Loads of books, and a punch to the head

Duncan and I took his brother and sister to summer scheme. He asked to look in the charity shop and being in no hurry, I parked the car and off we went. Well talk about hitting pay dirt. Someone must have cleared their book shelves and dropped the boxes off very recently. There were a good few children's book spilling out so I asked if I could dig through the lot and the man working there, a good guy as I've learned from previous visits, said to work away. So we plonked ourselves on the floor and shifted through the boxes. Duncan made a little pile of those he was interested in and I made a huge pile of my own. Then ecstasy, we found 3 Thomas the Tank Buzz books, Duncan's absolute favourites. I hauled the booty to the pay desk and told the man I'd probably need to nip over to the ATM as I didn't think the £10 note in my purse would cover it. He asked me for a fiver. No way, I said, take a tenner for all those. Nah, said he, give me £5 and tell all your friends to come over and look through our stuff. So off you go to to your local Action Cancer shop. They are the best.

Here's what I bought:

1. 2 Mister Men books
2. 3 Thomas the Tank Buzz books
3. 2 children's videos
4. Winnie the Pooh Ladybird book
5. Alexandre Dumas- The Three Musketeers
6. The Usborne Internet Linked Science Encyclopedia (beautiful colour hardback)
7. James Joyce - 3 novel hardback
8. Robert Graves- Greek Myths
9. Anthony Burgess- A Clockwork Orange
10. Teach Yourself Irish
11. Marcel Proust -Remembrance of Things Past
12. Anita Shreve- The Pilot's Wife
13. Ian Rankin - A Question of Blood (I love me some Rebus.)
14. Minette Walters- Fox Evil
15. Kazuo Ishiguro- The Unconsoled
16. The Oxford Library of English Poetry Vols II and III
17. Francosi Mauriac - The Knot of Vampires
18. Leo Tolstoy- Anna Karenina
19. Sylvia Plath- The Bell Jar
    

How fantastic is that? I don't think I've read any of these before.

Duncan was so grateful, telling the man "thank you very much" and on we went to the pet shop to buy a new run for the guinea pigs. We passed the indoor play centre and he asked to go in. Again, feeling very spontaneous, I consented. We were the first people there. For a while after it was just Duncan and a younger boy, then a large group of 6-10 year old boys arrived. I had to redirect Duncan from the area reserved for 1-3 year olds, as he liked the slide there best of all. He was a bit frightened of going up to the first level of the frame for children his age. But when the gang of children arrived he felt a bit braver and followed them up the ladder and had fun in that area. I stuck by him all the time, moving about to keep him in sight. When his play time was almost over, I witnessed him and another boy bump each other going up some steps. They each tried to pushed past the other a bit then I watched as the other boy raised his fist and punched Duncan hard on the forehead. I called out to him to quit, and asked Duncan to come to me. He was very upset. He fell into my arms, tears streaming. He shook and shouted and bit at my shoulders saying over and over he was sad, angry and a bad and horrible boy. I just held him and sympathised and agreed that he was angry and felt bad. We moved to the chairs and he had a drink of water and sat on my lap for a while crying. One of the staff checked he was OK, she'd seen the whole thing. One of the woman accompanying the group of boys, one of which was little master hit a lot, came over to say sorry too. A while later she brought the boy with her and he said sorry. Duncan just said sorry too. As we left the other staff member asked after Duncan. They had been very kind, oh yeah, they'd given me a free cup of tea earlier when I hadn't enough change to buy Duncan's bottle of water and my tea. In the end, Duncan had enjoyed himself prior to the incident and I think he will want to go back again some time.

And the guinea pigs love their new run, they're popping (and pooping) all around while Pippi looks on greedily/curiously.

Thomas the Tank Engine, new edition

Duncan loves Thomas the Tank Engine. Of all the book formats depicting the bold Thomas and his useful friends, his favourites are the slim hardback editions by the publishers Ladybird and Buzz books.

He's been trying to collect the full quota of these books over the years, and since they're no longer being produced new, we have to buy them second hand via charity shops and internet shops or they're received as gifts from friends whose own children no longer want them. Recently he discovered a series of YouTube films from an obviously similarly dedicated fan, who has shown pictures from the books with audio from the Thomas and Friends TV series. Duncan has taken lots of screen shots of these and then adapted them with other images and even his own text, then printed these out on our old monochrome printer, coloured them in and stuck the pages together to create his own books.

