“Mom, I used to dream of evil tofu and dancing vegetables that I had to fight off with a tea spoon.” Will said to me as I worked to complete this post.
Will turned six-teen this past June. He has come a long way since the days of speech therapy and his diagnosis.
He was a happy baby with no particular problem with sleep. When he was one, I would sing for an hour, and then it gradually moved on to reading for an hour, and someone would have to stay in the room with him until he fell asleep.
He slept on his own when he was about four. Then he began coming into my room in the middle of the night until I chased him back to his room. To be honest, I was hard on him. There may have been something I could have done, if I had known what was going on. He could not tell me what was bothering him. I treated him as if he was a spoiled child.
After days of sending him back to his room, he never came out again. I am very lucky because he made it through without too much difficulty on my part. Then he received his diagnosis when he was 8.
Since then, I tried to stay consistent as possible rituals.
1. His bag is ready for the next day.
2. No cell phone, Itouch, computer, TV in his room. The only electronic is the alarm clock.
3. Lights out at 9:15 unless he has unfinished homework or it is a weekend.
He has been remarkably cooperative, but I have tried to be consistent and it has worked for me. I hope he doesn’t start rebelling.
For other bloggers regarding this topic, must check out the July 15th Best of the Best bloggers: http://tinyurl.com/4yd6yea
About Me
- Asperger_Mom (Chi Yon)
- SAHM of 3 wonderful kids, one brilliant one Asperger Syndrome. This is not a living shrine to his disorder, but rather a place to share & discuss the different challenges that came with it and other things about parenting & life in general.
Don't be so hard on yourself...hindsight is 20/20! I always love to hear about older kids and how they progress. it gives me great hope for my little boy's future XXX
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jean 100%
ReplyDeleteBut I understand, there are moments I look back on and say "oh yeah, it makes sense now." But we can't punish ourselves for how we parented before the diagnosis.
And I love reading about older kids too. It gives me so much to look forward to :)
Sounds like what you did worked well with your son so you can't be unhappy about that.
ReplyDeleteI think consistency is always a good approach.
Sounds like a GREAT approach
ReplyDeleteConsistency is key