time flies and books from heaven

We are working hard on figurative language. The phrase we are actively targeting right now is “time flies” and I think we have mastered this one. I have been saying it in appropriate situations for days now and then explaining what I mean. Tate used it himself in a sentence tonight when he told me he had played on the i-pad during recess today and “time flew” then he went on to explain that he meant time seemed to go by fast for him when he was playing on the i-pad. I love it! He is catching on to some new figurative language. We are having fun with it. He both generalized the phrase and changed the tense from “flies” to “flew.” VERY COOL!

Tate told me he had not been able to use the i-pad at school today at the time he normally does. He said that his schedule today was changed around and it would be different again tomorrow. Tate loves routine but needs to learn to be flexible so changes in his schedule are good therapy. I asked him if the changes bothered him and he said “no worries.” He has been saying “no worries” a lot lately. I think he got it from his wonderful RR teacher. I have heard her say it. It reminds me of another phrase he often uses: “No big deal.” His speech teacher from Kindergarten taught him to say that when was close to a melt down over something small. I remember being skeptical it would work but it did help him. When he says “No big deal” or “No worries” it is similar to one of us taking a deep breath or counting to ten. Sometimes, he says it and still breaks down because he cannot always control his anxieties. Self-monitoring and self control are emerging with maturity; although a few years later than his peers. 

Tate doesn’t usually share much about his day so I am very thankful for a note that comes home with him this year. It helps me to start conversations with him in the evenings about things that went on at school. However, this evening I have not needed the note to prompt anything. Tate was a regular chatter box tonight. Apparently, his para had given him some crunchy peanut butter and crackers today. Tate believes his para hung the moon (OH… I should definitely introduce that phrase to Tate soon!) and his para has been very successful at getting Tate to try some new foods. I guess crunchy peanut butter will not be going on my grocery list though. Tate said “You KNOW I only eat SMOOOOOOTH peanut butter.” Then he went on to say the only crunchy things he likes are cereal, toast and waffles.  There are a lot of sensory issues that often accompany autism. A limited diet is also often a problem for those with autism.

In Bible class this evening Tate was much more engaged than usual. He had a random question toward the end of class: “So, when is God’s birthday, anyway?” I answered, “God doesn’t have a birthday.” He continued, “Why is that?” I responded with “God does not have a mom and He wasn’t born.” Tate said “Was He created?” Why questions were not asked for years because Tate has autism. He has to start with this one? Haha. He has actually been asking why questions for a while now but they are not frequent, nor are theological questions so the whole evening was amazing. The funniest thing Tate said tonight was “Hey, do you want to read one of those books from heaven?” He meant a Bible story book.  I have a shelf full in our classroom at the church building and since they are at the church building then Tate put two and two together. They are books from heaven. 

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