Typing on my iPad

Here I am on my iPad.  I am still getting used to it.  It is still slow compared tomy letterboard, but it is getting better.  I talk about Shakespeare for homework in one clip, and I just chat in the next.

iPad Update

I will post films of me using my iPad soon. It is starting to feel natural to use it, but I hate when the camera is on. At first I get so nervous I make simple mistakes, but thankfully I relax eventually. I love the game Temple Run on the iPad. I am addicted to it. Ha ha. I remember I used to hate games but I love this. Well, this is a lot better than forced drills of playing Candyland. Man, was that insipid. I love improving my scores and getting better. The technology is so awesome today and it helps me in life.

Life After High School

Life after high school is the big unknown. The help an autistic child receives tapers off in the adult years. I appreciate the support I get. It enables me to live in the real world and do much of what my typical peers do. The moment I graduate high school I lose the funding the School District provides for my trained one on one aide. Colleges do not do provide disabled students with this kind of assistance. Also, because the college day is looser and less structured than high school, I won’t be going from class to class all day long like I do now. I want to make sure I continue to have the support I need three years from now when I begin college, even during the times I am not attending class.

I want to have a meaningful career and life. This means that I need to begin thinking, even now, about my future so that we can plan. What have other autistic or disabled people done after high school to achieve this? Do you have any ideas?

Career Planning in Autismland

It is time I started thinking about my future. I will turn 16 soon and it makes me start to imagine that in a little more than 3 years I will be a high school graduate. Then what? My funding for an aide will stop or be reduced to a minimum because the support ends when high school ends. I don’t want to return to a non-doing life. High school is the beginning of my future, but with a reduction in  help in college and career, I will have to find a way. We all in Autismland depend too much on our long toiling parents. My observation is that normal kids move on, for the most part, though many still slack off too long for some reason. I don’t want to be a slacker. I want the kind of life that is independent, though with autism that is really hard. I want a real career that earns me a living. I think it’s necessary to be able to provide for yourself to feel good, but earning a living is tricky because the disability of autism interferes with our behavior. My motivation may help me try harder, but I wonder what career I can find. I’ve been told I’d be an excellent consultant for educators, autism professionals, and parents, and have done so already. Still, I think the time to begin planning is sooner, not later.

Progress

I realized something interesting. Gradually my symptoms have been getting less intense. Not that I’m even remotely close to normal, but I’m a lot closer than I used to be. It happened so naturally I barely noticed, but it is true nonetheless. Very nice to recognize that it can happen. Often in the past I felt like nothing would improve and I would stay in the same situation forever. 

Now I can say that I have a greater attention span by miles than before. Doing homework, piano practice, and going to school helped loads. I like playing more too. I have fun on wii and the iPad games. I enjoy improving my skills. In the beginning I stank. I see that I follow instructions better. My body listens better to my brain. The exercising I do helped here. I also have noticed that I stim less. I still stim plenty, but less. Hand flapping is way down.

I don’t know if it is because I am more mature or because I have worked hard on getting better, or both, but this gives me real encouragement to keep pressing on.