My middle sons are as different as night and day but they both have the same diagnoses. Aspergers syndrome, Sensory Processing disorder, Dyspraxia. A serious of words that describe what makes them act the way they do. But does little to explain who they are.
This year, the two middle boys are in Scouts. Matthew is returning to the program. He was a Tiger and Wolf cub. Andrew is starting out as a Wolf.
Both approached as they usually do. Matthew is quiet and reflective. He waits in the background to figure everything out. He is reluctant to just jump into conversations or activities. But by the end of the event, he had made friends with two of his den and could tell me their names. And he pointed out that these particular Webleos had the Wildlife Conservation patch that he has been coveting since his oldest brother was a Tiger Cub. (It's a patch with a panda on it. Matthew loves all things with pandas on it.) And as a bonus, the other Webelos viewed his quiet nature as a sign of maturity. Instead of seeming stand-offish, the thought he was cool. Plus he was wearing the new tan uniform with the vents and shoulder pockets....adding to his coolness level.
Andrew, on the other hand, never meets a stranger. He is constantly moving and can talk to anyone about anything. I'm his den leader, so he feels very comfortable. Plus about most of the den is just a wiggly and talkative as he is.
Really.
All of them are bouncing around, touching each other, and talking non-stop. So he just fits right in. Wow....a whole den full of Andrew's. I'm going to be totally grey haired by May.
3 comments:
ve one that is a sensory seeker/hyposensitive and one that is a sensory avoider/hyper sensitive. Both with Asperger's/ SID. but only the youngest (my sesnory avoider) has Dyspraxia. thing is the active, all over the place , 'sensory seeker' is my stand offish one. he does great when his brothers are there, but without his brothers he is very much in his own little world and stand offish.
That's good you can be the den leader.
A serious of words that describe what makes them act the way they do. But does little to explain who they are.
You summed up the frustrations of a whole lot of mothers in two short sentences, you know that?
I'm so glad they're finding their spots in their packs. You're my hero for leading a den - WOW. You do have a good stash of comfort foods and reading stored up for recovering, right? ;-)
A series of words that describe what makes them act the way they do. But does little to explain who they are.
These words spoke to me, too. I followed a link here from Kaber's blog, and this post caught my eye, because I have a lot of diagnoses (including Asperger's) in tribe, too.
You have a great blog!
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