Read more about the article Have I mentioned how much I literally hate homework? Can anyone relate to this story?
Autism Parenting Struggles / Emmett John / Homework / My thoughts / School Related Issues

Have I mentioned how much I literally hate homework? Can anyone relate to this story?

Emmett missed most of last week because he wasn't feeling well. I had work sent home for him to work on so he wasn't so overwhelmed when he hopefully returns on Monday. Emmett is crazy smart and way ahead of everyone else in his class, so homework is something that should come relatively easy for him. Sometimes it is and other times it's a fricking nightmare. One of the things that Autism has contributed to this mess, is a very literal interpretation of everything. Emmett interprets things in a very literal, incredibly ridged way. There's almost no way to help him work through anything, when he's literally interpretating things. An example that we are struggling with this morning is this. The instructions for a math problem he's stuck on went…

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March 18, 2018
Read more about the article Welcome to my fricking nightmare, and it’s only 8 AM
Emmett's Art / Homework / My thoughts / School Related Issues

Welcome to my fricking nightmare, and it’s only 8 AM

The boys are going to their grandparents for a little while today. It's spend some time with Grandma day, and it should be fun form the boys. Y Unfortunately, Emmett is still finishing up some of his make up work, and it's due in the morning. He's freaking out over not being done and is completely overwhelmed by everything related to school anymore. Lizze and I are taking turns trying to help him, and it's not going well. It's not going well at all. Emmett is freaking the fuck out and throwing things around the living room. Have I mentioned lately, how much I hate school and homework? He's just not coping well, and I don't know how to help him anymore. I just sent his teachers a message, and…

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January 28, 2018
Read more about the article More homework frustration for my son with #Autism 
Elliott / Homework / My thoughts / School Related Issues

More homework frustration for my son with #Autism 

Both boys had a good day at school but Elliott's a bit frustrated over his homework for the week. Homework proves to be a struggle when he has four days in which to do it. I've written about this countless times.  Elliott is frustrated because it's a short school week and yet they're given the same amount of homework to do.  I can understand his frustration and I'm not quite sure of the logic that goes into the decision to do this. If homework is a problem on a full week, why not reduce the amount proportionally on a short week? That seems reasonable to me, because I know Elliott's far from the only one who struggles with homework in his class.  We'll help Elliott to get as much done…

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April 18, 2017
Read more about the article How literal interpretation leads to meltdowns 
Emmett John / Homework / My thoughts / School Related Issues

How literal interpretation leads to meltdowns 

I promised that I would write about why Emmett's school report led to so many meltdowns over the last week or so. The reason can be summed up in two words, literal interpretation.   The instructions provided simply said to write about three things you like to do in the snow. Seems pretty simple and straight forward, right? Wrong.. Emmett was so fucking stressed out over this because he takes the instructions quite literally, and is unwilling to deviate from them in any way for fear of breaking the rules or lying. When we sat down to work on this last week, we began by coming up with three things he liked to do in the snow. That proved to be so much more difficult than it sounds. The way…

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February 3, 2017
Read more about the article A major update about Elliott and homework 
Elliott / Homework / My thoughts / School Related Issues

A major update about Elliott and homework 

First of all, I hate the idea of homework in general.  There's so much research out that that proves homework doesn't improve test scores at all.  I'm even less supportive of giving homework to kids with special needs.  There's several sides to this coin but the biggest things are pretty solid arguments in my book.   Frankly, I can see this from both sides and here's why.   I want my kids to reach whatever their potential is. I want them to be prepared for the real world, so they can function within to the best of their abilities. This requires that my kids be held to a reasonable standard.  Homework is something that they won't be able to escape in high school or college and practicing now is a…

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September 2, 2016