School
I can remember taking my wife home from the school in tears because one mother had told us that she was in a panic about her son and thinking of pulling him out because he was only a level 12 reader. Our son was in his class too, but at the time, he was only on level 2.
It's not that the other parent was insensitive. She probably didn't know what level our son was on. The real issue is that parents of children with academic special needs shouldn't discuss their children's progress with other parents. There really is no comparison and it will only get you upset. Given time and resources your child will flourish. In fact, five years later, our son is just finishing up the diary of a wimpy kid - and he enjoyed it!
Unfortunately, academic talk is common at school while waiting to pick your child up. Sometimes it's better to stay in the car. Some parents delight in telling you all about their child's achievements and eagerly ask about your child's work. Sometimes it's genuine but often it's all about them feeling that their child is "better". Sadly, some people need to put others down in order to "build themselves up".
Whenever possible, make sure that you identify these types people and stay well clear of them. You'd be surprised at how much parent-talk transfers to the school yard. Other children sometimes quote their parents, "My mum said that I have to stay away from you because you're not very smart" or "because you get into trouble too much". It all impacts on the already fragile self-esteem of special needs parents and special needs kids. We don't need those kinds of friends and the less ammunition you give them (through conversation), the better.
Play-Dates and Outings
Once we arranged a play-date with another child who had aspergers. We were hoping to be able to provide our son with a good "similar" friend. Unfortunately this particular child was a "smart aspie", someone with Aspergers syndrome but without the ADHD and learning difficulties that our son has. The boy's special interest was Harry Potter and he'd read all of the books - our son by this stage had just moved up to level 4 readers. The boys had a good time at our house and they still play together occasionally.
Unfortunately, the play-date has never been returned and our son has never been invited to the other boy's house. At first I consoled my wife by suggesting that not all parents have play dates but this idea was shattered when she discovered that all of the other kids my son is friendly with have had several play-dates at this boy's house. It's just our son who is excluded for some reason.
Then there's the incident where a mother came over to where my wife and several other mothers were talking and invited all but one (guess who) to an outing. My wife came home shattered but worse... the next day our son came home from school with full knowledge that he'd been excluded because all of the other kids had talked about it.
The same thing happens at school with parties. Your child will know when they've been excluded. It's a good sign that you need to look for other, better friends with more open-minded parents. It's also important to try to establish a group of friends outside of school - that's where sports come in.
Sports
From my Point of View
Ok, this first section is a little off-topic but I think it provides some necessary background...
I've never been a big fan of sports myself. For a start, I've got low muscle tone. It's part of the aspergers condition. It doesn't mean that I can't be muscular but it means that my muscles aren't attached to my skeleton in quite the same way as other people's. They're too "floppy". When I try to work out, I'm more inclined to injure myself because my limbs tend to bend back further than other people's. I put too much strain in all the wrong places.
As a result, I've never been able to do proper workouts and I've never been a particularly muscular person. My unusual gait means that although I used to be quite good at sprinting, my general running ability was decidedly second-class. Then there's my co-ordination, or lack of it...
I could go on forever but I think that my feelings about sport are probably best summed up by a two minute scene from the IT Crowd" TV show. It's well worth a watch, quite funny but it struck a chord too. I was stunned when this aired because until then, I'd assumed I was the only person who felt like this.
Sports and the Perfect Kid
The real reason for the inclusion of sport in this series stems from my time as a parent with my son, then 5 on the school soccer team. It was painful to watch my son chase the ball around without ever getting near it. He was a tall boy for his age but even with those long legs, he just couldn't run fast enough.
Even worse though were the times when he did get the ball. At those times, the ball would hit his foot and it would be as if in slow motion. He'd look down and you could almost see him saying. "Ooh, what was that? It's a ball. I wonder where it came from". He'd look up to try to work out the circumstances behind the ball reaching him then, "People are shouting at me. What are they shouting? Oh, kick it? Where should I kick it? That way? Ok... ". I'd see him reach a decision and bring his foot back to kick the ball but by that time another player would have taken it off him.
The disappointment on his face was plain to see but as a parent I had to try to be encouraging at half-time despite the fact that it really seemed futile. It would have been ok if the other kids had been equally bad at soccer but unfortunately many of them were good, very good. Some of the dads appeared to be soccer fanatics.
As the season wore on, it began to get more and more difficult to get my son to complete the second half. He would stand around and kick the dirt, sit down on the sidelines or simply wander disinterestedly off the field. Who can blame him? To him, as it was to me, soccer wasn't a sport, it was a "standing around waiting" game - because he never got a turn.
The "icing on the cake" however came from the soccer hooligan mums and dads who started by quietly advising their kids at half time and then eventually began shouting out things like "don't give it to that kid!" I could see my son's self esteem crumbling.
We'd decided well before the end of the season that it would be our son's first and last season. We were going to have to find a replacement activity, one that didn't suffer from parent hooliganism and one in which everyone was accepted for who they are. To my surprise, scouts fitted the bill perfectly (so far).
The Series
This brings me to the end of the "Get away from me with your perfect kids series". If you've missed the other parts of the series, you can read them here;
- Part 1: Introduction
- Part 2: Mother's Group
- Part 3: Family (Unsupportive Family Members and Partners)
I've covered a few common groups but I'm sure that there are plenty more. Keep an eye out because even the best groups turn bad sometimes. When groups stop being supportive, it's time to leave.
Comments
On the case of sport I have found that on the main AFL teams seem to cater better for children with needs than soccer. My kids play for Kellyville and I have seen first hand this being the case.
I cannot tell you just how thrilled I am to hear about these people's charmed life in which the worst thing that has happened all year was a flat tire on the way to cheer leading practice (because of course their kid is the captain of the squad, right?).
I am lucky in one sense - our schools have a rule that children may not bring birthday party invitations to school unless they are inviting the entire class.
My daughter is a "smart" Aspie... when she wants to be. She's still not doing so great this year at school. She'd rather line up all the papers on her desk instead of actually do the work on them (they just look so messy that way). Smart or no, we still have to deal with emotional blow-ups of titanic proportions!
As luck would have it, we have an Aspie just a year older right next door. He's an ADHD Aspie, but the two get along quite well (but, oh, the trouble they get into if we're not watching at all times)!
At any rate, thank you so much for your blog!
Me too, honey. Me too.