Summertime and the weather is queasy

Spring has arrived in Central Ohio. The leaves are forming, the grass is growing, the back gate has finally been reinstalled. Had to inform the lawn crew to not bulldoze their way through there because I was the one that did the work and my company may be called Shoddy.

It's getting warm out, and some people hate the warm weather and are going to be sad because we did not get shit for snow this winter. At least there was only one snow day. Tested the a/c in the car and the house. Both functioned after their time off.

It's the time of year when you send your kid to school in a black hoodie and he comes home with just a blue fleece jacket in his bag.

It's the time of year you should have already had a commitment for a summer caregiver for your son but that has not happened yet. Our previous one priced herself out of our budgets and we have not had any luck finding another. Spoke to one earlier, she was a great lead but we could not mesh on schedules. There is a nuclear option his Mother has come up with, but it puts it all on her, and that's not fair. But you have to do what you have to do.

For future reference, Susan Senator has written a great book about forming a plan for your soon to be adult with autism. Really, it's a great read with blueprints and strategies. They're not going to be easy, but she explains it all very straight forward.

In other news I've made an appointment for a test drive on a new car on Saturday. Not buying, but research with the possible future intent to buy continues.

A word is acceptance

In a lot of ways, when there's no cure for autism but a series of treatments to help your child cope with the world around him, my son is a pioneer.

He was the first patient in the Nationwide Children's Hospital Feeding Clinic. He was one of the first students in the Shakespeare and Autism program. He's thirteen now, just started seventh grade, and his whole life is ahead of him. So many experiences, so many more relationships await.

And there's always the thought of what happens when I'm gone in my head.

We're keeping him in horseback lessons, the rate is reasonable and it does not conflict with school. Tomorrow one of the local news stations is filming his lesson as part of a story they're doing on the center where the lessons take place. Stockhands Horses for Healing.

There are a number of parents who have paved the way for me (who are the real pioneers) and who have been a guide to me in dealing with my son's autism. I cannot thank Katie enough. She came in my life through Live Journal and has been a friend who is always willing to listen to me vent about shit. My friend Mary Beth has helped me though thick and thin while dealing with her son's condition and her own health issues.

After reading her book, Making Peace With Autism - Susan Senator has been a swami of information as she works though a maze of bureaucracy in her success in having her son thrive. We've never met, but our lives have intertwined like family.

They and so many others have made me realize I'm not alone in dealing with this. Despite some philosophical differences my son's Mother is terrific and none of this would be happening without the love and support of my Wife, who took on the task of raising another person's child as her own - and has put up with some crazy shit in the process.

I've just started reading the book NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman and have a feeling this is going to be the book that makes people realize that there are going to be a fuckton of autistic adults out there in a few years. Something I've been screaming about for several years now. We're not prepared for the numbers. Silberman has done some extensive research into the history of autism and from what the buzz says predicts a lot about what's going to be happening in the world of autism in the next few decades. I'm looking forward to the conversation this book is going to start.