]

To get into the ride, we went in a "back" door that took us right to the ride. The regular route is through what is almost a separate adventure, where R2D2 and C3PO are the hosts. All the attractions at Disneyland have some of this; it is entertaining and distracting when you are waiting in a long line. Star Tours is especially fun and clever. I have been occasionally disappointed if I go through it "too fast." At any rate, Evie observed that one of the disadvantages of the "special assistance" pass is that you miss all of this.

The "pilot" of the ride is an animated robot. Mikey loved the robot! At one point during the ride, the craft enters a frozen crystalized area and the craft smashes through it - it sounds like breaking glass. This was Mikey's favorite part of the ride, after the robot pilot.

Splash Mountain

After Star Tours, we took Yet Aother Train Ride so we could see the dinosaur diorama. We got off in New Orleans Square, and were going to go to the Haunted House, but it was closed (all the rides get closed every couple of years for rennovations and repair. Normally they are all open during the summer unless something is really off, or are undergoing major renovations that take multiple months.) So we went on to the other thrill ride in the area: Splash Mountain.

Splash Mountain is a log ride. You sit down in a faux log, fairly close to the bottom; there is a back support for each person. There is no seat belt; there are side hand rails. Most of the ride is fairly calm and only a little bumpy. They've moved a lot of the animatronics from the old "America Sings" ride into the attraction and have added some things to it. There are one or two short drops. When you are more than halfway through the ride, you go "over" a falls and take a quick, steep plunge. Mikey had been on two similar rides when we were at Knott's and they were his favorites; he loved this one too.

In terms of lines, we went through the FastPass line. There was a small wait - about 10 minutes - to get on the ride. Mikey was antsy but managed.

When we got off the ride, we saw the Winnie the Pooh ride. It is very gentle and takes you through a dream sequence with lots of honey. The wait was only about 2 minutes so we went through the regular line. He appeared to enjoy the ride - he likes Pooh - but when we finished it, he said, "May I have scary ride please."

Indiana Jones

In that vicinity are two rides that probably met Mikey's criterion. Aunt Evie asked him, "Do you want to ride a scary train or a scary jeep?"

Mikey said, "Scary jeep please" so we went to Indiana Jones. I have to say here that things could have been handled a bit better with the special assistance pass. They sent us through the FastPass line - folks with wheelchairs went "up" the exit. We ended up spending at least 30 minutes in this line. We worked with Mikey; played hand games with him; had him do jumping jack when there were areas that would accommodate it. We asked a couple of folks and they insisted we stay in the (not so) Fast Pass line.

When we got to the front, Evie asked if Mikey could drive the jeep, which they did do.

Now, these jeeps have several rows of four seat-belted seats across. The cool thing about the ride is that there are several embedded adventures - that is, there are options on the tracks as to which way you go, so you'd have to ride several times to go on all possible adventures.

The jeeps are on tracks. The ride is fast, jerky and has several spots where the jeep headlights go out and it is totally dark. Mikey did say, "all done" a couple of times during the ride. But overall, he liked it. If you ask him if he wants to go on Space Mountain again, he always says, "No"; but with Indiana Jones / jeep, sometimes he says, "Yes" and other times, "No."

Right after we went next door to the Jungle Cruise, which is a boat ride through major rivers of the world. It is one of the oldest and most campy rides in Disneyland; there are all kinds of animatronic beasts and some head hunters to content with along the way. All the while the boat driver provides a verbal commentary riddled with puns. Mikey really liked the animals.

Finding Nemo

We did several other things, but I'll cover only one other ride here. The submarine ride was revamped a few years back with a Nemo theme. (The old ride was way overdue for an overhall.) They have done a wonderful job on it! Mikey wasn't quite sure what to make of it - you go down inside and sit facing out of a port hole. Once we got underway and told him a couple of times, "Look out the window!" he got the idea and was engaged.

I had been on the ride before, and spent most of my time watching him. It was a wonder! Several times, he started to laugh and clap his hands. There are a couple of places in the ride where something is intended to startle you; Mikey jumped back and clapped and screamed and laughed. He had so much fun, he was fun to watch.