Here are some of the images he made. This is his version of the back inside cover, listing some of the other titles in the series. It even has a bar code.

These are some of the inside pages that he has adapted with his own version of the text and his preferred choice of pictures.

It reads,

"prentley he herd a whistle
gordon was verry cros
insted of nise ching
coashes but the others not
help out he was
a lot of thery dirty trucks
a goods train
a goods train
he grumbled the sham muddy all
the shame mud edward laghted"

The actual text is something like (from memory)

Presently he heard a whistle. Gordon was very cross. Instead of nice shiny coaches he was pulling a lot of very dirty trucks.
"A goods train, a goods train!" he grumbled, "the same of it, oh the shame of it!"
Edward laughed.

I can see a few places where he has misheard the words and tried to fill in as best he can with alternative words. I like the use of "the shame muddy" for "the shame of it"! The spelling is interesting too. He's managed to spell some difficult words properly and has made some good approximations for the rest.

I asked him to read out for me and told him the correct words for the ones he mixed up, but he's so contrary he insisted on his own version. I reckon he probably did hear what I said but just didn't want to lose face by admitting he had heard it wrong.

Here's another of his self typed pages. Though the story is about Gordon it's illustrated with pictures of Thomas, one of them taken from his Train Simulator program. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation even if I'm too blinkered to see it.


It reads:

"hurry hurry puffed gordon to the coashes
now all he gon to fast
gordon gruned at the coashes az thay rech the top of the hill."

I don't think that needs any translation from me.

Who wants to win "Autism's False Prophets"?

This week, people around the world learned of Jeni Barnett's ignorance and how her radio station, LBC, attempted to stifle debate with legal threats. As explained so elegantly on Autism News Beat, Jeni is a,

"British actress who feels obligated to share what she knows about vaccines and measles. But since she knows so little, Barnet was compelled to fill the rest of her three hour time slot with anti-vaccine talking points, addle-pated weltanschauung, and other assorted brain farts."

From the wonderful worlds of autism and vaccine quackery, and sadly the two are inextricably linked, we also learned this week of Andrew Wakefield's incompetence/falsification of data (the only possible explanations for what happened).

In a bid to restore balance to the universe, I shall give away a copy of Paul Offit's wonderful book, "Autism's False Prophets."

I must get around to doing a proper review soon, but for now, although I wish he'd looked at the behaviorist's claims with the same rationalism as those of the vaccine causation cranks, and though I oppose the harsh words on autism of one contributor, it is a fine book. It details the history of the false association of autism with vaccines, just part of the anti-science story exemplified by Jeni Barnett and LBC. Clearly, liar/extreme incompetent anti-scientist Andrew Wakefield has a prominent role in the tale, which is highly readable, a bit of a page turner even. If you have children and are concerned about having them vaccinated, read this, and realise that the whole sorry mess was manufactured out of nothing. The various vested interests are laid out in full. Offit's is open about his own role as a specialist in infectious diseases and co-inventor of a flu vaccine.

So if you want a copy, no matter where in the world you are, just leave a comment below and tell me who is your autism hero and why, and who is your autism anti-hero and why. I'll have one of the children pick a name at random and then I'll get the book sent out.

To get you started, here are a few names, a mixture of heroes and zeroes, (hotties and notties...sorry):

Wakefield, Leitch, O'Leary, Offit, Shattock, Shattuck, Lovaas, Orac, Dawson, Stanton, McCarthy, Leary, Geier, Seidel, Baron-Cohen, Rimland and so on...

Get at it. The winner will be chosen on February 25.

Homepages - Tales From The Irish Blogosphere

Doesn't it look great! There's a great new book out. It'd be perfect for Christmas presents for all your friends and family. It's called Homepages and here's some more information:

Homepages is a unique collection of stories and photographs, the first of its kind in Ireland. The nation’s best bloggers hold forth on the theme of “home”, covering everything from pets and expat life to parenting and the Kellogg’s Variety Pack. By turns hilarious, heartbreaking and thought-provoking, it promises a captivating read and showcases some of Ireland’s best undiscovered writing talent.

All proceeds from the sale of this book, compiled on an entirely voluntary basis from submissions made via this website, go directly to Focus Ireland, who provide services and support for people who are homeless across Ireland.

The book is now on sale for €14 ( £10.96 ) via Lulu.com on a print-on-demand basis. Click here to order your copy!

