Literal Life

VERY PERSONAL STORY-AUTISM RELATED-if you can't handle Autism and the life that comes with it, quit reading.

Everything in Anna's life is literal.  She doesn't see two sides of anything unless you show it to her.  From her reading to things people say, she only sees things one way...her way.  Recently I've toyed with the idea of putting her back in school, but I just can't seem to make that decision.  We took Anna for a Doctor appointment with her developmental specialist this past week and she again reminded me that homeschooling is the best choice for Anna.  She said, "That's the best thing you can do for her."  It made me feel a bit better, but I still have toyed with the idea the rest of this week.  I've bought her curriculum for next year, not knowing if I was going to use it or not.  I wanted to be prepared and keep it as cheap as possible.  Well, last night I had an epiphany.  No matter how hard school is, or how hard our life gets, she needs to be homeschooled.  With her literal view of everything, and the older she gets, she will become a target for people to use her.  She will be an easy one for people to say, go do this for me.  Since she doesn't see that some people don't have her best interest at heart, it could lead to trouble, because she will do whatever they ask and then think about it a lot later.  We already see some of this with her "friends" she is hanging out with, but we can more closely monitor that.  She needs some processing time.  Sometimes it takes her weeks to process things.  I will find out things a week or sometimes several weeks later, because it took her that long to fully process what is said.  She has these same issues in school which sometimes challenges our days to the max.  We sometimes have to move on for that day and continue the next day.  She gets very frustrated with us when she doesn't understand things, but we also sometimes forget that she needs this processing time and get frustrated with her.  We are all only human.  We try hard to be compassionate and there are some days that it just doesn't work out.  Things do eventually work themselves out, but not always in our time. 

So, anyhow, back to that homeschooling bit.  I will continue to do it as long as I feel it is necessary for my daughter.  She will feel successful.  She will not be put down.  We will not have people taking advantage of her and using her for their benefit.  She is our daughter and we will do whatever we think we need to, even if it is a big challenge and very hard sometimes.  We will continue to remind her that movies are not reality and we will continue to try to get her to see two sides to things that she needs to see two sides.  We have made great strides already and I have no doubt that we will continue to make great strides, even if we are slow to achieve them.  This is all a prat of our life.  We will do the best that we can with it and with the daughter we have been completely blessed with.