Winding up

Both Evie and I were astonished at how long Mikey stayed engaged AND behaved. In many similar scenarios, he has gotten over-stimulated to the point where he was barely controllable and we've had to leave early. We were at Disneyland from around 10 am to almost 7 pm. Now, as I've mentioned here and in some other blogs, Mikey has made progress; but I also have to give lots of kudos to the Disney folk for all they did.

The last thing we did was have dinner. We did not know it would be the last thing we were going to do. Mikey said he wanted a hot dog. As it turns out, there is only one place that actually has hot dogs, and it's in Toon Town. So we got Mikey his hot dog. After dinner, we started back out and were debating what to do when Mikey said, "Home, please." He had come to the end of the day. We were pretty tired too - as you may have detected, other than those rides we sat on and the two meals we had, there was no "rest" time for us that day - and were not at all unhappy to accommodate this last request.

We walked out of the park, tired but totally stoked at what a terrific day it had been, and how much fun it was. This was the first time we'd taken Mikey some place fun where we acdtually got to enjoy some of it - the other times, it had been all work in taking care of him, managing him, coralling him, etc. We went away very happy we'd gone, and definitely plan to return.

A fun Saturday

Today was a fun day. Southern California is having a heat wave and we ate lunch outside, and cooked burgers on the grill for dinner. We ate inside - we are also a desert, in spite of what you see in terms of terraforming. So it cools off a lot in the evening after sundown.

We took the boys to a large park in Huntington Beach, where there is also a large dog park. Aunt Evie and Foxy were at the dog park. We did take the boys in for a few minutes, but decided that this wasn't a good idea. Basically, in the dog park, dogs are off-leash but kids should be on-leash (totally controlled by a parent/guardian); in the play park, the dogs must be on-leash and the kids off-leash. Neither scenario allows play between the two species.

So Aunt Evie came over later in the day and joined us for BBQ. Foxy even partook - Mikey asked for two hot dogs and only ate one (they are "all beef").

Mikey and Dinosaurs

If you saw Part I of the Disney post, you saw that Mikey was smitten with the dinosaur diorama. He brought all his plastic dinosaurs over, and set them up - staged them - to recreate the scenes as they appeared there. He even added a few scenes of his own! They were spread across the yard, with huge separations between (18" to a couple of feet). Don't think I mentioned in the Disney blog, but Mikey knows the names of the dinosaurs, even the ones that Aunt Evie and I did not know.

David and Math

David is having issues with math. Some things that play into this: He's not interested. He doesn't see the use or value. Some of it is fairly abstract. He tries to hurry through it instead of thinking through it.

One of the things we are working on involves subtracting one area from another. Example: A person has a rectangular pool with a length of 10' and a width of 6' and wants to build a 1' cement path around it. How many square feet are in the path?

Well, today I decided to be as graphic as possible. I had him draw a representation of an 8 yard by 6 yard area, using 1" to represent 1 yard (reinforcing some earlier concepts as well). Then I drew the lines to show each "square yard." Then I had David number the squares, 1 to 8, 9 to 16 ... 41 to 48. Then we discussed how 6 x 8 = 48.

Then I drew heavy lines 1 yard inside, and asked him what the dimensions were of the inner rectangle. "What is the length?"
"7 yards. No, 6 yards!"
"What is the width?"
"4 yards."
"So, how many square feet are in the inner rectangle? What is 4 x 6?"
"24"
"24 what?"
"24 yards"
"What kind of yards?"
"Square yards!"

Then I took scissors and cut out the inner rectangle. "So, David, if the inner rectangle were the yard and the outer rectangle is the outside of the path, how many square yards are there in the path? What do you get when you take 24 square yards from 48 square yards?"

Pause. "24 yards ... square?"

"Why don't you count them?" I said. So he did. It helped ... some.

We had to repeat a lot of it for a similar example with a round pool and a path. On that one, he added the areas of the two circles together. He did correctly calculate the areas of the two circles, which was an improvement, because on circle problems sometimes we give him radius and sometimes diameter, and he has to pay close attention to do the right thing. I drew circles, and started to cut out the middle. "What do you do with the areas of the two circles?"
"Multiply? Divide?"
"David, what am I doing with the inner circle?"
"Cutting it."
... and several other things before I said, "I am taking it ... away."
At which point, David said, "Subtracting!"
At least, he seemed sure in the moment.

