Holiday article from the Indiana Resource Center for Autism, and a Max update

  As usual, Max is looking forward to Christmas this year.  Hopefully MyGuy and i can  prep ourselves mentally to put up our living room tree - tt means so much to Max, but the most initiative he'll take in getting it up is to wish us "Merry Christmas" out of the blue.

  However, he has two small trees up in his room.  One is a new, 4' prelit one, which he is enjoying.

  It seems in a sense especially important to keep this tradition in this year of universally lowered expectations.

The IRCA has prepared their usual article

of tips to help us help our children on the spectrum cope with the upcoming holidays.  https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/articles/making-the-most-of-the-holidays-for-your-family-and-your-son-daughter.html

  Here's a short quote listing some items to be sure to mention:

Where and How Christmas Dinner Will Occur

Who Will Be Present at Christmas this Year

How Family Will Meet Virtually This Year

Where the Family May or May Not Be Going This Year: In other words, what family traditions cannot happen.

If Others Come Over, Rules about Wearing Masks, and Other Safety Precautions.  


 

At the end of the article are links to specific tips,  including social stories about home and visiting, and a fill=in calendar.

This week's blogpost: Changes to Google photos

i use computers.  i don't like them.

  That's something i might put in a wordart frame.  But not until i figure out what to do about the Google photo situation.

   i won't be posting photos for awhile.  It seems that Google photos will no longer be a free service. Ok, the cutoff is over six months away, but that's not long to find and move pictures.

... it's not just photos and videos here. All those Gmail emails with attachments that you forgot to delete also count, as does anything else you do on Google. (Our friends at Google tell me that my Gmail alone counts for 40 GBs of online storage.

quoted from https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/11/11/google-charge-photos-options-icloud-dropbox-microsoft/6253280002/

  i have never consciously used Google photos, but they do have a tendency to mix their services up, so i've no idea how many will be affected.  Tons of undeleted emails.  And photos with texts.

  Wikipedia seems to have a good article on Google photos (ooh, and this raises the question, what's happening / has happened to my Picasa photos, another service that i didn't consciously use, but seems to have a lot of blog pics on it.).

  This one seems to have a lot of useful info:

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-manage-your-google-photos-or-move-them-somewhere-1845657549

  Any one with suggestions, ideas, i'd love to hear them.

What's going on here? Missing photos!

  Weird thing: Today i checked last week's post, "Recent Reading: AKA Words on Wednesday, a Day Late," and discovered the last two photos were gone! They'd been replaced by big ovals with a dash in the middle.  MyGuy and i looked at the photos, and decided maybe Google found this in violation of copyright. We don't see why though - and shouldn't there have been an email or such, to inform me of a problem?
  Anyway, i did change the second photo to hide the story (NOT all the story, one page out of about 20.) And i hope this is some Computer Farm anomaly, because i have lots of similar pics on this blog.*  i always try to put a not-distracting amount of background in, to hopefully avoid copyright issues, "fair use ".

*There are not "worlds enough and time" to check them all.  But i would appreciate hearing from anyone who's noticed such a thing here!

Staying at Home, and a new IRCA article

 We've started getting requests from Max's providers about online contact with him.  The first was today, and it went well.
  What a new world.  Isolation is one thing, and i thoroughly appreciate the online and other tech connections we can maintain nowadays.*
  A new IRCA (Indiana Resource Center for Autism) article arrived in my inbox.  There's advice about getting assessment and diagnosis for children with autism and mental disorders, followed by a LIST of providers in the state of Indiana & neighboring states whom you might approach for help. If you're in a small town, don't despair.  Most providers are in Indianapolis or Carmel, but several are in small towns and there are some throughout the state.

* You might find these interesting as you enjoy - or not - your self-quarantine.
https://msu.edu/~raezlers/pioneer.html     Not sure why this essay was written, the sort of assignment given, but the writer says about what i might say.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_madness
http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.ii.041

The Y2K "Joke"

Big scare, nothing happened, right?   

  Well, not exactly.  The expected problem, though exaggerated, was real.  But programmers worked hard to make sure WE, the average user, didn't experience it.

Life with Max, Summer 2019: workshop and a tool

  Recently we were able to get him a spot with a sheltered workshop.  Hopefully eventually he'll eventually learn how to have a job and move on to one that actually pays a living wage.  So far, i've turned in copies of his pay stubs for 3 pay periods, with a total income of less than $15. 
  But it has to be reported to SSI, so they can calculate whether he's making enough to refigure his funding.
  If the workshop works out as well as we hope, he can at some point move to assisted housing, with bus transportation.  Maybe in a few years. . . . .