Now doesn't that sound like it'd be a good read? It'll make you laugh so much you'll wee, and cry like The Champ's just died, or provoke such deep thoughts that you'll be modelling for the next Rodin.

These are the contributors:

• Pauline McLynn
• One For The Road
• Manuel
• Sami
• Primal Sneeze
• Colette McNamara
• Red Mum
• Crack Jackson
• Radge
• Grandad
• CD
• AJ O’Flaherty
• Suse
• Claire Wilson
• Darren Byrne
• Ann
• Paul S
• Kate
• Annie Rhiannon
• Rosie
• K8 The Gr8
• Jo
• Katherine Kenny
• Caitriona Dwyer
• Conortje
• Anna Lally
• Marian Roche
• Devin Mungovan
• John Butler
• Red
• Beth Morrissey
• Sarah Gostrangely
• Elizabeth Hutcheson
• Simon Tuohy
• Yvonne Reilly
• Ciara
• Colm O’Brien
• Grannymar
• Andrew
• Gray Wright
• Darragh Doyle
• Narocroc
• Twenty Major
• Gimme A Minute
• Ian Poulton
• Sharon Fennell
• Bryan Mukandi
• David Maybury
• Red Leeroy
• MK
• John Braine

It is after all, a list of the nation's best bloggers, or rather, the nation's best bloggers...and me.

Plaudits to Catherine Brodigan for getting this organised. She's done a marvellous job and I hope it sells like hot pies and makes loads of money for Focus Ireland.

Odd stories

Last autumn, Duncan had a Kinder Surprise egg, and the toy inside was a blue alien, at the time known as "Japanese boy."

Unfortunately, he lost the toy and we bought many, many more eggs always hoping to find another. We never found the blue one, only a couple of his siblings/colleagues. But a few weeks ago, Duncan showed me an Ebay listing for the much sought after blue alien toy. Can you imagine that there are people out there selling the junk toys found inside Kinder eggs? But then, mugs like me come along and buy them. Yes, I forked out good money for this thing, and was glad I did as it made my boy so very happy.

Since then, it's been renamed. The blue alien is now known as Oliver Companies, and his mates are Roger and Siver. They get up to all sorts of japes, some of which involve Thomas the Tank engines, Super Mario and his brother, as well as rascal eighties kids TV star, Tiny from Tots TV.

Duncan asked me to make a few books about them. Today he helped me make a film about the books. The stories are, um...original. Anyway, they make me smile.

Stellaluna

On Duncan's treasured Green Eggs and Ham CD Rom, there's a sample of a story called Stellaluna. He took an interest in this, and looked it up on Google video, finding a film of a woman discussing the book, which he watches and quotes from frequently.

Since he loves this book so much, I ordered him a copy. He was delighted when the postman arrived with his parcel. He immediately started reading the first few pages, then listened as I read the rest.

I'd never heard of Stellaluna before and it's a really lovely story, about a baby fruit bat who is separated from her mother, then sheltered and fed by a bird family. She has to quash her bat ways, of flying by night and sleeping upside down and behave 'properly', like a bird.

Eventually she is reunited with her own mother and rest of the bats. She wants her friends, the baby birds to enjoy the ripe fruit and thrill of night time flying, but they all realise that's not the best thing for birds. The birds and bats discuss their differences and similarities and conclude that in spite of everything, they are good friends.

Duncan has referred to himself as Stellaluna many times, and says I am the mother bat. Then he puts on a small, high voice and says, 'mother, where are you?' and I have to swoop down and wrap my arm-wings around him. He has also pretended to be the mother bat. He put on Lady's dressing gown, tying it tight around his waist, then he stuffed a few soft toys under the robe and wrapped his flappy sleeves around them.

If it wasn't for him, I'd never have heard of this book. I'll just add it to the list of things he's taught me about.

Daniel Isn't Talking

I happened to pick this up in the local library. 'Daniel Isn't Talking' by Marti Leimbach, is a mother's story. It features the typical account of the mum, this time an American in England, sensing something about her child just isn't quite right, followed by the quest to gain a diagnosis and explanation from a cold and unfeeling medical profession. Even worse, her husband and her hostile mother-in-law are adamant there is nothing amiss with the child saying the mum is worrying unnecessarily.

