Category Archives: School

Getting Educated

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I was re-reading one of my favorite biographies last week, marveling at the way someone could craft a compelling story from a real person’s life, and I got the urge to learn more about how books are put together. You’d think I’d know this already — years ago I completed a very intense week-long book editing seminar at Simon Fraser University that introduced me to the ins and outs of the book world. But that was 2005, which feels like eons ago, and both the publishing world and my interests have changed since then. So I looked around a bit and found that SFU is offering a two-day workshop on substantive editing this summer. It was perfect, so I signed up. When I mentioned this to a friend, she said it was too bad that I wasn’t taking something on content development for websites, cause those skills are in big demand — and as she was talking, I felt the old self-doubt creeping back into my head. Why was I taking a class in something that realistically held no career possibilities for me? Shouldn’t I focus on something a bit more marketable?

It was thoughts like that that led me to journalism school in the first place. I never wanted to be a journalist; I didn’t have the slightest interest in news, and I love structure and routine, two things that don’t exist in a reporter’s life. In high school my interest was writing, but whenever I said that to an adult who was asking what I wanted to be, they translated it as, “Journalism, eh?” I briefly flirted with the idea of pursuing creative writing in university, but the adults in my life persuaded me that there was no money in it (they were right, of course), so journalism it was. I detested coming up with story ideas, chasing down sources who didn’t want to talk to me, and coming up with 500-word stories when most people would never read beyond the first paragraph…but I did eventually find my niche in editing.

So I’m trying to stay focused on the fact that I’m taking this workshop because I want to learn, not because I want to enrich my career possibilities. (And frankly, two days away from the kids has its own appeal.) Chris understands that I want this and is encouraging me to go, but I don’t think he’ll ever understand what it’s like to love something that has little marketable value. A few of the computer guys he works with have other hobbies: golf, poker, playing a musical instrument, whatever. He does not. Ever since he was a kid, he’s focused on nothing but technology. In high school it was important to me to do well in every subject, so I did, whereas he aced his computer classes and flunked English. He got so bored in university that he didn’t even finish his degree. So he only has one interest — which happens to be in great demand. It’s a charmed life.

Here’s to personal development!

Reader Beware

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I took a science reporting class when I was in journalism school. That might baffle those who know me, given that I have little interest in science (or in journalism, for that matter), but we had to choose a specialty and science seemed easier than politics, business or entertainment. At any rate, for one of my stories I decided to write about Raynaud’s Disease , since I’ve had it for decades and therefore I had an inside track. In case any of you are in the habit of believing what you read in the media, check out this entirely true account of how I put this story together:

First I needed to find some fellow sufferers, so I went online. That sounds easy, but this was 1997 and I was using a Macintosh Classic II with a tiny nine-inch screen. In fact, the whole Internet thing was so new that my professors insisted we get a phone number for our sources and actually call them instead of just conducting the interview via e-mail. (Yes, kids, Mommy comes from a whole other millennium.) I’m pretty sure I did the interviews by e-mail and then dialled their numbers just to say I called.

Then I needed a medical expert. This was the biggest joke of all. I made an appointment with my family doctor to talk about Raynaud’s, since I had no idea where else to go, but he didn’t exactly turn out to be a fountain of information. Here’s a sample of our conversation:
ME: What are the main treatments for Raynaud’s?
DOC: Let me find some more info. (leaves room and returns with large textbook)
ME: How prevalent is Raynaud’s?
DOC: (consulting book) It doesn’t say.

I didn’t have time to find another medical source, so in my story he became “a doctor who has treated a number of Raynaud’s patients” because hey, one is a number, and he did treat me. Remember this the next time you read the newspaper.

This story came to mind today because while I’ve mostly kept my Raynaud’s under control by dressing warm and avoiding (although not eliminating) caffeine, it’s been bothering me a lot lately, so I finally saw a doctor about it, and this guy actually seemed to know something about the disorder. So now I’m on nifedipine, my toes have returned to their healthy pink color and life is good again.

