There is nothing more important to an autistic child, in my opinion, than a steady social partner. Someone near his own age to learn from and play with especially when school is out. Luckily, Curt sees his cousin Jayden once a week and can count on the visit. There's good and there's bad in the pairing but in the absence of a sibling, Jayden is his brother. 

Anyway, Jayden is 9 now and on the small side compared to others kids his age. He's also a better athlete and faster than most kids his age. A Dustin Pedroia type. We've gotten some good photos of him playing baseball and football this summer and I wanted to share them. Because the kid is cool.

**Curtis attended these games but watched roughly none of any them. Organized sports as a whole are a very low priority.

Curtis had his first swim lesson last night, thanks to the great people at Aquaholics and their Special Surfer Night.

"Hi Everyone! We're taking registrations for this summer's (YES! SUMMER is HERE!) Special Surfer Night. You don't have to fit any guidelines, we love kids with Autism, Aspergers, Downs (UPs) Dubowicz, Blind (YES!) Deaf, Wheelchair, well, you get the idea. If your surfer is special- we want to share the stoke!"

The little man took the challenge head on, declaring he loved surfing and scoffing at his wipeouts. His instructor declared him "very brave", a trait we are well aware of but that's always nice to hear. Curt repeatedly went back for more and seems eager to continue to learn surfing and we're more than happy to foster the activity. So again, a big thank you to the people at Aquaholics for putting on the Special Surfer Night and introducing a great activity to kids who otherwise may never have been exposed to surfing.

Greg, Dad

Joining a team sport is a huge step for a child with autism, let alone one just in the second grade. Curtis was never more than lukewarm on the idea, but knowing he had a couple of friends who would be playing basketball helped to make him feel better about joining the team. He was at least curious and that was a start.

As his parents, Laura and I weighed potential pros and cons and figured it was worth a shot. Nothing teaches like experience, and it had been some time since we had tried something like this. Anyway, pictured is the view Curtis had for most of his first basketball practice last Wednesday.

The practice started off great. Curtis fit right in during warmups, sinking a good percentage of his baskets, counting them, and playing among friends. However, the wheels came off rather quickly when warm-ups were done and the kids were to sit in a circle at half court to discuss the season, the rules, team name, etc. Curtis just wanted to shoot baskets. The way he plays basketball with his dad. When I put the ball he was using aside so his playing wouldn't distract the team, he followed me into the supply closet and watched much of the practice from there with me and his mom.

The first practice proved to be an enormous challenge and there were a number of factors working against its success. These included the fact that this was an out of the norm after school activity, bright gym lights, multiple bouncing balls, new rules, expectations of team work, the gym is hot, all leading to sensory overload for the little man. He was clearly overwhelmed by the situation, never really understanding why he couldn't just stand under the hoop and shoot the whole time. He just wanted to go home. His mom took him out in the hall for breaks but insisted we stay for the entire practice, even if it was just so Curtis could watch his friends play and get a sense of how these practices would go. He stayed the whole time, and for day one, that was good enough.

The plan at this point is to keep going every week and try to expand his participation slowly. He has another practice on Wednesday, and the goal will be to get him to participate in at least one drill or meeting and again stay for the whole practice. We plan to take it slow, and not make Curtis do anything he isn't comfortable doing, at the same time anticipating that his own curiosity and drive will bring him to want to participate more as the season develops. My initial thought was that he simply isn't ready for this but his mom reminded me that swimming started much the same way. It began with hesitancy, confusion, and some of the outright defiance we've come to know so well as parents of an autistic child. But now he is doing laps in a pool, and maybe soon he'll be passing a ball to a teammate.

The fact that he is willing to give the basketball team a shot is a success on its own. And hopefully as he continues to go to these practices, the overwhelming feeling he felt that first week will subside and he'll eventually walk away from one of these practices saying "that wasn't such a big deal". Regardless of what happens at his second practice tomorrow, he'll get hugs from his parents when its done and we'll make sure he knows we're proud of him.

Greg, Dad

I have been a baseball fan and player since about the age of eight. Even now at 33 I still play in a wooden bat baseball league for players 25 and older. Naturally, I had an expectation that any son of mine would play little league, school baseball, summer leagues, as well as plenty of baseball with his friends. Suffice it to say, sports is just one of any number of areas where Curtis is happy to take my expectations and flip them on their head. Curtis playing defense on a baseball field, which often involves standing in one small zone for a lengthy period of time, seems pretty unlikely to happen, though I've learned never to say impossible when it comes to Curtis.

