Laughing With Aspergers

Asperger's: "So, where are you going to college?"

My parents went to Furman University. Actually, they met there. 

They like to torture us with the story that if you kiss under the famous Bell Tower, you will get married.

This pretty much makes us not ever want to got there. Ever. 

I guess I am at the age where people start to ask, "So where are you going to college?"

College. 

No. 

 

I mean, No thank you.

But that isn't the end of the conversation. 

College is basically like more school about random things. I have learned about random things. I want to learn about things I am actually interested in: drawing, story telling and anything that relates to those things. 

I mean, if I had to learn about poetry, I could write poetry. But I do not really want to learn about poetry. 

I'd like to steadily get better at the things I am already interested in...which are not poetry.

I'd meet some new people. That would be cool. I'd have to interact with people more than I do now, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. I could become more open to people or more reclusive if it didn't got well. 

The roommate thing would be kinda weird. I'd have to get to know that guy. It would be difficult at first.

It would be hard to be away from my brother, Alex. I would be alone from pretty much everyone I know. 

And then there would be the problem of moving a lot of my stuff...

Really, the idea of not having my own space is kinda not great. 

And I think I'd rather take classes on line.

So when someone asks me about college, I kinda look like I zone out because I am thinking of how to explain all these things.  The best answer is still: "No." 

I think I could maybe do college. But why go and try out all the things I may want to do when I know what I want to do already? I may go to school just for animation or art one day. But it would take just the right place. Until then, I like the idea of finishing high school and starting college classes on line. 

So if you ask me where I am going to college, the answer right now is "NO."

Romeo and Juliet in 2 Minutes

I had to write a plot synopsis of Romeo and Juliet for school. This is what I created. 

(Spoiler alert: If you don't know how it ends, stop reading now.)

 Once Upon a time, there were two families that hated each other. On one side was a guy named Romeo and  on the other, a girl named Juliet. 

 

In a rather contrived way, the two fell in love but couldn't live happily ever after because of the aforementioned family blood feud.

They secretly got married. Romeo had to run away because he killed someone and Juliet was supposed to marry someone else. Juliet pretended to die via sleeping potion. Her family bought it. The messenger never made it to Romeo to say she was really alive. Whoops. 

 

She looked pretty dead to Romeo. He killed himself.

Then Juliet woke up, was sad, and killed herself.

 

It was messed up. The End. 

 

I also had to write a blog post for school. Done.

Review: Crash Courses

I've been watching these videos on Youtube called 'Crash Courses' because my mom told me to. They have a bunch of different subjects, and each subject has around 25 to 50 videos that are about 15 minutes each. 

So far I've watched World History, US History, Literature, and Chemistry. They also have Big History, Biology, Ecology and Psychology

They are entertaining but still informative, and humorous without being distracting. They keep my attention and are a good refresher on things I mostly already know. Except for Literature, which was about a bunch of books I am never going to read.

 

Today In History Class....

 Just a regular day of home school and free association.

 Alex, the ideals man.

 Max's turn. 

 Me. 

 

Apparently, there can be wrong answers in free association. Or at least less understood. But this is what you get when you ask someone with Asperger's to play the "free association game."

I was just thinking that the United States probably made more movie sequels than any other country. That's all. 

Number Fun

My brain gets unhappy when I hear the word 'math'. My knee-jerk reaction is to get away from the person who used the 'M' word. Which is usually my mom. Actually it's pretty much always my mom.

I dislike it mostly because I find math really dull. It's bland to look at and bland to think about. It's a bunch of black and white numbers on a page. And it makes me recoil in disgust. 

In my mind, I see each number 1 through 9 in a certain color. It's been that way as long as I can remember. 

1 is Blue

2 is Yellow

3 is Dark Blue

4 is Red

5 is Yellow 

6 is Light Green

7 is Red

8 is Dark Green

9 is Pink

For the last five years, I've had to have someone sit down with me, whether it's a tutor or my mom, to force me to concentrate on math. Otherwise, my mind wanders and I just get up and start pacing around, thinking about non-mathematical things. 

