Our Aspergers Teenage Boy

Dad reports:

Tommy is in exceptional spirits! He even helped chop and carry wood. He is in a fantastic mood. I wish this is the way he chose to be all the time!

Tommy is in a jolly mood. “I lost no points today.”

Dad reports:

Almost forgot, other fun conversations this morning: Eatting habits Tommy likes to eat too fast which enables him to eat more than he needs to be eatting. Every morning it’s 2 heaping bowls of cereal (which in all honesty is probably normal teen eatting) but other meals are not normal. However, at lunch the school serves him the same portions that everyone else gets. So this morning he was complaining that we never send enough money for ice cream or an extra milk. His preference would be that we send enough for both and ice cream and an extra milk. Of course, I reminded him where the water fountain was and mentioned that until he was exercising he didn’t need the ice cream.

Dad reports:
Confrontation with Tommy–
Dad: “Why are you taking your wallet to school?” ($7 cash $2-3 in change)
Tommy: “I just like the feel of something in my pocket”
Dad: “What do you want to buy?”
Tommy: “Nothing! I just want something in my pocket.”
Dad: “Come on Tommy. I know you are lying because I know where you want to spend the money.” (last year he friviously spent his birthday money on pencils and paperclips at the library)
Tommy: “It’s not true!”
{pointless conversation about lying the virtues of truth and his past history ensue}
Walking to the car, Tommy: “I just wanted to buy some index cards.”

Thoughts from Dad: It’s somewhat amusing to have these dialogs since Tommy’s lies are quite transparent and after he has had time to think about it, he usually comes out and says what the truth was. In the car we talked about the 3 different ways the conversation could have played out 1) the way it did, 2) him saying he wanted to buy index cards for the spin art machine and me saying sure but let me give you the money [less stress, positive result] or 3) him saying he…art machine and me saying “no but have Mrs Williams send home a note saying she needs the supplies and exactly what kind she needs and we will buy them for her” [less stress, positive result but not immediate gratification]

Tommy wanted to take a huge stack of index cards and origami paper (click to buy some from Amazon) to school and I let him take a few sheets.

Tommy went to school calm and happy.

Dad reports this morning:
* Tommy seems in calm, good spirits albeit a little sluggish but not in that “I don’t want to do anything” way; just normal early morning dreariness that you and I and everyone else has

Made sure to give Tommy his evening meds on time. I’m putting out sweats for him to wear tomorrow so he’ll be happy about his clothing. Hopefully the day will go better. Next week I’m going to go back to doing academics at home with him. He’s too smart to spend his day in play therapy.

Tommy had a substitute today and apparently he had at least 3 episodes of crying because things weren’t going his way. He came home and tried chopping wood with Doug but quickly (like in 3 minutes) got too tired. Now he wants my computer to make his own D&D character sheets.

* Tommy heading to school. He’s too groggy to feel anxious.

Dad reports this morning:
Tommy woke very tired. I left his light on to help him wake and he turned it off. Got my goat with that. He had breakfast while his brother and sister were driven to school and was asleep on the couch when I returned. Other than being sleepy, he seems in good spirits. I think he’s thrilled that he’s finally around other kids his own age. I suspect we may have a couple of good weeks.

Dad reports last night:
Tommy was having trouble sleeping. We figured that both Mom and I had forgotten give Tommy his medicine. He got it at 10:30 when normally he gets it at 6:30-7. Interestingly enough, this has happened once before and also caused sleeplessness.

Lots of arguing between Doug and Tommy all afternoon. Otherwise Tommy was pretty calm. He read in bed until 9 p.m. then settled in. Informed me (again) that he never sleeps. I know for certain this is not true but I can see how he’d believe it. He tosses and talks in his sleep so much he really doesn’t get any rest.

Wonder if he’ll do any schoolwork tomorrow?