So anyway, I'm just going to go ahead and reveal the plot of the book, because to be honest, it's not exactly a page turner, and I wasn't enamoured of the whiny Melanie, nor convinced by the astonishing, no, miraculous intervention of the handsome rascal, Oirish therapist, of whom she has to say, 'He makes me laugh and he fixes my kid.' This roll-up-smoking, sexy maverick falls for the mum; ethical qualms about sleeping with your client's mother be damned. Anyway, he's presented as a far better catch for her than the uptight, cheating Brit she's married. That's the gist of it anyway.

So what about the depictions of autism and disability in this novel? Well they pissed me right off. The author has every right to create her character and make her think and say what she wants, but I'm also entitled to react as I see fit, and I didn't like it...with one exception.

Chapter 5 starts, "Do everything you can in life to avoid ever visiting a developmental paediatrician, especially one in the NHS."
She then tells of the unattractive car park, the imperfect decor of the hospital, and even worse the "posters about various conditions - dyslexia, Down's syndrome, schizophrenia - until you enter playrooms full of badly damaged children. These children do not often smile, cannot easily speak, play not with each other but with objects that are not toys." (my emphasis)

In chapter 7, she visits "a supposed centre of excellence for autistic children" and is asked if she wants her son enrolled in their programme. The readers have just been given a precis of the flawed theories of Bruno Bettleheim, and the programme in question uses psychotherapy, so is obviously useless to her, and brave Melanie tells the smug shrinks just that. I wonder why she bothered meeting them in the first place. Later she writes a letter to Bettleheim; "I didn't know I could love so much as I have loved my son, my daughter. Why do you insist this isn't the case? Why do you openly despise me, despise all mothers of children with autism?
...
I would give my life publicly if I thought I could lift from my baby this appalling diagnosis. If it were that he could be normal - just ordinary like other children - I would climb the scaffold myself..." (my emphasis)
Not that Bruno will ever know her thoughts, him being dead and all.

There are many references to the role of vaccines in this novel. Melanie feels guilty for having vaccinated her son and is convinced it contributed to his autism. But, it's a work of fiction, and she can invent causes of autism if she wants. If I was the author, I'd have had my character worrying about eating grapes in pregnancy or some other random and non-related event. (I recently read online somewhere, some tool's theory that children who watch cartoons are made autistic!)

One of the silliest parts of the novel, if we are to think this is based on what might happen in a real life situation, is the meeting between Melanie and a speech therapist. The speech therapist says all sorts of daft things like, "If I were you, however, I'd be thinking about special school and about respite care. You really have no choice." (my emphasis)
I just couldn't imagine any SALT worth their salt (I know, that was pathetic, but I'm not a writer) even saying that. But it gets worse:

"I'm telling you for a fact this is a big one, autism. Regular speech therapists like me can't even touch it.
...
I'm not qualified to treat this kind of thing."

This speech therapist, we are led to believe, has no advice or recommendations to give the mum. Nothing.

This is just bollox.

I know it's a work of fiction, and set in a parallel world where it is likely that vaccinations cause autism, so it's just as likely in such a world that a SALT would have zero advice for the parent of a non-verbal 3 year-old beyond 'put him in a special school.'

But the speech therapist is really just a plot device to introduce us to the lovable Irish rogue and ABA therapist, Andy. He's going to draw Daniel out of his autistic state and fall for his mother. He's expensive, but he's worth it.

Melanie says, "Autism turns out to be an expensive condition. That is, if you treat it."

But what is it she's paying for; ABA therapist, a therapist for herself, a cleaner, bills for private doctors, homeopaths, kinesiologists craniosacral therapists, oh and gluten and casein are excluded from Daniel's diet. Obviously. The only thing in that list of any proven benefit, is a cleaner. Thankfully Melanie can raise cash to waste by selling some of their stuff and she happens to have a spare country cottage.

The book is set in England where the NHS provides free health care so why is she forking out for doctors? There are also free schools and nurseries for those who want them and disability benefits are available though the claims procedure is a nightmare.

At least Melanie did buy Daniel the 'girl's' buckle shoes he wanted, though the dragon-lady sales assistant was over-done.

So I didn't like this book, didn't like how autism is portrayed, the 'devastation rhetoric' used, the disablist language, the improbable love story, the way it's assumed that autism is not just an evil thief of innocent children, but an expensive one at that.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a book where the child happened to be autistic, which caused challenges and meant that the family had to make choices they might not otherwise have made, but where there was fun and silliness, where education and parenting are deemed all that are necessary to ensure the autistic child's optimal development and where expensive unproven quack therapies are scoffed at, not embraced.