Yesterday, I asked my mom to refrain from using the word 'math'. So now she calls it 'number fun'.

 

Arthur Cartoon Explains Asperger's Syndrome

 

This cartoon is a good way to explain some peoples' type of Asperger's. It isn't exactly like mine but it would be hard to have a cartoon just like each person's version of Asperger's. It would be good to use for younger kids if one of their friends had Asperger's Syndrome. 

I find a lot of noises to be more annoying than loud.  But I related to that part. Do I feel like I am on a planet I do not quite understand? No. I understand it but I don't want to be a part of some of it.

David

I Read a Book

My mom offered to pay me $50 to read this huge 600 page book. She has to pay me to read because I don't like reading very much right now. I haven't liked reading for about three years. I like money more than I dislike reading so I read it.

It was mostly about the information in DNA, the theories for how it came into existence, and that intelligent design is a valid scientific theory. It got technical and I think I understood it pretty well, though I liked the philosphy parts of the book more than the technical science stuff. 

I'm giving myself a couple of days to rest my eyeballs, after which I will begin reading another large book. (for money) This one will be about philosophy.

 

Signature in the Cell

Thanksgiving Point Museum of Ancient Life: Review by Christie

  

 I went to the Museum of Ancient Life in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 We kinda had the whole place to ourselves, which I appreciated.

I love this guy. The marine reptiles are my favorite. So many teeth. I forget what species he was exactly. I think a Tylosaurus or something. 

 All the displays were really nice. There were lots of different species of cool extinct stuff. 

 In my opinion this museum is far superior to to the Fernbank, which is the museum closest to where I live.

 Katie had a good time. She got this Smiledon plushie from the gift shop. I am so proud. 

Teaching a Child with Aspergers Tip #7: Multi-Subject (Fun!) Projects

  

Christie's mom: Here are a few pages from a bird project Christie did in 2nd grade. Even at that age she had tons of knowledge about birds and was always thirsting for more. This project kind of evolved from materials we had on hand: a coloring book, lined writing paper, stickers, colored pencils, construction paper, and the internet. I didn't have to force her to do this. (:

It wasn't exactly planned with this in mind, but I suppose several traditional school 'subjects' were covered: geography, internet skills, art, science, penmanship, and writing. But that's not really important. She was LEARNING.

When I look back at these kinds of things, I wish I had been able to relax more with the homeschooling thing and have more fun. It seemed like I was always doubting and worrying. This stuff just isn't that difficult. Nobody knows a child as well as their parent, and projects can be tailor-made to your child's specific interest(s).

Christie: I remember liking making these and being really meticulous coloring them to be as accurate as possible. 

My advice would be to just take whatever your kid likes, and build educational projects around it. Whether it's birds or cars or airplanes or teenaged mutant ninja turtles. 

 

Social Skills: When you are offered food you do not want

People will try to get you to eat food that you do not want. Kids with Asperger's Syndrome and other sensory issues often have lots of foods they avoid. If this happens to you, here are some things NOT to do.

 

Don't do this.

And certainly do not do that. Remember, people are serving you food as a way of taking care of you. They are not actually attacking you. So remember to be respectful.

A "No thank you" should do the trick. But sometimes people keep insisting, especially with kids.

Follow up with a firm, "I don't care for that." Try to let your tone stay nice and your face not look angry.

I usually say it and put up my hand in a "Stop" position and shake my head to be sure the person knows I do not want any. At all.

If you do end up with food on your plate you do not want, move it away from the good food.

Then move it around with your fork a little during the meal. It will look like you maybe tasted some of it.

Or maybe they will think you got full before you could eat everything.

Just remember the "No thank you" and you should be good in most situations.

And grown ups: I get it. We have to taste things. But making us taste stuff in front of company is always a bad idea. And making us taste stuff because you may be embarrassed in front of other people if we don't usually does not work either. Tasting stuff is best done at home. And near a trash can.