What I am learning is that it takes lots of reinforcement. David appears to learn something during a lesson, and then he forgets, or forgets to concentrate. BUT ... we are making forward progress!!

Looney Tunes

David has become fascinated with Looney Tunes characters. On the way back from the park today, I heard the boys saying something back and forth to each other (which is not common). Eventually we figured out that they were doing a Looney Tunes "thing": One of them was saying, "Duck Season" and the other was saying "Rabbit Season." From time to time, they reversed this. (This is from a Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck argument where bugs tricked Daffy into saying, "Duck Season" whereupon he was immediately shot.)

Disneyland - A Mikey Adventure

Some of you may have seen my earlier blog about Mikey's trip to Knott's Berry Farm. Although he had some fun, we decided they did not accommodate special needs in any significant way that would make us want to return.

Last Friday, we went to Disneyland. What an enormous difference! This is a park and a company that truly accommodates all kinds of special needs and diversity.

My husband and I are annual passholders (yup, that's one way to release my inner child; although it does not need a lot of coaxing). I went to City Hall and asked about accommodations for autistic kids a while back, and they said that they would issue a "guest assistance pass" that would allow us to skip or shorten most lines. They added, "But the child has to be with you." :-) Well, of course. The issue with special passes is that people look for ways to get them when they don't truly have a need.

So, on Friday, Aunt Evie and I took Mikey to Disneyland. As with Knott's I typed up a document that talked about how the trip would go:

Drive to the Disneyland and park

Walk to the tram

Wait in line

Ride to the entrance

Go through Security

Go through the gate (I bought the tickets online to avoid the ticket booth)

Go to City Hall for Mikey's special pass

Go on rides.

There were also a set of rules about behavior: no fussing; go to lunch when Grandma tells you; go to the bathroom when told; etc.

I have to say that we expected - nothing. The deal with Mikey especially is this: You never know how he is going to react to anything. We were totally prepared to blow the $138 admission fee (2 tickets; I had my pass) if it turned out that he was not able to deal with the crowds, rides, etc. I am most pleased to report that the day was a bigger success than I could have imagined.

We arrived somewhere around 10 am. The first thing we did was wait in line at City Hall for Mikey's pass. That was the longest wait we had all day. Naturally, he was antsy - as were most of the kids waiting in line for anything. Aunt Evie took Mikey to the fire station (attached to City Hall) and he climbed around the fire equipment while I waited. Then he came back, and the line was still long. Pluto and another Disney employee were receiving kids close by. Aunt Evie took Mikey over, and waited beside the line of kids. When it was Mikey's turn, the other Disney employee called out, "Here, Pluto; here boy! Come here! I want you to meet my good friend, Mikey!"

Pluto came over and gave Mikey a big hug, and Mikey gave him a hug and a kiss. What a wonderful way to start the day!

By this time we were getting close to the front of the line. Evie brought Mikey back and went in to sit on a bench. There are several benches there (I said the were accommodating, didn't I?) and he was OK. When it was our turn, the Disney employee asked how many were in our party, what the issue was (Mikey is pretty obvious once you try to talk to him), and she issued us a "guest assistance pass" and explained how to use it. "For most rides, you go through the exit and show the pass. If it's not obvious what to do, go to the entrance and ask the ride attendants. If you have any issues at all, ask for help. If the ride attendant doesn't know what to do, they can call here. If you are unhappy or unsatisfied in any way, come back here and we'll take care of it." Wow!

I'd also like to comment on - and compliment this Disney employee - on something else. When we take Mikey to a place like this, we prepare a name badge - we have several holders from conferences. Typically, I put an autism ribbon and "Mikey" on the front, and then some information and cell phone numbers on the back. She said that the park recommends we do not display the name as a security issue, because someone might use his name to lure him away. I thanked her and said that Mikey would not go with strangers, but was grateful they were so attentive and proactive.

So after all this preamble, here we go!