There's a line in the book; "Other people don't have children with autism. They're not entitled to have an opinion."

Well I do, and I am.

The Speed of Dark

Last autumn, I read 'The Speed of Dark' by Elizabeth Moon, and just last week, I borrowed 'Daniel Isn't Talking' by Marti Leimbach. Both are works of fiction with an autistic character, but they are very different in style and tone, and I much preferred the former novel.

'The Speed of Dark' is set in the near future, and all genetic disorders are prevented or cured in early childhood. (This fictional future is like the realisation of all the fondest dreams of the wealthy organisation, Autism Speaks. Its co-founder Suzanne Wright has said she hopes for a future when autism is merely "a word for the history books."
(link: www.autismspeaks.org/sponsoredevents/new_decade_for_autism.php)
In a recent interview she said, "we try to stem the tide and ultimately eradicate autism for the sake of future generations. If we continue our current trajectory, we’ll get there in my lifetime." That'd be about 20 years from now.)

Our protagonist, Lou, is a young autistic man, born just too early to be cured of his autism so he and his work colleagues are among the last generation of autistic people alive. He underwent intensive training as a child to help him conform as much as possible to the non-autistic majority. He works for a pharmaceutical company, in a small section where all the employees are autistic, and where their autistic strengths, like pattern recognition and attention to detail, are used to benefit the company. A few work place accommodations including a trampoline in a recreation room and allocated parking spaces, help to keep these competent employees content and productive. However, the company is promoting a novel treatment for autism and is pressuring their autistic employees to opt for the surgery.

I enjoyed the insight into Lou's inner life, his friendships, enemies and interests. I cared about this character, though I didn't find some of the other characters so convincing, especially those depicted as all good or thoroughly rotten. The ending (and this is a bit of a spoiler) was horrific and chilling, to me anyway. It jolted with the rest of the book, but that may have been the author's aim. It certainly was not what I expected, and I found it just so upsetting. Others may differ and consider what was depicted as the best possible outcome.

What's worse than having an autistic child?

NOT having that autistic child.

Duncan has enjoyed Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Suess since I bought him a CD Rom of the story a while back. Before Christmas when I asked him what he wanted Santa to bring, he said 'Green Eggs and Ham book and K'nex roller coaster.' Santa was very obliging, even managing to get an older edition of the book with the required orange cover, as seen on the CD Rom. Duncan knows the story off by heart, but has read it to himself loads of times anyway. He carries it about with him, taking it to bed to put under his pillow. He never goes in the car without the orange book on his lap.

I spotted another Dr Suess book in a charity shop a few weeks ago, Happy Birthday to You! I read this to him yesterday for the first time. Wow, what a book! It's got all the usual funny, silly rhyming lines, it's got the weird and wonderful illustrations, but it's also got some of the most profound and amazing lines. I am a total soppy fool for this kind of thing, but I had to gulp back the tears a few times while reading, and I kept stopping to hug my wee man sitting beside me, enjoying the story.

If you'd never been born...
...
Why, you might be a WASN'T!
A wasn't has no fun at all. No, he doesn't!
A wasn't just isn't. He just isn't present.
But you...You ARE YOU! And, now isn't that pleasant!

I hope that the time will come when all children and adults, no matter what they look like or what they are capable of or sound like or who they're attracted to or who their parents are or whatever- will be able to, (in the words of Dr Suess);

Shout loud at the top of your voice, "I AM I!
ME!
I am I!
And I may not know why
But I know that I like it.
Three cheers! I AM I!"

...

I am what I am! That's a great thing to be!
If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Belts, Woo and Personalities

Lady and Thomas graded in Ju-Jitsu at the weekend. They're now the proud owners of an orange and a white belt respectively. I'm surprised that Thomas graded so soon after starting, but the sensei said he was ready. He answered all the questions correctly too! So well done to them!

Duncan usually stays with his grandma while the class is on, and Gordon and I go to the gym. On Saturday Duncan made it very clear he didn't want to stay there, so we wandered the town together for an hour. It was really nice. We picked a few library books, and I was tempted to pay a visit to the event upstairs, where there was some sort of CAM fair with stands on reiki, aromatherapy, angel er, handling(?) and the like. Duncan was in his major buggy, and although there was a lift somewhere, I couldn't be bothered to look for it. I'd have loved to hear what some of them have to say for themselves though. Perhaps another time.

