Autism

"I wish I could share the joy of being alone with someone else"

More sparkler art from the campfire out in the yard. When you try to write your name with a sparkler and a delayed shutter on the camera, you have to write your name backwards and from right to left. Quite the task for anyone with praxis issues.

Speaking of Dyspraxia, I'm currently in Chicago at the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation's International Symposium. It has been unbelievable. All the "giants" of Sensory Integration theory/Sensory Processing are here. In fact I was able to speak with one of the lecturers at the end of today's lectures who studied with Jean Ayers, the pioneer of Sensory Integration/Sensory Processing Disorders in the '60s. I was standing in line purchasing "The Out-of-Sync Child" (because I gave my copy away to a parent to read a long time ago and never had it returned), and some lady walks up to me and asks if I was buying that book and if I wanted her to sign it. It was Carol Stock Kranowitz the author. We had a great conversation while I was in line and I felt like I was talking to a rock star or something. After the conference this aftenoon, I was on the elevator back to my room when Carol and Dr. Sarah Schoen walked on with me. Carol introduced me to Dr. Schoen. I was impressed she remembered my name. I said something stupid, like "I feel like I'm riding an elevator with rock-stars or something" . . . they laughed. Dr. Barry Stein, Dr. Julia Wilbarger, Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, etc., etc., etc. are all here and I wish it was for more that 3 days. I am really excited to listen to Beth Osten who has worked with Stanley Greenspan, MD and is on the Advisory Board of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders. Dr. Greenspan is the founder of the "Floortime" technique for working with children with autism. I have a certificate of mastery in Floortime and is one of the primary techniques I use in treating all the children I have with autism. Can't WAIT for the lecture from Beth. I think what I'm most excited about is a lecture from Elliott Hedman, an MIT graduate student who has developed an ability to monitor electrodermal activity as it relates to the sympathetic nervous system (psychophysiological measure of fight or flight response). way, way cool stuff.

. . . yes, I know. Maybe even worse. Certainly, even worse. Funny how our priorities change as you grow-up.

We had our first hard-frost of the year last week. The colors are starting to peak now and it is a beautiful time of year. We have been having more camp fires out in the "pit" in our "side-yard" as a family. We love to look for satellites as they fly by and were fortunate enough to see the Space Shuttle fly directly overhead as it re-entered into our night sky as it was flying northeast on its way to California. It was a spectacular sight. The boys love fireworks of all kinds. They love to light them and especially hold bottle rockets in their hand as they fly away.

Life appears to pick-up the pace now that school has started again. I have 3 stops in the morning dropping kids off. I try to start early enough so that I'm not late for work, but it never seems to work out. With Boy Scouts and soccer and everything else going on we just seem to collapse at the end of the day, wishing the house would clean it self, the laundry would magically get done, and family home evening of games could be planned with baths, showers, and pajama time done with just a wiggle of the nose. I suppose it is no different for any other family.

I was really looking forward to the post-season of baseball this year. Detroit was in first place all year, since May 1oth, and then totally fell apart the last week of the season. Since they lost the one game playoff to Minnesota, I have to rely on the Twins to beat the Yankees now. How depressing. Well, at least we have the Red Wings, right? Then again, they blew it in the Stanley Cup against Pittsburg this year too, didn't they. We are looking forward to some Division I NCAA hockey this year at Michigan Tech. We have the top ranked teams at home this year and we will pack up the kids and get to the rink for some great hockey. Bella will have to cover her ears whenever Tech scores because of the intense noise from the crowd as well as the train horn that blows at ear busting levels. She has always been sensitive to sudden, loud noises and we have been saving her from the Tech Hockey because we don't want her to not like it because of the intensity of the game/noise. The Michigan Tech pep-band is a riot to listen to. They have some pretty funny chants to taunt the visiting team. Sometimes we feel like we need to cover the boys ears as the student section can become pretty rowdy, e.g., when the visiting team has their player come out of the penalty box, the P.A. announcer says "the Badgers return to full strength" and the entire student section (major portion of the arena) yell as loud as they can "and they still suck!" It is fun, regardless of the PG rating the Tech students will sometimes put on the game. We love D1 NCAA hockey.

It wont be too long before our fires out in the yard will come to an end as the pit will have many feet of snow on it. I love this time of year. Post-season baseball, college football, college hockey, NHL starting soon. The weather is cool and crisp. The colors are beautiful. The salmon are running to spawn. But the painting of the trim on the house needs to get finished, the garden needs to be turned over, etc., etc., etc. Too many things to enjoy and do and not enough time to do it all in. What's a guy to do?