Today is a big day for Wolf. As part of the social skills component, he and his cool therapist, B. are heading out for an afternoon at the local book store.
For those of you who know my son, you will know that a trip to Mecca would pale in comparison to the option of spending an hour in Barnes and Noble. Even more so for a kid whose last visit there was actually here, a year ago.
While Wolf has been making great strides in his overall behavior, the underlying issues still remain, although now they are taking center stage as opposed to second fiddle (hmm, such musical analogy today, it must be the music I am listening to).
A large part of the work CHYC does with their kids is in the area of social skill building.
Imagine loving reading so much that if you could, you would read all hours of the day or night, and holding the books you own so close to you that the thought of giving them away makes you sick. Now imagine having a few dollars and a trip to the book superstore on the horizon after a dry spell of having to borrow books from a tiny library that doesn't really have anything you like, but you go there anyway because at least it has books.
Imagine entering the book store and standing in awe at the view in front of you. Books, all for the taking (er, buying). Those five dollars would never be enough to purchase them all. So you ask to borrow some money. You are amazingly convincing, even charming. Oops.
Where previously, Wolf would be able to bribe, cajole, beg, or plead for a few bucks from family or friends, he is in for a rude awakening with B.
This careful execution of Reality in the Book Store is courtesy of Unit Director, who wants to make sure Wolf has at least a cursory understanding of how things will go when Yukon and I visit in a few weeks. This is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of Wolf's management of Asperger Syndrome, and the one that simply drives me nuts. I am thankful they are paving the way for me...
No comments:
Post a Comment