This week was a week of highs and lows on the socialisation front for M. On the one hand our first trip to the Monday social club was declared a roaring success. The children present were such a lovely range of ages and abilities, and the staff so welcoming that M immediately absorbed the non-judgmental atmosphere and soaked up the feeling of acceptance with gusto. I also appreciated being able to take 5 minutes to take a phone call about a recently hospitalised relative who is causing great concern. It was also nice to hear the Mums present swap stories about behavioral issues. No issues with M having me around in the background "just in case", at this event! The consensus from both of us was that this needs to become part of our regular schedule.
The success of Monday meant that the contrast with Friday's expedition was made all the more stark. M has been before, knows the children and some of the parents from last year's Rhos group. In addition we traveled there with his friend and her Mum. It was a disaster. At first I thought his extreme reaction, (a melt down followed by half an hour sobbing his heart out in the toilets) was due to his sensory issues, which really seem to be playing up at the moment. However once he'd finally calmed down enough to spend forty five minutes outside away from everyone on the scooter and collect his thoughts; he was finally able to share the source of his distress. It turns out that the perfectly calm and pleasant activity the children were doing had reminded him of school! The sight of the pencils, children sitting as a group round a table drawing, writing and creating graphs was just too much for him. It has confirmed that he still needs a considerable amount of time to recover from his traumatising school experiences before we even broach attempting that kind of activity again.
Sunday was another high as we ventured out to try the Treboath Gospel Hall Sunday School. Anxious though he was, both children and group leaders were so warm and welcoming that M couldn't avoid being charmed by them. He has agreed to try the Friday evening youth club at the same venue. I am hoping that both activities can become a regular part of his weekly schedule. As it is on our doorstep it's a really nice opportunity for M to meet those local children we haven't yet encountered on our dog walks.
I did reach out via the Welsh facebook board to see if any other Home Edders within walking distance might fancy meeting up to walk the dogs together in daylight hours now the nights are drawing in for winter. However I was informed that the SHED group, run by a committee based in Port Talbot objected rather strongly to this idea. I'm not a member of the said SHED group, (our one and only introductory excursion to meet them was rather marred by the organisers unpleasantness towards myself). I cannot verify what has been said and do rather hate listening to second hand information. Upon reflection it all seemed rather too politically charged for a simple dog walk and so I decided to withdraw the offer and stick with the lovely local pensioners instead. The local area is so beautiful that there are no shortage of nice companions to grab a flask and accompany us as we walk the dogs and socialise the new pup.
On the reading front M is currently presenting a bit of a conundrum. If he spontaneously searches for information it appears that his reading skills have improved dramatically. However if he consciously tries to read, all fluency is lost. It's as if we have to wait for him to consciously catch up to the idea that reading is not only possible but actually not that hard once you forget to fret about it. I'm doing all I can to create gentle prompts in the day that encourage him to read without thinking about it at the moment. The newspaper left lying prominently in the living room where he can find it seems to be the most useful tool for this at the moment.
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