Thursday 4th October – groundhog day!!
By Jeannette | October 4, 2012
With autism, as anyone who lives with/cares for someone with autism knows, the crucial element is routine. Things have to be done in the same way daily, change is very difficult to cope with and causes a great deal of anxiety.
What I did not expect was for the-quite-dreadful-end-of-school-days to become routine!
Another bad one today and yes, as soon as she saw me, there was some bolting across the classroom, tears and anxiety. D is bottling up any negative/anxious emotions from throughout the day and then releasing them as soon as she sees me. Which probably makes the staff think “D doesn’t want to go with her mum” – I wouldn’t blame them, if I didn’t know I’d be thinking that too!
Today’s anxieties were around some Gruffalo DVDs that her teacher had asked to borrow for a few days. D wanted to bring them home tonight to watch them, but didn’t tell them. It was left to me to very quickly establish what was wrong and then ask them for them.
It concerns me that D is not telling people during the day when she has anxieties. It’s wearing us both out. She has a TA in there who she absolutely adores (I’ve just remembered that that TA wasn’t in today) and she likes her teacher so…quiet, gentle chats needed this weekend. It probably is not helping that she is the only girl in a class of 9, but there is no parallel aged class this school year, so that can’t be helped.
Once we eventually got out of school, there were shouts and stomps (again) as she talked (shouted) about her day. Which has (again) impacted on our evening, her and T have been scrapping quite a bit.
And do you know what? She didn’t want to watch the Gruffalo DVDs in the end!!
Such a shame because our journey to school this morning was great again, looking at the lovely autumnal colours on the trees, finding funny-shaped stones etc.
Tomorrow is another day…
I hope everyone’s had a good day, comments/RTs/shares as ever welcomed, thanks for reading Jx 😘
4 Comments
jodiwriter on 6th October 2012 at 2:03 am.
My 8 year old daughter, who doesn’t have autism, but has anxiety and we think ADHD and she behaves much the same way. She bottles up all her stress from the day, trying to be all she thinks the teacher wants her to be, and then comes home and has a collosal melt down. Summer is bliss and then school hits and it begins all over again.
Tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it. That’s what I always tell my kids. Gives us all a little hope. lol.
AutismMumma on 9th October 2012 at 10:59 am.
Tomorrow is definitely another day..so true.
Yesterday was a good one, hope today is too, for you & me both.
Thank you for reading x
Benzin Rasenmäher on 19th October 2012 at 3:18 am.
Benzin Rasenmäher…
Next time I read a blog – Groundhog Day, I hope that it won’t disappoint me as much as this one. After all, Yes, it was my choice to read, nonetheless I really believed you would probably have something helpful to say. All I hear is a bunch of complai…
AutismMumma on 19th October 2012 at 4:47 pm.
This went to “spam” but I’ve chosen to reply and not delete as your comment was personal – ie. not general spam and you’ve referenced the title.
As you say, you choose to read it. Were you searching for the “happy-go-lucky all ends well” movie and came across this instead?
Had you read a few more posts you’d understand that this is a daily blog about raising a special needs child. The statistics for autism diagnosis are ever-increasing and the families effected require understanding and acceptance.
Had you bothered to read the posts before you’d have got some concept.
My autistic child does not feel comfortable telling staff at school if she is upset or if another child picks on her. She builds up her anxieties until I collect her and then she releases them. Sometimes she will hit herself, sometimes she will bolt (run away very fast without thought for her own safety). My child has to be educated and I have to trust the staff to do this.
My blog is a daily account of life with a special needs child.
If you don’t understand this, don’t read it, move on.
If you’d like to help educate the vast majority who don’t understand a disability that they cannot see, then please read with an open mind and don’t read one post in isolation.