The Adventures of Little Elf

Well, we had quite the adventure at church this week. The church is undergoing construction / renovation until the middle of August and that means that the Elf's classroom is being moved temporarily. Guess what that means to the little Elf with autism? That's right... he ran away screaming because the change is overwhelming. Thankfully Mr. B was able to catch him and bring him to where my class was being held. One of the ladies I go to class with learned what was going on and stepped in. She was able to diffuse the situation and take him to get some toys and go into a classroom alone with him. Wow, was I grateful. He does so much better without lots of people around.

We had talked about good behaviour at church before we went in, and there were rewards promised... but that is never enough when you have autism. Sometimes I don't know what to do with him. The public school district we pulled him from had the answer of changing his teacher every few minutes and locking him in a closet when he tried to bolt. That helped a lot. (I know, you can't HEAR the sarcasm as I type!!)

When we started homeschooling I thought we could do a little social skills training by going to library homeschool hour on Fridays. What really happens is that the Elf comes over and sits right next to me. He is able (finally!) to express that there are "too many children" and that his "heart is going boomboomboom"... his way of saying that he's overwhelmed and is about to BOLT! If he's on my lap or touching me he is fine. That's how we did Disney World last summer. As long as Mom or Dad is right there he can handle about anything.

I just feel a bit discouraged because he's a smart little kid. He knows "better" but that doesn't stop it from happening. I just envision his college years, bringing MOM to class, or his first job interview with MOM holding his hand. Sometimes I wonder if he will be able to work at all. Yes, it really is that bad. Since he is about seven I have tried to let him look in the childrens' section of the library while I am at a table nearby. I can see the top of his head over the little shelf and that works for about five minutes. It doesn't help ME look in the adult sections of the library though LOL!

BUT if he is at home RIGHT NEXT to me, and you came to visit, you would never know he has autism. He flaps his arms about a lot and insists that he is a Keebler Elf, which is a little strange, but he can interact normally one-on-one with adults and is quite personable.

Most of the time I can fool myself that there is NOTHING different about Elf, but then things like this make me come back to reality.