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Hi everyone and thanks for visiting our blog. My wife and I created this blog to chronicle our experience while raising a son with Asperger's syndrome. Since our son was diagnosed with an ASD at age 5, we've had a lot of questions. Lucky for us we have a great support network in place. And our blog gives us an opportunity to share what we've learned with our readers. We hope you find our blog informative and interesting. Thanks again for visiting.


"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." Dr Hans Asperger 1906-1980



Thursday 28 June 2012

THE LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL FOR 2012

That's right.  It's the last week of school for the 2011/12 school year.  Then it's 2 months of rest, relaxation and entertaining an 8 year old boy that has Asperger's for 2 whole months.  Hooray.  Normally during the past few Summer vacations, we haven't felt as much pressure to keep Jacob's mind and body busy, as we do this upcoming Summer vacation. 

I think the majority of the holiday will be spent around the neighbourhood, visiting my mother and brother, as well as swimming at the local rec centre.  We'll also be visiting the nearby park, which has a great water feature as do a couple of other parks in our neighbourhood.  Enjoying the water will be vital this Summer, when we consider how hot it's been already and the Summer season is only a few days old.

The of course, we're getting Jacob an Ipad for passing.  He uses the learning resource teacher's Ipad at school and he loves it.  And we've been told that he enjoys doing science and math work on it, which is great.  So we feel like Jacob will benefit greatly from having it.  I saw a commercial the other night that explained how a child Jacobs age could lose almost everything they learned in school that year, if you don't keep their mind active.  This is kind of scary if it's true.  So we hope that the Ipad will help keep Jacob's mind sharp during the long break.

And did I mention how bad Jacob needs a break?  This morning, as Jacob was getting dressed, he turned to me and said "Dad, I really hate school."  I explained that it isn't nice to say that, but honestly, I'm getting tired of it too.  And there's a total of 11 staff members that are leaving at the end of this year, including Jacob's previous 2 teachers.  So who knows how he'll react to not seeing the familiar faces he's used to seeing when next year rolls around.

Also  this week at school is full of activities for the kids to take part in, including assemblies, play days and a water park visit.  For most kids this is the best week of the year.  But for Jacob it's actually one of the worst.  There's just no structure as all students prep for the freedom that the summer brings, which as those people familiar with ASDs know, can be a recipe for disaster.  So we've decided to keep Jacob home during the play days at school.  And we'll spend them playing together without all the stress.  I just hope that all of us will be able to keep our sanity during July and August.  And I already can't wait for September.


Here's Jacob at the park last Summer.


4 comments:

  1. That looks like a great splash pad. It sounds like you have a great vacation planned. I miss school already;D haha

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    1. Our neighbourhood is nice because there are a couple nice splash pads to use, as long as they're not too busy. But Jacob and I still prefer to use the pool at the rec centre. Neither one of us like the sun. And I've heard that pale is the new tan.

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  2. It was always such a relief to me and my son when school was out during the summer. School was the biggest stress in our life. Even summer school wasn't as bad. My son actually liked summer school. He always went to summer day camps from age 5 to about 12 and then he had summer school three summers- After 6th grade, 9th grade and 10th grade, then he worked at his dad's computer company after 11th and prepared for college after 12th so he had very little down time. This is the first summer he's been a complete bum and thats because he hasn't been able to find a job. It's all better than the k thru 12 school years! Ugh!

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    1. Everyone needs a Summer off and I'm sure he'll find a good job soon.

      We've thought about putting Jacob in a camp, but the only one that's easily accesible and geared towards kids like Jacob around here is at his actual school.

      The way he feels at school might not make Summer camp that much of a good time for him or the other campers. My luck, Jacob would come home with homework every day. That's why we just try to keep him busy at/around home.

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