The Playstation

I had the news on while preparing supper, and a story came on about a fifteen year old arsonist.  I sat down and watched the news story, 'shooshing' Dayton when he'd bring his loud toys into the living room.  He sat down beside me and watched the story.  We saw pictures of firemen working hard to put out the fire or at least prevent it from spreading into the neighboring houses.

Clearly, seeing the house in flames made an impact on Dayton.  After the story, he turned to me and asked:  "Mamma, if our house was on fire, would you rescue my playstation?"
"Yes babe, I'd come back for your playstation after I knew you were safe.  But Dayton, I have a question for you...  If I went back into the house for the playstation, would you not worry about me?  What if you had to decide between my life and the playstation?  Which would you pick?"

I cringed.  Never, ever ask a child with autism a question you're not prepared to have answered bluntly.  Knowing the playstation is Dayton's most prized possession, I knew I may lose to the playstation.  I held my breath in anticipation...

"Hmmmmm...  Never mind mamma, I'd just call dad to come and get it out of the fire."  Whew!  I thought he'd pick the playstation over me!  Hopefully he still feels the love for me after this summer.  We're hitting the books and I'm hoping to improve his reading skills as well as his math.  Writing may be tougher, so I'm thinking of having him work on my laptop.  If I could just teach him to spell, whether by pen and paper or laptop, I'll be one happy mamma!!!  Having Dayton go to grade four next year, knowing that students in this grade are expected to learn from what they read, makes me sad for Dayton.  While I understand that this is why he has an IEP in place, it still makes it hard for me to watch him struggle and see how far behind he is of his peers...

Do I dare ask him this question in September again?

I hope everyone has a fantastic long weekend!  We're going camping this weekend, so you'll hear from me once I'm back home on Monday or Tuesday.

Happy Canada Day!!!


Consider yourselves hugged,

Lou