Claire's List
1. Sing Claire's Song (Check out on YouTube.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbIe0Y-HKPY
2. Go to Down Town Wheaton
3. Go to Claire's places
4. Go to Los Burritos for lunch
5. Hang out with Veronica
After I wrote down Claire's plan for the first half of the day, she was ready to go. She needed a list to be able to accomplish anything, but once it was set, she was prepared to joyfully execute.
Claire's song, which I wrote on her birthday, has moved up to the #1 spot on the Macdonald charts. It has been in very high demand recently. It gives her focus and motivation. Even when she is already in a very happy mood,the song makes her even happier!
On our "adventure"-- as claire likes to call it -- we went to Down Town Wheaton. We made stops at Graham's Chocolates, the Popcorn Shop, and Starbucks. To everyones guess she got 2 dark chocolate non-paraels, 2 smarties, and a kids apple juice no ice. It was very predictable, but it was no less enjoyable for Claire which made it even more enjoyable for me.
Taking Claire on an "adventure" is very rewarding because it gives her joy, and in return that joy overflows out of her to me and it makes me proud of her and happy that she is happy.
Claire had a great day today! If Claire didn't have something like her list to rely on today, she wouldn't have been able to accomplish anything. But because of that structure, she was able to excel and have a great day!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
DON'T WORRY CLAIRE! YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO TO BED!
Claire: "Adios Brian! Goodnight!"
Me: "Goodnight Claire! I love you!"
Claire: "I don't wanna go to bed Bwiannn." (in a stressed tone)
Me: "Don't worry Claire! You don't have to, but Brian does! I love you Claire!"Claire: "I love you Brian. OK. OK. Don't worry Claire."
There is nothing better than getting a nice bilingual goodnight from Claire before bed.
She doesn't like bed in the least bit. Claire would love Vegas for that reason, she would never have to go to bed.
Every night she tells me, "I don't want to go to bed. I don't want to go to bed, Brian." To which I calmly respond, "You don't have to Claire, DONT WORRY."
One of the hardest things for autistic people to deal with is change. Claire hates change. And no, not the loose kind. She hates the transitions between different setting or events. It is very hard for her to adjust to different things but there are some tactics that we have found successful in helping Claire adjust. One way is making a list for her. By making a detailed list for Claire of things that she would be doing during the day, she is able to have more understanding of what will be happening which makes adjusting to change easier for Claire. As you can imagine, Claire relies immensely on routine because routines are very comfortable for her. She knows what will happen when she has a routine. If Claire doesn't know what will happen in the near future she gets stressed and worried and does not want to do anything.
Claire has developed a routine over the years before bed. She goes to every door on the second level of our house and proceeds to continually walk in and out saying "IN" "OUT" very enthusiastically while she is walking back and forth. After she is done with that, she slams the door as hard as she can then runs to the next door. Once she is finished with all of the doors, she is usually ready to go into her own room and go to bed. Even though she will rarely actually admit that she is in fact ready for bed. I don't know the exact reason why Claire does this, but I suspect that she uses this as a routine to help her ease into the idea of making the switch of actually going to bed.
I suppose that the reason she doesn't like bed is because of the sudden change and she is worried about bed for some reason, but nobody really knows for sure.
Me: "Hey Claire! We don't have to go to bed! Let's play the guitar instead!"
Claire: "That is a great idea Bwian!!!!!"
Me: "Goodnight Claire! I love you!"
Claire: "I don't wanna go to bed Bwiannn." (in a stressed tone)
Me: "Don't worry Claire! You don't have to, but Brian does! I love you Claire!"Claire: "I love you Brian. OK. OK. Don't worry Claire."
There is nothing better than getting a nice bilingual goodnight from Claire before bed.
She doesn't like bed in the least bit. Claire would love Vegas for that reason, she would never have to go to bed.
Every night she tells me, "I don't want to go to bed. I don't want to go to bed, Brian." To which I calmly respond, "You don't have to Claire, DONT WORRY."
One of the hardest things for autistic people to deal with is change. Claire hates change. And no, not the loose kind. She hates the transitions between different setting or events. It is very hard for her to adjust to different things but there are some tactics that we have found successful in helping Claire adjust. One way is making a list for her. By making a detailed list for Claire of things that she would be doing during the day, she is able to have more understanding of what will be happening which makes adjusting to change easier for Claire. As you can imagine, Claire relies immensely on routine because routines are very comfortable for her. She knows what will happen when she has a routine. If Claire doesn't know what will happen in the near future she gets stressed and worried and does not want to do anything.
Claire has developed a routine over the years before bed. She goes to every door on the second level of our house and proceeds to continually walk in and out saying "IN" "OUT" very enthusiastically while she is walking back and forth. After she is done with that, she slams the door as hard as she can then runs to the next door. Once she is finished with all of the doors, she is usually ready to go into her own room and go to bed. Even though she will rarely actually admit that she is in fact ready for bed. I don't know the exact reason why Claire does this, but I suspect that she uses this as a routine to help her ease into the idea of making the switch of actually going to bed.
