Friday, May 14, 2010

"Sunny Weather, Rainy Weather..."

This is a song that Little Fish has been singing for weeks. I am assuming that it's a song used in school to identify weather conditions outside when they do their circle/calendar time.
The last line of the song, "...when the wind blows, we all get together" is my favourite part, mostly because I like the way that he says "tuhgezzer" but also because it implies that he is part of a community of friends. In his classroom there are 5 other students all with similar profiles. They are mostly non-verbal, very stimmy, and pretty anti-social. His teachers do their best to engage the kids and get them to interact with one another. If there is any connection or attachment, it is usually between a student and a particular teacher, not really fellow students.
The word "community" is often used in his school to refer to this specialized setting amidst all the other typical students.
It is a community, just not one where membership is voluntary. I struggle to understand if Little Fish is happy to be part of this community. He really would rather not be at school. Yet he wants to engage and connect. So as I sit at the computer, trying to hammer out this post with two fingers, I hear his annoyed sounds escalating and rising to a grating pitch. I have kept him from school again. Mostly because I just can't bear to hear how he took his clothes off in gym, or threw his thermos at lunch or tried to claw the teacher's face at music. I also know that none of the children in his class are his friends. He has no friends.
Instead, I imagine that we will spend a lovely day tugezzer with or without the wind, discovering and playing, smiling, laughing and embracing this strange perspective on the passing of the day through the lens of Autism....always the romantic idealist I am.
Instead, he whines and gripes at me as his way of trying to communicate while I try to connect with myself through my words because I feel like a such a failure trying to connect with him.
Sunny weather, rainy weather, day in, day out the same pattern repeats itself and although we are tuhgezzer, we both feel quite alone.

2 comments:

  1. Candace you are a great writer! I'm enjoying reading here and there, hearing how 'littlefish' is doing, and I'm praying for you and your fam
    : ) see you soon!

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  2. Gee, Thanks Alexandra.I have been trying to find your blog for some time to read it as well. I am glad you made a comment so now I know how to find you!

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