Birthdays

04/06/2012 21:47:00

Birthday parties are not always the easiest thing for kids. You always want your child to be included but let's face it, not all kids know that those left out may get hurt. That is up to the parent. It is up to us as parents to teach our kids about feelings and what happens when people get left out.
The other difficulty is when our kids with special needs do not get invited to a party just
One of my biggest challenges is when Corey gets invited to a party but has no idea how to stay on task at the party or when the party is for the same age kids and he can not keep with the others. Sure I am happy that he is invited but at the same time, I end up needing to go just to ensure that he has someone to keep an eye on him which he wanders around. Don't get me wrong, I am nit at all upset that I need to go with him to the party, I feel bad that he is not joining in with the other kids.

At age 4, when your kids begin preschool, the birthday parties usually begin. You get invited, so you invite. Sometimes you stay, and sometimes you don't. It is always up to the person holding the party and where the party is at. As a parent, I have always found it a bit easier to choose places who offer more supervision so parents do not feel like they need to stay. The other factor is not over inviting. Being a parent of triplets this usually means larger groups as this means each of your children has friends to invite. Well, That should be the case, right? Not.......in our family, The boys have some friends who they are both friends separately and they both have a couple of friends who are from school. Their different schools. This year they still go to different school. It's been good for the boys to learn their own identity and make some friends separately. The boys do so much together. They eat together, they play hockey together, they watch tv together, so we figured it may be a good idea for them to go to different school for a while. Next year they will go together. Now that the public school doesn't seem to have what Corey needs, I am not sure it makes sense to keep Jordan in the public school system. The same school that has said that don't have what it takes to teach Corey. I can not understand how a public school, one that is supposed to take all children in the vicinity can say that they don't have what it takes.
Back to the birthdays, so for Ryan and Jordan it is quite easy to have their friends attend. Not always the same for Corey. The typical reason that inviting friends for Corey is difficult is because many kids dont want to attend, or I don't know that Corey likes them since he doesn't usually talk about people and his likes and dislikes especially when it comes to people. I will never forget the boys 8th birthday. I decided to have 2 separate parties. A hockey party for Ryan and Jordan and a separate party for Corey. I had his at a trampoline party place. It's great for all kids, but Corey has always loved to jump on trampolines. Only one of the kids we invited from his "integrated" classroom attended along with a couple of his friends with autism and other learning exceptionalities. I will never forget the discussion I had with one of the dad's at the party. He said to me, "do people think that Corey is contagious. I looked at him and said "pardon". He said, why do coreys friends not come to his party. Do people think that he is contagious? I never thought about it like that but it was so true. So many times we invite children but they don't shoe up. The parents do not even call. I stopped making the time to call because I was tired of hearing the parent say "oh, he can't make it" or "oh is he the child in my sons class with special needs.". Really.... How many times do I need to explain that underneath the diagnosis, my son is a "real boy" with "real feelings". It certainly comes down to the this.. Parents are the reason why our kids are the way they are. If the parent does not like the child they won't send them to the party. Ridiculous as it seems, more and more people do this. I have always told my children, that if they like someone that's what is important. It is not okay to not like someone because they are different.......

Coreys Love Of Singing

03/14/2012 09:19:00

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Corey Offman Performance

Corey is my 10 year old who struggles with the daily challenges of Autism. Though conversations and making friends is difficult for him, Corey has found a love for music. He composed a song and sin...

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Birthdays

Coreys Love Of Singing

My son is not doing well in school

What is the Public School Sytem Thinking?

New IPhone App for children with autism