I suppose that the reason she doesn't like bed is because of the sudden change and she is worried about bed for some reason, but nobody really knows for sure.
Me: "Hey Claire! We don't have to go to bed! Let's play the guitar instead!"
Claire: "That is a great idea Bwian!!!!!"
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Sunday, Bowling, and Claire's Birthday.
I don't know if there's a connection between autistic people being happy and music. But i know there is for "normal" people. And for the 18 years living with my autistic sister Claire, she has proven to be normal in more ways than people would expect.
Claire still didn't want to get dressed even after I returned home from church and ate lunch. So I wrote her a song. The plan was that my family would go bowling to celebrate Claire's birthday on the 25th. But that would be hard if Claire was still upstairs deciding whether she wanted to get dressed or not.
So I grabbed my mandolin, cleared my throat and strutted upstairs. I found Claire in my parents bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. I wrote a song. Claire got dressed soon after. And the day continued on. . .
Today was a double wammy, my autistic buddy Tim Barg came along the whole day. The Claire/Tim autistic duo made for a day of no silence and undoubtedly a day of laughter. We went to Fox Bowl to go bowling, it was a great time. Claire is very funny when she bowls. She uses the handicapped ramp because it would be very hard for her to bowl regularly. She does quite well, believe it or not, and even when she doesn't do well at all, she still insists that everyone is watching her bowl to see how amazing she is doing. She repeatedly, and with a huge smile, says things like, "watch me bowl!" or "I'm doing a great job!" Bowling with Claire becomes no longer just going bowling, it's an experience and Claire enjoys it more than anything. She is the happiest you will ever see her when she is doing simple things.
Claire still didn't want to get dressed even after I returned home from church and ate lunch. So I wrote her a song. The plan was that my family would go bowling to celebrate Claire's birthday on the 25th. But that would be hard if Claire was still upstairs deciding whether she wanted to get dressed or not.
So I grabbed my mandolin, cleared my throat and strutted upstairs. I found Claire in my parents bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. I wrote a song. Claire got dressed soon after. And the day continued on. . .
Today was a double wammy, my autistic buddy Tim Barg came along the whole day. The Claire/Tim autistic duo made for a day of no silence and undoubtedly a day of laughter. We went to Fox Bowl to go bowling, it was a great time. Claire is very funny when she bowls. She uses the handicapped ramp because it would be very hard for her to bowl regularly. She does quite well, believe it or not, and even when she doesn't do well at all, she still insists that everyone is watching her bowl to see how amazing she is doing. She repeatedly, and with a huge smile, says things like, "watch me bowl!" or "I'm doing a great job!" Bowling with Claire becomes no longer just going bowling, it's an experience and Claire enjoys it more than anything. She is the happiest you will ever see her when she is doing simple things.
After bowling, we came back home for dinner. The house was never quiet, with Tim continually pacing around, talking very loud, reciting his favorite Jim Carey quotes, and going on Facebook on every computer and mobile device he could get his hands on. It was a very exciting time and having Tim and Claire around changed the whole dynamic and made it even more interesting and exciting.
What's next? What's next? What's next? One of claires most frequent questions. So when we asked her to pray for us before dinner, Her prayer naturally consisted of, "Dear God, I want someone to come over later." This was closely followed by the Lords Prayer recited from memory. Claire has come extremely far from when she was diagnosed at age 3! She makes my family and me proud daily.
To finish out the night, we had Claire open Birthday presents. This is my favorite time of the year because Claire finds so much joy in opening presents. Claire would be perfectly happy unwrapping an empty box. She is so joyful and her joy is contagious.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Purpose and Audience
Welcome to my Blog/ Living with Autism: the good. the bad. the ugly. Today is Thomas Edison's 164th Birthday! Happy Birthday Tom! If you were here, I would be able to see you!
anyways. . . .
My older sister Claire is 21 years of age and she has autism. This has truly been a huge blessing in my life!
This blog wil contain everyday life experiences for me with my sister Claire. The PURPOSE of me writing is amusement and hopefully some of my readers will be able to learn about autism and have an inside look at everything that happens in the life of a person with special needs and their surroundings.
My AUDIENCE will include a wide range of people. It will be anyone that would like to learn and get a laugh out of what it is like living with an autistic person, as well as people that know the joy of working with special needs people and would like to read my blog to continue to experience it.
anyways. . . .
My older sister Claire is 21 years of age and she has autism. This has truly been a huge blessing in my life!
This blog wil contain everyday life experiences for me with my sister Claire. The PURPOSE of me writing is amusement and hopefully some of my readers will be able to learn about autism and have an inside look at everything that happens in the life of a person with special needs and their surroundings.
My AUDIENCE will include a wide range of people. It will be anyone that would like to learn and get a laugh out of what it is like living with an autistic person, as well as people that know the joy of working with special needs people and would like to read my blog to continue to experience it.
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