You know we all knew somebody, you just didn't know it had a name. When we think back and
certainly when I was in high school, we knew these kids, we called them weird, we called
them awkward, but there really is a name and there is a method to how they're raised
now and there is a lot of things that help sort of blend in society a little bit more.
I'm still learning about these strategies, you know, like I say I think that i've got
it figured out, something else changes and something as simple as planning out and letting
him know what's going to come. He's not very good at surprises, so if he has time
to digest, it could be something as simple as you have soccer tonight. The schedules
on the agendas are you know that's how I live my life anyway, but for him, it's a
necessity. For instance, you being here today. I have to tell him that there's going to
be people in the house, what we expect of you. This is what we would like for you to
do and he will be better. It's letting him know so that he can be prepared and digest
and have all these emotions put in place so that he can go on about this, the day that
we take for granted. I think one of the biggest things is not to
give them big broad options. When he has a test, they give you a study sheet. It's
too much, he doesn't know where to start, he doesn't know how to do it, so what we
do is we break it down into flash cards. They think differently and we have to try and understand
why they make their decisions that they do and try to help them understand why it may
or may not be a good decision and a lot of times, that's not something that I can do
in the moment. The only thing that i can tell parents about school is that it's really
important to be on the same page as the teacher. The communication between Grant's teacher
and myself i huge, you know, she has to feel comfortable saying this is what I have a problem
with, can you help me? And in turn I can say the same thing too. She not only just tells
me bad stuff, she tells me good stuff, and so you don't always feel defeated. I find
myself a lot of times saying, I'm so sorry. You know, I'm so sorry because I think, boy,
she signed up to be a teacher and but did she really sign up for all this? It is a village
that's helping us raise my child in this particular situation, it's the coaches,
it's the teachers, it's the outside karate teacher, that they understand and they try
to bring out the best that he has. There are days where he's got me completely worn out
and exhausted by 12 o'clock, but you know there's also days where he lays down in
bed at night and tells me why he thinks I'm the most wonderful person in the world and like
everything else it seems to erase the bad.