Good News

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Justin has made incredible progress in the last few months: his conversational skills have vastly improved, he’s much more confident socially, and the anxiety that used to paralyze him has virtually disappeared. Even his behavior interventionists can’t get over how far he’s come. It makes me want to weep when I remember what a mess he was last summer. I’ll never know if it was the autism program that made the most difference, or if it was going to kindergarten, or even if he just grew into some skills as he got a bit older, but it doesn’t matter. He’s got it together now, and I feel so blessed.

More good news: the school has finally acknowledged that Justin is a super smart cookie, and they’re now working on getting him a more challenging program. At first I was told they don’t really do enrichment stuff at the kindergarten level, plus they had their hands full with Justin’s social issues. But there’s a new resource teacher now who seems to recognize that Justin is on the verge of tuning out due to boredom, and now that his social skills are so much better they’re able to focus on enriching his mind. I can’t begin to explain how excited I am about this. My son rocks!

Turning the Tide

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He’s made a lot of progress, but Justin has had some behavioral issues lately — particularly the way he’s been completely obsessed (I mean scary obsessed) with writing out the names of everyone in the afternoon kindergarten class, over and over and over and over. It’s especially concerning cause he’s in the morning class and therefore these are kids he doesn’t even know; he simply reads their names on the wall in his classroom. That’s all he was doing with his spare time, to the point that I had to hide the pens in the office (he was scribbling on blank cheques after running out of scrap paper). His behavior consultant tells us that writing out those names is Justin’s way of calming himself, which is fine, but he needs other coping techniques too. So we’ve been redirecting him to other activities (which is no small feat considering he types out names on the computer, makes names out of Play-Doh, even uses his own finger to write on the carpet), but then his anxiety goes up and he starts having toileting accidents and just generally bouncing off the walls. Argh.

So what did we do? We made a rule that there’s no writing allowed while the TV is on (Aspies really respect rules), we’re getting him engaged in really physical activities a few times a day (cause burning off that “autism energy,” as I call it, is very important), we’re making more effort to sit with him when he does his activity books to get him to follow the directions instead of just covering the pages with names (it works, but it’s time-consuming) and I put a new sign in his room with a list of rules for quiet time (he loves having a list that tells him exactly what he’s supposed to do). He’s had a much better weekend, but man, I’m exhausted. I would not have believed how much energy it takes to keep him on track. Wow.

And the Fight Goes On…

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Justin seems to be enjoying school and everything, which is good, but I’m in a battle with the school system right now, for two reasons. First: he’s entitled to a support aide in the classroom, but right now he’s sharing one with another boy who has a much more serious form of autism, so Justin isn’t really getting all the attention he needs. Apparently it’s not bad while they’re in the classroom, but when they go to gym class, or to the library, or to the playground outside, the other boy constantly tries to flee, so the aide is busy with him and Justin’s pretty much on his own. That’s not a big deal in the library, but it’s definitely a problem in gym class, since organized group activities make him anxious. So anyway, the school is trying to reorganize things to get him some more support.

The other battle I’m fighting is to try to get Justin some enrichment activities in the classroom, since he can already read and write at a very high level and I don’t want him getting bored when the rest of the class is working on their ABCs. In some ways I’m not sure I need to pursue this, since he can get that kind of enrichment at home, and school is where he needs to work on basic social skills and things that other kids take for granted. But I don’t want him to stagnate just because he’s ahead of his peers in some areas. Argh. We’ll see how things work out.

For a kid with social difficulties, Justin has been amazingly popular at school. He’s already had three requests for play dates and every time I pick him up I find him playing with a different little girl. It warms my heart to see that, since he hasn’t always been welcome around kids his age. There’s hope for him yet!

Brayden is enjoying preschool but is apparently annoying all the other kids cause he copies everything they say and everything they do (sigh). He’s not trying to bug them, that’s just how he learns, but apparently it’s a problem. He never has trouble fitting in with other kids, though, and he always seems to be playing fairly well when I pick him up. He’s in a phase right now of throwing lots of tantrums whenever I ask him to do ANYTHING, but I’m hoping that this, too, shall pass. He’s playing soccer again this fall and seems to love it, so that’s positive.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Strengths and Challenges

