TDLC Blog

How did your parents teach you to tie your shoes? Bunny rabbit? Loop, swoop and curl? There are songs, poems, and rhymes dedicated to teaching this task. They are cute, but they may not be helpful for a child with autism. While it may seem like a simple task, tying your shoes is made up of lots of smaller tasks. This is true of many self-help skills and daily tasks children have to perform.

Creating and attaining goals for your child.

As usual, I digress. However, this blog is about having a game plan for you child. No, I am not talking about your IEP goals, or what the consultant or therapists wrote down for you. I am talking about analyzing what you want to change, how to go about changing it, and then measuring your progress. I think the reason people get too scared to set goals for their family and children is that they feel like a failure if that goal is not achieved.

I hate Houston drivers. They are some of the worst drivers I have ever encountered (and I have seen some really bad driving while living in and traveling across the U.S., Europe, and North Africa). A typical Houston commute is stressful enough. A child in the back seat throwing a tantrum makes it so much worse. In addition to being stressed from traffic and other drivers, now your attention is divided and that distraction poses a safety hazard.

This has been a long year for me, and I finally got the chance to get away to Las Vegas for a mini-vacation with a couple of colleagues. We have been planning it for months, and last Friday night was supposed to be the special night where we do all the fancy things. We were going to eat at a fancy restaurant, go to a hip nightclub, and all the works.