AMAZE ME!! Family life with an autistic teenage girl

TUESDAY, 21ST JUNE 2011

2011-06-21T10:39:00.000Z

I am not sure where to start with this blog, because Emily has done so many things over the last couple of months, but here goes.

After the excitement of my 50th birthday party, life settled down again.

Emily has done lots of cooking with both Robert and myself.

Emily has also taken on the joy of face painting. This is something that Emily has never wanted to do before, but she loved doing this beautiful one at school. She chose the colours of pink and black.

Emily also did a wonderful drawing at school of our house and for the first time ever, added a garage. It is very interesting how Emily has put someone (or Poppy) in every window and has only put curtains in her bedroom window!! We only have curtains in her bedroom at the moment.

Emily is still taking iron supplements, Eye Q, vitamin D and spends one hour a day with her special sun lamp. I am still not sure whether Emily suffers with S.A.D., but I have to admit this supplement programme seems to be working well for her.

Emily has been a few school trips and is having such fun and is developing friendships at school, which is fantastic. She went to Drayton Manor and Emily went on all the big rides (Emily has NEVER been on rides before). They also went to Conkers Discovery Centre and she had a wonderful day with her school friends.

Emily held a snake at school!!!! Far braver than me, I can tell you and she has also developed a love for drums!!!! I have warned the neighbours that we might get Emily some drums for her birthday in August and they are fine with it!!!!

We took Emily to see Peter Pan on Ice at Derby and EMILY LOVED IT. She was completely fixed into the magic from beginning to end.

The last couple of months have been really good ones for Emily. She even seems to be moving around generally with much more confidence and her language and interaction has definitely stepped up.

Yesterday on the way home from school, I asked her "When you get home, would you like to go on your scooter or the trampoline?" and she said "no". This was brilliant, because she found a way to tell me she wanted to do neither. Emily has never done this before! A few minutes later, Emily suddenly said "I would like computer"!!!! I was so excited. Emily had actually been thinking about and decided what she wanted to do for herself without me even having to give her a choice - WELL DONE EMILY!!!!! XX

The next blog will report on Emily spending her first night away from home with school - a sleeping bag has been bought for the occasion! Also Emily will have moved up a class at school, had her 14th birthday and been on holiday to Portugal!! .......... WATCH THIS SPACE!

WEDNESDAY, 27TH APRIL 2011

2011-04-27T19:43:00.001Z

Well, what an amazing month April has been.

Emily has really come out of her shell again and we have had such fun. She also got her first Head Teacher's award for her interaction at school. She marched out to the front of assembly to collect it and stood with a massive grin on her face. I am not sure she knew what she had done to get the award, but I am positive she knew she had done something very clever and I was SO proud of her.

On 17th April, we had a family party for my 50th and Emily had a wonderful time with all the guests, the loud music and the food.

Then on Easter weekend, Robert, Emily and I went to Paris for 4 days.

Emily did brilliantly!!!! We went in a taxi to Leicester Station, then a train to London, then on the Eurostar to Paris and then 2 Metro underground trains to our hotel. Emily completely took it all in her stride and I was so proud of her. The Metro in Paris was noisy and busy and quite scary for anyone, but Emily loved it.

We did lots of walking and site seeing in Paris and visited my sister and her family just North of Paris.

April 2011 has definitely been a good month for Emily.

MONDAY, 21ST MARCH 2011

2011-03-21T11:23:00.000Z

What can I say?

The last few weeks have been amazing for Emily. She is finally emerging from her trapped position and smiling, laughing and enjoying life again - it's fantastic!

I don't know whether it's the extra vitamins and minerals I am giving her, the sun light that is helping, the fact that I am more relaxed with her, or whether it is something else completely! Whatever it is, Emily is connected with us again. She still has her moments of quiet and solitude, but that may be just because she is a teenager!!!!

It is sometimes difficult to work out whether the way Emily is behaving is due to her autism, her innate personality or the fact that she is a teenager and because she cannot say "for goodness sake Mum, leave me alone, I'm fine" it is always a mystery to know what is going on for her.

Emily is really enjoying school again and is taking her place in all the activities. They were learning about the digestive system (!?) and Emily's job was to roll out a long intestine with playdoh (an expert job she made!).

Emily made a rabbit mask and actually allowed me to put it on her and take a picture (this is a first for Emily!)

(looks very scary to me!!!)

Last Friday was Comic Relief 2011 and Emily was allowed to wear fancy dress at school for the day. She was so excited, I couldn't believe it. We went off to the fancy dress hire shop and she chose a lady pirate costume.

She marched into her classroom on Friday morning and got a great reception from the staff and her classmates and Emily LOVED all the attention.

She wore her costume to the Library after school as well.

Emily decided it was a good idea to take Captain Hook with her to school, as he was a pirate too!!

WEDNESDAY, 9TH MARCH 2011

2011-03-09T11:42:00.000Z

Emily has now been using her S.A.D. lamp for a while and taking her extra supplements and something seems to be working.

She is gradually emerging from her 'stuck' position. It is so hard to work out what is going on inside her head and how she is feeling, when she never tells me! What I wouldn't give to be seeing the world from her perspective for just one day!!!

She had her first photography lesson with Robert on Sunday and she had a lovely time and took her first photo of Daddy!

I love these two photos Robert took of Emily too!

Emily also seems to really like her keyboard!

Emily is really suffering with stomach cramps now and I am trying to find a combination of things to help her. So far, I am trying children's paracetomol syrup, hot water bottle (the type with no water, but beans) you heat up in the microwave and lots of cuddles!!!

She went off to school this morning, with a smile on her face!

