World of Autism

 For an autistic person like Lucas, Easter must seem very strange…

We get up early, get dressed and go to Church, where it’s WAYYYYY too crowded (with all those people who only attend on Easter and Christmas).  

Then we come home, and Lucas hunts for the candy that the Easter Bunny has left throughout the house.  Of course, he promptly eats most of the candy he’s found, bringing on that fabulous “sugar high”!

The rest of the day is spent pretty much doing nothing in a state of sugar coated boredom until dinnertime, when there’s a feast to take the place of candy!

 As you can see, Lucas thoroughly enjoyed his Easter basket, and had a nice day in spite of all that sugar.

Happy Easter to all!!

Tags: Daily life by Lauren
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Lucas has been watching the movie Titanic for about a week now.  He’ll watch the actual video, then watch sections of it on “You Tube”, then watch a documentary we have from A & E network.

 Yesterday, he announced to me that Jack (Jack Dawson, the lead character in Titanic) did NOT die.  We all remember how sad it was when Jack became one of the many Titanic passengers who died in the icy waters of the North Atlantic the night the ship sank.

Before I could decide whether to pursue an explanation about death, (going to heaven, everyone dies, etc.), Lucas went on to tell me that Jack “went into ice cube” and to Encino.

 If you’ve ever seen the movie “Encino Man”, it’s about two teenage boys who dig up a cave man in their backyard in Encino, CA.  When they find this cave man, he’s encased in ice, having been frozen there eons ago during the Ice Age.

Lucas worked out in his head that Jack Dawson went into very cold water and became encased in ice.  He worked out that if two guys from Encino could dig up a cave man in his ice cube, why couldn’t Jack Dawson’s ice cube end up in Encino, too? 

Once again, Lucas has proven to me beyond a doubt that he’s able to think about something in a sophisticated way.  Of course, his conclusion is completely wrong! 

But I can’t say it’s lacking in creativity. (And be honest, who among us DIDN’T want Jack Dawson to LIVE!!)

Tags: Daily life by Lauren
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The need for consistancy is very important for Lucas due to his autism.   So where does this need go when it comes to putting his stuff where it belongs??? 

 For the first time ever though, Lucas is having company of his own.  Another boy in his class is coming over after school today, so I told Lucas that he had to help clean the house since it was HIS company.  And it WORKED!! 

He put his trains and other stuff away where it belongs:

Dusted the furniture:

And even used the vacumm cleaner, in spite of the noise it makes:

His dog Dixie was very curious about this noisy machine, but Lucas told her, “It’s okay, Dixe” so she wouldn’t be scared.

I told him he did such a nice job, we might do it every week (that will help make it part of his “can’t live without doing it” routine.)

We only worked in two rooms (living room and sun room), but I think Lucas is pleased with how nice they look.  I can’t wait to see how he and his friend enjoy their afternoon together!

Tags: Daily life by Lauren
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