Stephanie

I was thinking about Stephanie this morning and how amazing she really is. Could you in your wildest thoughts think how difficult it is for her. How difficult it would be not to have a voice. To not be able to ask for even the basic needs let alone complex things like emotion. I would find it incredibly frustrating..and it does explain why some of these kids are angry, frustrated individuals as they get older. Stef is so amazing, she is such a happy kid regardless, rarely gets upset and tries so hard to communicate her needs.
The other thing I was looking at was her sensory issues. Autistic people have difficulty in concentrating because the brain quite simply concentrate on so many things at once. She cannot shut off all the peripheral sensory things, sound, touch, taste, and sight. Her mind concentrates on all noise..ie, the radio, television, the computer tapping, all the color, movement, lights, and the touch of clothes and floor coverings on her skin ....all at once. Her mind is just so busy. As toddlers we develop the ability to filter out the extraneous stuff. We become unaware of all the extra stuff....our minds filter it out so we no longer take any notice of these things She can't do that. To cope, and to shut off all the peripheral stuff, she stims...ie, flaps her hands, spins things, looks closely at hair.....whatever....she concentrates so hard on her stim, that everything else can be shut off. Jumping and swinging does the same thing. It totally absorbs her senses and can shut off all the extraneous stuff, even just for a little while. It was great to chat to another non-verbal person on the internet..a highly articulate woman, who is able to type proficiently, however she can't even say her name. It gave me great insight into why Stef does certain things and that although she doesnt speak, she still thinks in sentences. Its amazing.
Our next major aim for Stef is to use the computer a lot more, to get her to type, and then maybe, just maybe, she will be able to articulate her thoughts and make her wants and needs known. We live in hope.
I managed to sleep until 4.30am this morning. I am trying hard to readjust my sleep patterns back to reasonable hours..which because I have been working from 3.30am, have got into a crazy routine. I need to get back to sleeping until 5am so I am more rested for my work day.
Onward to housework for an hour and then off to work!