We walked up Main Street, with Mikey taking everything in. Going up Main Street you face Sleeping Beauty's Castle, which just recently reopened. So we walked into Fantasyland and went in. This attraction is not a ride; it is a walk through with dioramas and effects, along with an abbreviated story written out. You walk in and up the stairs and then down the stairs - recreating Sleeping Beauty's walk to the top room of the Castle where she slept until Prince Phillip woke her with his kiss. We made him stop and read then look at each diorama and effect - he was enthralled. As we emerged from the Castle, he said, "Again!"

"Mikey," I said, "We have many more things to see. We can come back later if you like."

One of the more terrific things that is starting to happen is that Mikey's understanding has improved and he is willing to negotiate. We did a lot of negotiation this day.

Next, we took him to Peter Pan. We went to the Exit, and showed our pass. THe ride attendant was more than gracious - she seemed to be, as did most everyone that day, trained to handle special needs. She asked us to wait while a couple of cars unloaded, then had us get into one of the cars. Off we His head was jerking back and forth to take it all in, and he was pointing to each thing and saying it's name. He exited the ride at the end with no fuss whatsoever.

So, off we went to our next adventure, Pinocchio. The line was not long so we made him wait in the regular line. We feel strongly that he needs opportunities to learn appropriate behavior. Again, he was totally engaged.

We rode many rides, and I forget the order - but soon after Pinocchio, we went on the train. Disneyland has a train that circles the park. During one segment, there is a n diorama of the Grand Canyon, followed by a primeval version of the Canyon that includes animated dinosaurs. Mikey was so engaged with this ride, he wanted to go again and again. During the course of the day, we "negotiated" going on the train 4-5 times. However, we are pleased to report that he was very good with statements like, "We're going on Space Mountain, then Star Tours, then train."

Pirates of the Carribean

There was actually a long line in the "guest assistance" line (which includes wheel chair access) to get on Pirates. Mikey was a bit antsy in line . The Disney folks were allowing about 1 wheelchair per boat - which makes sense; doing more than that would have really slowed down the line, and there were lots of folks in the regular line, too. However, at one point, they asked for all the folks who were not using wheel chair access, and put most of us in 1 boat.

Pirates is a water ride; no seat belts, but there are two "drops" that are somewhat exciting - especially the first one, since most folks are diverted into looking up at something when the drop starts. Mikey sat between us, singing along with the well-known, "Yo! Ho! Yo! Ho! A pirate's life for me" theme song that plays throughout the ride. Again, he pointed and said the names of things out loud.

Space Mountain

Space Mountain seats two people to a car. I let Evie take Mikey, and I waited for them. Space Mountain puts you in a "rocket" car. You are held in tightly. The ride moves fast, is "blackout" dark with stars, and has fast turns. This is the one ride Mikey did not like; Evie reported that, after the first fast turn, he said, "All Done!" and repeated it after every turn, and got anxious. However, he was very good. Somewhat dizzy coming off the ride, but very good nonetheless.

End of Part I. Stay tuned for the second part!!

Christmas Poetry

Mikey really embraced Christmas this year. He talked about Santa, and even went to the mall and sat on Santa's lap. He also uses software to write things out - at home he has software that inserts pictures of things, somewhat like you might remember from a "Highlights" story (check one out next time you're at the dentist if you don't remember).

Recently I found this - all spelling and punctuation (or lack thereof) is reproduced as I found it.

santa claus
soot is red
beard is white
reindeer sleigh
santa's roof
dear santa claus

It sounded like poetry to me!

I'm not sure why "soot is red." Mikey uses "red" as a universal noun for things including red, stop, unavailable, forbidden. Grandpa thinks maybe he typed "soot" for "suit."

An ordinary Saturday

Yesterday was cloudy and cool (by Southern California standards, that is). Rain was "imminent" and unpredictable, so we didn't plan to go anywhere at all - usually we go to a local park or a local amusement, like the zoo or aquarium, sometime during the day. The boys arrived; we had lunch.

As usual, Mikey helped Grandpa with "chores." Chores almost always include taking the dry cleaning to the laundry. The ladies in the store know Mikey and always give him a lollipop. Then Grandpa and Mikey usually have a least one other chore - get gas, get a few groceries, etc. - and they come home.

