” House of Cards”  – 1993 movie with Kathleen Turner/Tommy Lee Jones on a little girl who “develops” autistic-like tendencies after her father dies…and the mom butts heads with authority figures as she tries to figure out what is going on inside her daughter's brain. Pretty interesting. Some days I do think it's almost cruel to try and force a child with autism to be in “our” world”. I dunno. Depends on the kid.I typically try to join their world instead of forcing them to join mine. They wanna spin in circles holding coins? I'll do it too.

They need an occupational therapist!!!!!!

I've seen this movie many times before…but haven't watched it in a long while…they did a great job of mimicking autistic tendencies and sharing some of the frustration the workers have in dealing with such children……in fact it oddly enough made me a little emotional this time…I guess because I more closely associate with the frustrations the parents/workers face in trying to reach out to this child…right now the child is throwing her blocks in anger, at a 2-way mirror. Been there done that yo! The blocks part, not the mirrors. LOL.

Speaking of autistic tendencies, is it weird my cat is sitting in a corner staring at the wall? His little tongue poking out like an oh so adorable gooseberry? I just received an IM confession……plus I hear my cat's youtube videos are famous at Methodist where one of my OT classmates is……lolol.

Okay I guess I did a Lester the Lion Kitty Hijack once again, but whatev…it was short. I can't help that I'm a proud mommy. Just be glad I don't have real kids. Moving on.

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Today kinda sucked..on top of everything else I wasn't feeling very well….

Morning: My OT's kid got sick last minute, poor kid, and so  I did a home visit with speech but we just didn't bill for the OT part  since she had to go deal with her poor daughter. The little girl we saw (blind) was just laughing laughing laughing, LOL. That was fun. She rakes her little objects and lauggggghhhs…unless it's a noodle ball. Then she throws herself backwards in distress. We have been working on encouraging exploration by scattering toys around her close by so that as she scoots on her bottom she encounters things…we had the noodle ball by her foot (which we know she doesn't like) and when she brushed against it, she got so mad she just went BAM and flung her head back. I have quick reflexes so I caught the fall with my hand (and it was carpeted anyway) but that was another issue we are working on – her lack of protective response – she trusts the world too much.

Then we saw two really low level kids (brothers) with autism where there was just 100% no connection – more so than even most – very disheartening. A few times I could get some basic basic basic interaction with the child obsessed with letters but it was a hard, hard session.  One of the two kids reached for something under the desk and I instinctively put my hand under the desk as well in case the kid came straight up (most of our kids lack basic safety awareness) and of course the kid came straight up – banged the CRAP out of my hand into the desk OW but at least he wasn't hurt.

Afternoon: Had four evals, 3 of which were chaotic. One little boy was so sweet (brought by a protective services worker which is a red flag of course) but was age appropriate – it was a bummer – because he would certainly benefit from some one-on-one sessions in the sense that ANY child, really, could benefit…but he didn't qualify. One of the little boys was like at a 50% delay, he just wanted to play with the ball and had no other skills…he kept on smashing into the wall and it didn't even faze him.

Then we all did paperwork. We left at 5:15 instead of 4:15pm. …was driving home and got pulled over with my second-ever speeding ticket…I was very polite cuz I was TOTALLY speeding…but honestly was going flow of traffic, was not like weaving unsafely or anything. Anyway…he was kind. Could have been worse. He gave me 10 over when it was really 20 over.

Then my Internet wasn't working for several hours. Blah.

Tomorrow I can sleep in. I start at 130pm tomorrow…

Wish I felt better…cuz I need to work on some little projects…oh well.

By the way…today I was buzzing around watering planets (hahaha plants I mean), emptying trash, taking toys out to the car, dealing with folders etc, (The fourth eval kid was shy and had her entire family with her, my OT Christy started with her so I realized I should just back off and get other stuff done as there was already a speech therapist, OT, mom, dad, sibling, evaluated child, and early intervention coordinator present) and the clinic director said “You don't get stressed easily do you”…I was like …well…I try to remember that it's a CHOICE to be stressed…..and so I try hard to not let myself get too stressed…but mostly the calmer and more efficient I look, the more stressed I am inside……I was a little overwhelmed by the chaos of the first few evaluations and I calm myself down/control my stress by being an ultra-efficient buzzy bee.

ANYWAY. Good night. Maybe I'll do the Low Vision notes tonight if nothing else.