But we made the infinitely better decision to buy some buns and trawl the charity shops looking for books, I found a couple of ancient Ladybird books in perfect condition. One is a book on costumes and clothes through the ages. It ends with a page entitled, 'present day clothing', illustrated with a 60's era family picnicing by their car, with father in a cravat and slacks, mother, ever so daring in trousers, and children, gay and comfortable in shorts and 'jeans'. We like it!

Today, The Golden Compass film is released and I'm trying to organise things so Gordon and I can take Lady to watch it. She has been listening to the books over the past month, and loving them. I really like the trilogy, having re-read them recently in anticipation of the movie. I know I'll be disappointed when aspects of the book are omitted or changed, but it looks good on the trailer. We all worked out our Dæmons from the website. The results were rather inconsistent;

I was assigned a gibbon called Thalius. I am 'modest, sociable, dependable and fickle.' (Dependable and fickle!)
Gordon was assigned a chimpanzee called Lysandra. He is a 'leader, assertive, spontaneous, modest and inquisitive.'
Lady got an ocelot called Persaon. She is 'modest, spontaneous, inquisitive, fickle and a leader.'
A tiger called Onthany was chosen for Duncan. He was described as 'solitary, a leader, shy and proud.'
Thomas was allotted a raccoon called Arphenia. He is 'a leader, sociable, modest, spontaneous and inquisitive.'

As far as I'm concerned, there is one attribute in each profile that shouldn't be there. If C. or anyone who knows us well is reading, can you pick the error for each of us?

Stories and Speech

There's definitely an air of Harry Potter fever around here. I'm hoping it stays dry tonight as Lady and I are planning to queue up outside the bookshop at midnight to buy 'The Deathly Hallows'. We are very excited to see how it all ends, having enjoyed and discussed all the previous books in great detail. Lady has been telling me some of her latest theories, most of which involve Poly-juice potion. She's convinced Snape is evil, while I'm of the opposite opinion. Can't wait to find out! I'll read lots of it aloud tomorrow, so we can enjoy the story together. We all went to see the 'Order of the Phoenix' film the day after it was released. (We couldn't go on July 12th, since that other Order, the Order of the Orange, were having their wee walks around various towns and we just stayed at home well away from it all.) The film was great. We went to an early show and there were only a few others in the cinema with us.

As I write, Lady and Thomas are playing the HP PC game. Duncan has been customising his trains. He keeps painting them with the watercolours paints. He wanted the red trim at the bottom of each engine to be lighter, so he mixes a bit of red and white to make it just right.

One of his favourite toys these days, is a wipe clean drawing board, that scrolls between 4 screens, and allows for a short commentary on each screen. Duncan just uses it as a dictaphone. He keeps recording little songs or phrases and playing them back. It's hilarious! He has made the rest of us speak into it too, telling us what to say. Lady had to repeat the expression 'G for gow, G for gow, ow, ow.' What it means or where it came from, I've no idea. There's a song he sings, it's either, 'I'm a robber man' or 'I'm a rubber man'. But he shouts it really loud in this harsh rock star voice. As expected, there've been several word perfect recordings of classic Thomas The Tank Engine stories too.

Duncan's speech continues to improve. He now gives me more complicated instructions like, 'Put the 2 keys in the cupboard downstairs, now.' It's a far cry from when he was almost 3, and I got all excited because he looked at a plane flying overhead and muttered something which sounded like it may have been the word 'plane'. He only knew about 10 words when he was 3.

He's commenting on stories I'm reading. I was reading Snow White, and he kept looking at the picture of Snow White's mother, then one of the evil queen. After a lot of thought, he told me that 'the nice queen turned into nasty queen.' He got upset when I read about the woodcutter's instructions to kill the girl, saying 'no die! No Snow White die!' and was relieved when she got away safely. He tells the story back now, with a bit of prompting, and always emphasises that Snow White does NOT die.

Thomas was talking about something peculiar Duncan did, and said he was a bit like an alien. He didn't say it in a mean way at all. It seemed he was trying to find words to express the differences between Duncan and himself and other boys. I said, 'Duncan's not an alien. He's a boy like you. He's autistic and just does some things differently to you because of his autism.'
We'll just keep talking about these sorts of things as we go. There won't be any need for a big conversation, a big revealing of the family secret, because everyone is growing up knowing about and accepting of, autistic differences.

