Category: change

The Job: Is This My Son Ryan?

Ryan guiding a new student
Last week Ryan moved up from intern to employee. What a change in him!!
When Ryan started these photo shop classes last year, he needed time to absorb the environment, people, schedule, let alone the content–typical of any young adult with autism.  I had hoped, that given time, Ryan would become comfortable and adapt.  What has occurred is beyond any expectation. 

When Ryan Johnson first came to RMG Imaging Artists, he spoke little and kept himself isolated from others, preferring to spend his breaks and conversational efforts completely immersed in the world of the novels he writes on his laptop. However, something happened over the past year; something akin to the astonishing metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Conversation has become a normal part of Ryan’s day, smiles spread across his face regularly, and he exhibits great pride in the work he performs. He has applied himself to achieve, and in so doing, he has earned a sense of accomplishment, self-assurance, and position of respect among his peers. Ryan now talks to staff and his fellow artists with confidence—an extraordinary and heartwarming transformation! 
-Denise Gary, RMG Imaging Artists LLC

This is beyond any hope I’ve had.  My eyes get misty…
Photo Credit:  RMG Imaging Artists 

Mom’s Homework: Communication and Paperwork

School started last Wednesday, Aug 7.  I am not a huge fan of school.  I get a lot of homework.  People laugh when I say that, but I really don’t find humor in it.  I’m not going to classes, so why do I have homework?  Someone has to be my sons’ advocate!  I am not even going to mention the forms that have to be filled out annually.

To start, I make sure every teacher knows that my sons have autism.  Two years ago, I didn’t do this, and it took the case manager a month to get the IEP out to the teachers.  After a few weeks of school, I could see Ryan struggling in a class, and I wrote the teacher about his having autism and the accommodations in the IEP.  She had no clue that Ryan had autism, and she asked, “Won’t he ask questions like everyone else?”  My response was (sigh), “No.  He has autism.  He doesn’t like to talk, let alone ask questions.”

I learned my lesson, that I was right, to take the initiative and communicate with the teachers.  The one year I didn’t became a difficult year, well, more difficult than normal.

Back to this year.  Last Monday morning I was up and at the computer by 7:10am.  At 7:16am I sent my first email.  By 7:47am I had written 5 emails to teachers, explaining issues that Nick was already experiencing, mostly due to a schedule mishap.  Someone had left his third period blank.  Most classes by this time had been filled, so to find an appropriate class was next to impossible.  Once filled, Nick was told that he’d keep all his current teachers.  Relief.  A few seconds later, he was told that one teacher would be switched.

By that time Nick had already processed that the teachers would remain the same.  For him to process and switch back to the issue, which was just concluded, was missed.  That happened last week, so now I’m trying to see what we can do to get that one teacher back on Nick’s schedule.

No communication was given to any teachers involved, except what I had sent out.  Some teachers responded back quickly.  By 10am I had sent and responded to about 15 emails.  That’s not counting phone calls and voice mails.

The teachers were grateful for the communication.  They were very willing to work with Nick until the issue was resolved.  Thankfully, Nick decided to keep the classes he had.  He was finally able to tell me that it was the change itself.  Once he went through the new schedule a few days, he was fine.

I am thankful that the teachers were patient and understanding, but it took my time and effort to communicate with the teachers about Nick.  That is my homework!

Tennis Today: Oh–Schedule Change

Today was suppose to be another tennis match for Ryan and Nick–at their home school.  I dropped off the boys (because I have another boy to get to baseball practice).  As I was leaving, the coach waved for me to stop.  I drove closer to him, and rolled down the window.

“There’s been a change,” states Coach W.  “Today is an ‘away’ game. Yeah, the schedule says ‘home’, but…”

Change.  Sudden change.  Oh what fun for boys with autism.

I thanked the coach for letting me know.  I told him that I’d let the boys know.  So I pulled into a parking space and ran to the boys.

Although the rest of the team members were picking up the tennis balls, racquets, and gear, no one had told Ryan and Nick what was happening.  I told the boys briefly that the location of the game had changed.  I made sure one of them had his cell phone.

Ryan seemed to adapt quite easily.  Nick had a look of apprehension on his face. I told Nick not to worry.  I encouraged them to have fun and do their best.  I also said to stay together and call when they were back at their school.  They were the last to get on the bus, but they seemed at ease.

Another round of plans end in a “surprise”.  I am bummed that I’ll miss this match.  I’ll find out how it all turns out when they get back. 🙂

How To Change Chaos Into An Adventure

On January 5, I wrote that our water heater broke. Three areas in our house were damaged: the garage, kitchen, and bath room. We had to change our daily routine. We changed how we cooked and where we ate. We relocated many items from our pantry. In short, we had organized chaos, which autistic children do not like. As stated in a previous post, autistic children prefer a predictable routine.


I had to think creatively to ease the transition for Ryan, Nick, and Cameron. For meal times, I suggested we “picnic” on the living room floor. They thought that was really “cool”. They spread out towels on the carpet. Plastic forks and paper plates were the rage.

Since we had minimal cooking facilities, we ate via candlelight to complete the “rugged” atmosphere. Fire and flame were also “cool”. They each had a turn lighting the candles while I cringed with a water bucket in hand. All went well.

To find items that had to be moved from the pantry, we simply hunted. We never “looked” for an item; we hunted. Again, that really appealed to the primitive conditions of our house. Hunting was “cool”.

I had to think outside the box quickly to keep this whole disaster in check. If I could stay calm, the boys had a better chance of staying calm. This was critical. I simply switched from the pessimistic point of view to the optimistic point of view. I was very careful with my words and my tone.

So what started as a nightmare turned into a wonderful adventure.