SATURDAY, 26TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-26T18:11:00.000Z

Emily has had a lovely half-term. We have had a visit from Helen, one of Emily's volunteers in her home program.

I am not sure whether Emily is being more communicative, or I am more used to her being quieter, but we have certainly spent the week chilling. We have done lots of dog walking, bread making, cooking, reading, writing and generally having a fun time.

Emily played football with the boy next door and he said 'she is quite good for a girl' - praise indeed!!!!

Emily does not appear to be quite as 'stuck' as she was at the beginning of the week.

Next week Emily returns to school, so we shall see how that affects her.

WEDNESDAY, 16TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-16T20:50:00.000Z

Emily has had a really good couple of days!

Yesterday, after school, we spent a couple of hours in her Den. We played dress up and lots of ball games and then she looked 'really' tired, so she half lay on the day bed and listened to Ronan Keating for a good hour. You can see from the photo just how tired she is after school.

Today, I had a meeting at the school, and I have to say, I am very happy with the ways they are trying to help Emily. They are also taking on board everything I say as well, which is really refreshing and makes for a very good relationship.

They have added - aromatherapy massage, dance massage and one-on-one interaction and connection play to Emily's timetable and the lady from Autism Outreach spends some time playing with Emily each time she comes to the school. The School is not a Son-Rise school, but it's approach and ideas are very similar.

Emily's light box arrived on Monday, so each morning now, I turn it on, while Emily listens to music, before she gets up.

Tonight, at bedtime, Emily was very interactive, smiling and cheeky!!!

MONDAY, 14TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-14T20:31:00.000Z

Emily had a good day at school today. She had her aromatherapy massage, followed by swimming!!!!! I don't know, school is not what it used to be!!!

This afternoon, she made me a Valentine's Card - photo attached - I love it!

Started Emily back on her Eye Q oil today.

Her light box arrived this afternnon, so I have put it together and placed it on her bedside cupboard - she will be quite surprised when it is suddenly daylight in her bedroom in the morning. I did show her (and Robert) what it did, quickly, but I didn't want to leave it on. If you use it within 4 hours of trying to sleep, it can disturb your sleep pattern.

The fantastic news today, is that Emily said the most she has said for absolutely weeks, completely unprompted ..... "Daddy, I would like more cheesie toast, please Daddy" - WOW!!!! Of course, cheesie toast was handed over immediately!!!!!!! Well done Emily - you are amazing!!!!

FRIDAY, 11TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-11T20:44:00.000Z

Emily's class celebrated Chinese New Year today and had their faces painted. Emily actually allowed some-one to paint a rabbit on her cheek!

I was trying to think back to this time last year, as a way of working out if Emily is suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (Robert has it, so it is quite likely that Emily might!).

However, last winter, Emily was doing her Son-Rise Progam at home with me in Cheltenham and every morning before we went into the playroom for the day, we took our dog Molly to the park for an hour or so. This meant that Emily got a lot of daylight (when it was bright) first thing every day.

This year, Emily is at school, so she spends hardly any time in the daylight.

Decided to buy her a light box and it should arrive in a few days. She has to sit within arms length of it for 1 hour every morning, so I think for the time being, I will put it on her bedside cabinet and turn it on as soon as she wakes.

During half term, I shall put it in her Focus Room, we have created, and have it on during the morning.

Watch this space ....!!!!

Hope you like the photos of Emily's face painting.

WEDNESDAY, 9TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-09T21:14:00.000Z

When I dropped Emily off at school this morning, the Deputy Head asked me if I would like Emily to have aromatherapy massage at school! If the reason for Emily's 'shutdown' is hormonal, this may help her! Of course, I agreed, so today Emily had her aromatherapy massage and also 'dance massage'. Apparently she was a bit surprised, but relaxed after a while.

After school, we went shopping, just to buy chocolate (dark healthy beautiful chocolate). Then the hairdresser came!

We are trying everything to help Emily relax - our house now is full of the sound of Mozart from morning until night!!!!! (don't know when I will get to listen to Radio 2 again!!!!).

I am also giving Emily Floradix Iron, just in case her iron levels are low, with the onset of her periods (apparently very common in young teenagers!).

Failing all this, she might have to have blood tests to check hormone levels, iron levels etc. (I don't envy the nurse that has to persuade her that putting a needle in her arm is a really good idea and she won't feel a thing!!!). Hopefully, it won't come to that!!!?

TUESDAY, 8TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-08T20:42:00.000Z

The reason I have decided to do this blog is that after years of Emily becoming more connected with the world around her, something is happening to her, which is very worrying.

Emily is now 13 years old and appears to have all the hormones of a teenager, but the way they are manifesting themselves is profound.

Emily is very quiet and disconnected a lot of the time. She still has times of complete connection and joy, but they are interspersed with periods of solitude.

I am in meetings with school, to see if Emily is overstimulated there (she only started school in June last year, after being helped at home since she was 3).

We are trying really hard to work out what the cause of this shutdown is. I have typed every key word I can think of into Google for inspiration, but nothing - oh, apart from, she is a teenager - hormones are strange things and for some reason, autistic girls react to them more strongly!!!!!

Well, that's some background!!!

Today, Emily did brilliantly in PE, and seems to really enjoy physical activities.

I told her I loved her at bedtime and asked if she loved me too and she said 'yes, Mummy' for the first time in weeks!!!!

SUNDAY, 6TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-02-06T14:26:00.000Z

Welcome to my new Blog.

I have a daughter, Emily, who is now 13 years old and has autism.

I am going to create a journal, for the next 6 years of our journey with Emily, through those teenage years to adulthood.