Lady swims, Duncan reads, Thomas multiplies

After all the drama and mood swing of the past few days, yesterday was delightfully calm and productive in comparison. Lady got stuck into her maths book, and worked really hard. Thomas mostly played PC games, especially The Polar Express and Timez Attack, a free downloadable game. He's played it so often now that he can answer many of the multiplication questions himself. He also read for me; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? We're going to make our own version of that book today. He might even decide to draw something other than a rainbow (the only thing he currently will draw) to illustrate it!

While the others were busy, Duncan and I remade his 'Trevor' book on the computer. We Googled images and he chose which ones to use. He also picked photos of me and himself, then instructed me on where to place everything on the page and what size to make them. We're very proud of our efforts, so I'm sticking it on here!

In the evening, I took Lady swimming. She went in and I watched from the side. I have never seen her swim before, she swam the width of the pool, and has never had a lesson, but splashed about lots with her friends at her summer scheme. I'll go in with her when my hands heal again (my intermittent eczema problem) and help her develop a better style. It was lovely going out alone with her though. She is such a great girl, so happy and positive. The town was lit up for Christmas, and she declared everything to be gorgeous! Then in the pool, she kept catching my eye and giving a little wave, before diving under the water!

And now, our book!

Duncan wants a new train. Duncan wants a Daniel’s Trevor train.

Mummy buys a Trevor train on Ebay.

The man in the train shop puts Trevor into the parcel.

Then the man brings the parcel to the Post Office.

The postman puts Duncan's parcel into his bag. He brings it to Duncan’s house.


Duncan opens the parcel.
Duncan takes out the new Daniel’s Trevor train.

Duncan is very happy!

Green Eggs and Ham

On Monday, I was in the charity shop dropping off a load of stuff and then in TK Maxx buying Lady a winter coat. Somehow I also ended up with a load of new CD Roms for the children.

One was Green Eggs and Ham (a bargain at £2) which I thought the boys might like. Well, Duncan just loves it and spent ages playing it yesterday, following the story, repeating the words. I had to draw the train (obviously). I've also had to cook many fried eggs (no yellow bit) for the boy, so more benefits there.
I never liked Dr Seuss as a child, but I know now it was because I never heard the books read aloud, I was trying to read them to myself quietly, and they just don't work that way.

Oh, I've seen the paper linking TV viewing to autism. It's a joke, it has to be a spoof. I'm hoping the authors will come out someday soon and say, 'see how easy it is to sucker you all with some dodgy theory.' Just stick in the word autism and the media opens up to you. Sorry, strike that, they'll ignore most stuff like studies on autistic cognition and studies flagging up the errors in the earlier 'measles in autistic guts' stuff, but come out with any hare brained idea of what the cause of autism is, and they're falling over themselves to give you column inches.

Gordon has gone to Chicago for the week. Yikes! Thankfully, we are having guests this week. Our much anticipated visit from some really good friends from London. Lady in particular is very excited; her best friend in the whole wide world is coming!

I must go help her now. She's a bit fed up with the boys and I just heard her say 'I think sisters are better than brothers.' Thomas answered 'I thinks sisters are pretty', which was very nice of him.

A book meme

Thanks Ann for tagging me.

1. One book that changed your life?

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte.
I first read this when I was not much older than Charlotte when we first meet her. I can still imagine her terror in the 'red room' and the first time I ever cried while reading, was when her friend dies beside her at Lowood School. It was the first time I really felt the magic of escaping into another world.
I had to read it a few more times to appreciate the choice of a small, plain and poor heroine, who knows her mind and carves her own path.

2. One book you have read more than once?
* by Jane Austen!

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The complete works of William Shakespeare, should keep me going 'til my rescuers arrive.

4. One book that made you cry?
Most recently, Memoir, by John McGahern.

5. One book that made you laugh?
Oh, right...well I've read a fair few of Marian Keyes books and they're all funny, smart and a great escapist read, even the one about a recovering drug addict. So lets say, Watermelon.

6. One book you wish had been written?
I can't answer this question.

7. One book you wish had never been written?
The Contented Little Baby Book, by Gina Ford.
So sue me!

8. One book you are currently reading?
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. (I got a box of 'banned' books for Christmas and am working my way through them.)

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James; I started this about 5 times but keep putting it down in favour of something easier.

I'm tagging Amanda, Autiemom, Esther, Kristina and Hazel.
So if you fancy it, I'd love to read about your choices.