The sport pictured in the background....mini golf? Curtis has his own take on that one. For Curtis,  his goal in miniature golf is to take his ball and get it in the cup as fast as possible. He has been doing this for about the last three years with no sign of let up. Curtis lines up the ball to start his first putt, hits it, and immediately sprints to the ball to hit it again before it even stops rolling. His turn goes by in a flurry and then he sprints to the next hole and waits for the remaining players to catch up. You are trying to line up your shot? He isn't too concerned about that. He has a hard time understanding why you choose to play the game slowly. Curtis has almost no reaction when he gets a hole in one. He just grabs his ball out of the cup and sprints on to the next hole.

Basketball, soccer, street hockey, swimming, running, these are sports more his speed and where he gets the most enjoyment. His interest in baseball is relegated to the fact that he knows his dad loves it, so we have our occasional practices of hitting, throwing, and catching when he is up for it. We've barely scratched the surface of the rules of the game and his favorite thing to do on a baseball field is run the bases, in reverse order. He maintains a level of interest but the sport is far from his favorite and I'm fine with that. For my part, expectations evolved and I'm happy to play sports with him that he is comfortable with and that he enjoys. He comes with me to the batting cage and I run around with him on the grass with a soccer ball (despite consistent soccer bashing by me in the past). Who knows, he might well play baseball someday but I'll hardly be holding my breathe. Instead, I'm happy to toss previous athletic expectations aside and just let him do his thing, guiding him on the sports he enjoys. It's also a hell of a lot easier than trying to teach him to be relatively still on a baseball field.

Greg, Dad

Curt's mom had him doing ABC yoga from about the age of 3 years old. There was a yoga pose for each letter of the alphabet and each mimicked an action of an animal. He would often do the yoga in the morning before pre-school if we could corral his attention long enough to get through the DVD though it's more occasional these days. Perhaps he and mom will pick it up more with all the time they get together over the summer.

My favorite thing to do with Curtis before the chaos of school is to take him to an open field and drop a soccer ball. It's been evident for years how great it feels to Curtis to just run. Plus, it doesn't hurt for him to get some of that crazy energy out of his system before the morning announcements. Running is as soothing to Curtis as drawing roads or reading a book. Other Curtis wind down activities include stapling squares of toilet paper together and creating short books out of them and he loves playing "math man" on the computer. A Pac-Man style game where you have to solve math problems before you can get the pellet and eat the ghosts.

Greg, Dad

"You can't dribble on mulch" was a declaration Curtis recently made while standing on a pile of mulch with his basketball. Maybe it's his phrasing but he often speaks in metaphors to me while simultaneously speaking literally. Dribbling on a pile of mulch is not unlike sitting Curtis or others with autism in a regular classroom and expecting them to follow the instruction of the teacher throughout a school day. It's just not going to work out. His brain is not built that way and he inevitably needs clarifications beyond the other students in the class. He is often lost on the first part of an instruction and gives up on hearing the rest, not that he would tell you this. Through one on one support in school and at home Curtis has been able to reduce anxiety and explore social situations. He is brave and strong and believes he can do anything you can. And he believes this because we tell him he can and he goes out and does it time and time again.

Greg, Dad

Plenty of 7 year old kids enjoy basketball but don't play quite the same way as Curtis. He lines himself in front of the hoop and shoots granny style with the goal of making as many shots as possible. He tallies the score in his head and and multiplies the number of makes by 2 or 5. A made hoop is followed by a sentence like "Score!, 18 in a row, score 36." A few minutes later, "Score!, 27 in a row, score 54". His goal is to make as many as possible in the time he has at that hoop and that goal is uncompromising. I usually don't even notice anymore until another kid shows up and says "Woah, that kid's smart, is he right?" He is right about the number of shots made and he'll also keep your tally if you ask him but the shots were not in a row. He claims all of his makes are consecutive.

Curtis gets very easily "obsessed" with an activity. He has had temporary obsessions with using sidewalk chalk, playing with his Thomas table and collecting coins. Collecting to be interpreted as trying to obtain any coin he can see and frisk acquaintances for their spare change. Basketball was also an obsession so it was restricted to dad and Curtis time, for which I'm grateful. It's a wind down time in the evening for both of us and a time when I'm most likely to get his ear.

Greg, Dad