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Naturally I feel really proud of Justin’s abilities and accomplishments, but occasionally it does intimidate me that my five-year-old is an intellectual powerhouse (albeit with his own set of issues — four toileting accidents this week) and I am not. He had his literacy screening at school yesterday, where the kids all get tested on their pre-reading skills, and obviously he sailed through that. But his teacher clearly hadn’t read the file on him — she said she didn’t get a chance to have him read to her, but she’d like to give him a little booklet that he could take home and read. Then she handed me a booklet full of two-word sentences. When I said that was too easy, she dug out a slightly more difficult one, and when I vetoed that too, and explained that he’s reading at a third grade level right now, she looked stunned. She did say she’d try to come up with something more appropriate for him, which is good, but she should’ve known about this already. What’s the point in sharing reports if no one reads them? Argh.

I mentioned this to his old preschool teacher, who nodded and said she’d never had a kid with this combination of skills before, and it’ll be up to me to keep pushing his teachers to challenge him. (She also said to keep her on his list so that if he invents cold fusion someday, he’ll know who to thank…she’s done wonders for him!)

This is not to say that he doesn’t have things to learn. He can count to infinity but can’t tell me whether 6 is more than 4. He won’t play tag in gym class and always turns away when the class sings songs together. He nearly threw a fit one morning cause I parked in a different spot when I picked him up from school. And of course he has been the world’s toughest kid to toilet train. But when I see him at the computer, typing out (from memory) the names of everyone in his class in alphabetical order, I know this kid is going to do some great things.

A Learning Experience

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The back-to-school season is upon us! Brayden started preschool today and Justin had his first kindergarten session, plus Justin had his autism program (which he loves, and which we’re calling his “play and learn” program), so it was a busy day. I wish I could say it was only busy for THEM. In the brief intervals between chauffeuring them around, I had to read through piles of paperwork from the school, fill out an information form for the speech pathologist and gather supplies for two different art projects. This is of course on top of packing backpacks with snacks, show and tell items and extra clothes, plus the usual tasks involved in keeping everyone’s clothes clean, stomachs full and minds occupied. I know this is only the beginning, and I’m sure it will all become fairly automatic, but for now all I can say is whew.

A Big Occasion

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So Justin graduated from preschool this week. (Before we left for the ceremony I found myself uttering a phrase I never thought I’d say: “Make sure you go potty before you go to graduation.”) The ceremony itself touched me more than I thought it would — seeing my little boy walking down the aisle in his cap was pretty poignant. (I might’ve been tempted to cry if I wasn’t so busy keeping Brayden from fleeing the yard/turning off the music/getting into the sandbox.) After all the anxiety issues he’s had this year, it was amazing to see him standing there with his class, smiling nervously. I knelt down beside him to get our picture taken and he reached out and put his arm around my shoulders. I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud.

The kids all got diplomas and a little card from their teacher, who quoted Dr. Seuss:

You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself any direction you choose
You’re on your own, and you know what you know
And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go

Congratulations, buddy. Hats off to you!

Off to (Pre)School

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Chris and I were a bit choked up as we sent our firstborn off for his first preschool class today. I wasn’t even planning to put him in preschool (he still hasn’t mastered the potty and I thought that would hold him back) but last week I called for some info and ended up signing him up for two days a week. He’s in the afternoon class, which isn’t ideal, but beggars can’t be choosers. And actually, it worked out well today, cause Brayden napped the whole time Justin was at school, so I had a large chunk of time all to myself. Very nice.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to the teacher when I picked Justin up, but he said he had fun, so I guess all went well. He didn’t mind being without us and seemed very interested in all the toys, which is cool, and he can’t wait to go back. Our baby is growing up.

Back to School

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I used to love the whole back-to-school thing. To me, school was a place to see friends and meet people and occasionally learn a little something (until university, that is…then school became something to be endured). I’ve been thinking about that recently and I was a little shocked to realize I have only two precious years left before Justin is off to kindergarten. He’s a sharp little guy who loves books and numbers and so on, but we’re talking about a kid who refuses to use the potty, can’t work a zipper and never pronounces the letter “l”. A lot of his peers are starting preschool this fall (one girl we know is not quite three years old and will be in preschool five mornings a week), but it really makes me wonder: what’s the rush? What’s wrong with letting kids just be kids for a few years?