Leitrim lanes and Sligo castles

We had a great weekend with my brother, sister-in-law and their 2 daughters. It really was as perfect as we could have hoped for. The children enjoyed playing outside together in the sunshine. My niece C. adores her big cousin Lady and wanted to emulate her hairstyle, so I had to put C's hair into 4 plaits too. Thomas played with cousin E. who is almost 3. They had fun on a toy tractor and Duncan showed them how to drag each other in the trailer.

I went for a run -4 miles!- with sil. I. She's been running for a while now and is much fitter than me, but I manged to run most of the way though I walked up the hills. Our route was along narrow, isolated country Leitrim lanes, past bogs and low mountains. I thought of the John McGahern's Memoir in which I've just been reading his recollection of walking the Leitrim lanes in his childhood. I. told me that he died a few months ago. I hadn't even heard and feel a bit shocked and bereaved. Last night I read the heartbreaking passage about his beloved mother's death when he was a boy:

Those who are dying are marked not only by themselves but by the world they are losing.

He would have known he was dying when that was written. He was a wonderful, author who wrote truthful accounts of lives and family, place and the seasons. May he face the rising sun.

We went to a 'Game and Country Fair' at Makree Castle in the afternoon. Last year at the same event, Duncan had wandered off and it took us 15 fraught minutes to find him (standing by an ice-cream van). Amazingly, he recognised the place although it's just crowds of people and stalls in fields. He pointed to a group of stalls and asked for 'brown sugar cubes', meaning fudge. That section contained the shopping stalls, though how he could tell them apart from a distance, I don't know. He was on great form, stayed by me (with lots of reminders) and with Thomas, really enjoyed patting loads of well groomed dogs, there for the pet show. Gordon joined a queue to buy ice-creams for everyone. Duncan was getting a bit anxious at having to wait, and it wasn't helping him that I kept reassuring him that he would get ice-cream soon. So I walked close to the van, and pointed to each of the people in front of Gordon in turn, saying '1st that man gets ice-cream, then that woman, then that man, then that man...then Daddy gets ice-cream for Duncan' and I repeated this information as the queue reduced. He must have understood better what was happening as he was content to wait then.

All the children enjoyed the day. Lady liked the falconry display. Duncan was enthralled by some dancing horses and afterwards, he was singing the Gipsy Kings song played . Even when lyrics are in English, it's usually just a collection of sounds to him and although he has no problem repeating the phrase, it's good when someone says it slowly enough for him to hear the individual words.

We bought a selection of good cheese, olives and bread and feasted after dinner when the children were finally asleep. The next day we had a relaxed walk, played and ate some more before heading back to the north east and home.

Pigs, pants and now...peas!

I was reading to the boys yesterday, some Apple Tree Farm stories. They love these. Duncan was holding a new pig shaped eraser I had bought; it was his object of choice yesterday. He started telling me different words starting with the sound 'p', pig, pirate, puppy, Pippen, Percy and pants! He was very pleased with himself. Then his little voice was echoing every sentence as I read. Thomas was working out a few words for himself and labeled himself a great reader altogether! It's really nice that we can all enjoy books together now.

Something amazing has been happening here recently; Duncan has started to expand the range of food he will eat. He has always been a very fussy eater. When he was less than a year old, I took him to the paediatrician who diagnosed 'failure to thrive' as he was so low on the weight charts they use to monitor babies. (Those charts have since been scrapped for use with breast-fed children). But he was well skinny and I was always trying to maximise his intake of calories, especially fat and protein. For years he has eaten stuff like spaghetti with butter, cheese and tomato ketchup (and don't you dare try to blend something more nutritious into the ketchup!) and cereals with milk. Oh, and as much chocolate, cake and sweets as he could get hold of.

Now a few weeks ago he decided he wanted to try some fish fingers, having seen them on Charlie and Lola and he liked them. Then he saw Lady and me eating corn on the cob and reached out to try mine. I told him, 'It's corn, like on Pocahontas!' He said 'Home on the Range corn!' then he started to eat, loved it and now eats it every day. Wow, he's actually eating some vegetables! He has also started to eat peas and onions, having first tried them from my plate as he sat on my lap as I ate dinner. It's a bit like the way the other children tried food from my plate when they were weaning!

Now I need to go and help find 'Lego man,' that is, a 2cm high bit of red and yellow plastic. I reckon I spend about 2 hours each week looking all around the house for various very small plastic objects that Duncan has lost and desperately wants. I have regularly thought that if I could really perform just one spell from the Harry Potter books, it would be 'Accio', the 'summoning charm'!