While they are gone, Grandma spends time with David on math. We spent a lot of time on math this week. David is in pre-algebra. We don't know why it's called, "pre-algebra" since there is a lot of algebra in it, and geometry, and probability. Lately, I have been giving David homework to do outside the ALEKS program, to reinforce concepts. The abstract concepts are hard for him. He has not been doing well - or at least, has not been demonstrating well. I am not sure if he is just being sloppy or if he really does not understand well enough to do the work. He seems OK with it when we do it together, and I remind him to watch the signs, or how to raise a power to another power. I do know that, unless he "gets" or remembers how to do these things, that later concepts are not going to be possible.

Computer Restriction

It is really hard to filter content on the Internet - I'm sure that is not news to anyone - so we have resorted to allowing no sites except those we approve. YouTube is not one of those sites. A simple query on "Barney" can lead to ... stuff about Barney, parodies of Barney and Totally Inappropriate Parodies of Barney ...

Of course, there is a lot of good and fun stuff there as well. Lately, Mikey has declared he wants to see "The Lion King" on Broadway. That would be the RIGHT Coast, and we live on the LEFT Coast. Mikey has never been on an airplane. He is generally a good traveler, but dealing with lines, Security, waiting, sitting when told, turning off the Game Boy, and Whatever General Weirdness Occurs are things we want to build up to.

YouTube does have some videos of parts of the performance. So, using "Grandma's computer" and with admonitions that he was not permitted to touch the screen [one of his stims is to touch things on the screen and recite their names], we watched some footage of the stage performance.

Mikey loved them, and asked to have them repeated several times. During the last repeat of “The Circle of Life,” he jumped up and said, “Dance.” He was actually imitating the dancers as they moved like the animals in their puppet-costumes! I got up and joined him. It was lovely!

Both boys did ask to “go somewhere” during the day. We explained that today was a day to stay at Grandma’s because the weather was bad. There were a few protests … Mikey demanded “Aquarium” several times … but there were no real tantrums or outbursts. All in all, a good, “ordinary” day.

Sharing and Taking Turns

Today we had an outing. On the way, the boys took their Nintendo DS's (there are two) with them. At one point, there was a slight - something - going on, with David saying something to Mikey about the game.

Now, David sometimes uses his ... influence ... with Mikey. So I started questioning, "David, did you take the DS that Mikey was using?"

"No! He took the one *I* was using!"

"Mikey," I said, "You can't take it from David when David is playing with it. Now, give it back to David."

He did - but not before first removing and switching the games! [Have I said before that he's smart? Just doesn't have much attention span or verbal communication skills.}

Grandma Update

There has been a large gap since the last post of 2008. I had minor surgery and the followed it by retiring from my job of 24 years at the University. I am now a "free woman" seeking some data warehouse consulting on a project basis. The holidays went well but were very busy.

I can't remember if I mentioned it in a prior post, but I am now tutoring David in math. He is in pre-algebra, and has passed the point where his Mom is able to handle the home schooling for this. He is using an online program, ALEKS (http://www.aleks.com) and definitely needs some supplemental help. So Tuesdays are our math day, and we supplement with homework and sometimes some work on Saturdays, when the boys are over (normally).

THAT word

About the time that we're ready to "retire" a toy or book, one of the boys starts playing with it. They are 12-1/2 now, and they haven't played with the letters/numbers on the fridge for a long time. I was about to retire the letters when ... Mikey started playing with them, again. He played for a while on the fridge, then went outside. A short while later, he took me by the hand to join him outside.

It had rained recently, and the ground was still damp. There, in the grass - in the mud, if you will, Mikey had spelled, "stuck." "Stuck in the mud" - that's pretty good (and pretty funny).

Then, he picked up the letters, took them to the patio table, and started an Electric Company-type word transformation set. Stuck --> Suck --> Fuck.

"Mikey," I said, calmly, "We do not use that work."

Obviously agitated, he picked up the "F." "No F!" he shouted, "F is bad!" As he removed and ran back to the fridge with the offending letter, he kept repeating the "no F" comment.

Now, I had not made a fuss about it, honestly. When we took the boys home that night, I told Mom the story. She said that Mikey's school - which is a small, private school for autistic kids - divided the kids into two groups: 1-6 and 7-12 graders. Mikey just moved to the latter group. She thinks he probably heard "that word" at school.

I suspect that, not only has he heard the word there - he has used it and been corrected.