Paying for the Yoga Class

  Yoga class is $5 per session. He seems to have figured out that he needs to put something in the instructor's little basket, but his concept of the value of money is still shaky.
  Last week, he paid her $10 on the first class of the week.  Before the next class, i checked his wallet and found $21.  Enough for lunch with his aide after class, since he didn't owe anything for the class.
  Later in the morning, i got a text from the aide telling me that he had no money and she had to stand his lunch.
  WHAT??? How did this happen?
  Talking with the yoga teacher, i learned that, having that day's class already paid for, he'd put in a $20
  sheesh.  At least he hadn't lost the money.

  "Punch" Card

  Using our written conversation method, i determined that he absolutely wanted the price of each day's class when he takes the class.
  Well, sure.  But that isn't always possible, and still wouldn't always be possible if i were more on my toes than i am.

  So i made something like this on a scrap of paper.  After class, i made an X on the first box, and again after the 2nd class.  Hopefully this will help him keep track of it, but i'm not sure it deals with the core problem: Money is one of those dollar bills, and they're all worth the same.

Navigating this Site: How i've set it up

  Occasionally i get questions about how to do this or that: email me, subscribe, whatever.
  Periodically i'll change some of the formatting.  Here is the setup as of tonight; i don't expect to remove anything, though i do occasionally move stuff.
  And this post is really LONG.  But i've put the most requested parts toward the top, easier for you to find.. 
  Really, everything you're looking for should be here.  If you're

Nearly Wordless Wednesday: Recent & Not so Recent Art Project

 

My work is below, and Mark's reference is in the window of my tote bag.

   A few years ago, i attended the SDP Conference in the Chicago area. The morning i took this class was - um, unique.

Wordless Wednesday: Gathering the Troops

Team Meeting, March 2019

  Last week we had Max's quarterly meeting.  Things seem to be going well with the services.  Our

Wordless Wednesday: Semaphore

W for William, part of my dad's WWII training. He was a
US Army Technician 5th Grade

Max's Medicaid Card

 There is ONE place in my purse in which Max's Medicaid card belongs. . . .

  Last fall, our healthcare providers adopted a new system. One of the things this meant of course was seeing our insurance cards again.
  But it wasn't there when i tried to hand it over.  i dumped my purse then, and several times subsequently, but no card.
  i looked

2018 Year End Recap of Max's Medicaid Services & Other Activities

Quick and not polished, since one of the purpose here is life with an adult with autism :

Professional Artist Lisa Clough on Improving Your Art

Five Values from Dark to Light

  Lisa has a huge website under the name Lachri Fine Art.  Her email today was so right on that i tried to find the ideas on her website.

  Things You May Find Surprising

• Tracing is a Learning Aid, not the end of all drawing.
• Don't leave it partially finished.  You probably can't do your piece in an hour, but 8 or 80 would give the look you want.
• Contrast, Contrast, Contrast!  Use a whole range of values.

You can find more, in her delicious words, here:
https://lachri.com/7-tips-for-improving-your-art/
and here:
https://lachri.com/5-steps-to-improving-your-art/

Wednesday's Word: Our Crazy Language

Really?  How's that?

FC: A Conversation

This is a written "conversation" Max and i had about his first Saved by Typing experience.  i can't promise my handwriting was legible, or that i framed the questions as well as i should've,but this is a copy of our exchange.

Here, i  wrote the italicized words after he had answered.

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday: FC experiment

MyfriendSharon invited us to an open house. One of the options was facilitated communication, which Max was very eager to try.  He told me that the words typed were his own.

A friend, her freshly-published book, and writing insights

When i attended a writers' group, Michele shared a lot of great stories with us.  i'm happy to let you know that she's just released a new one, a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story. She's having an online release party this coming Thursday evening (9/27/2018, if this is an old post when you get it!).
https://love2readlove2write.com/kill-the-beast-releases-today/
Note in her post how hard, and how LONG, it takes to get a story to this point.  i've never stuck with one so long - the "novels" i used to say i was writing are more like synopses, maps to building a story.
Check out Michele's description of the process, whether you visit the release party or not!

Summer Max Report

  It's been way too long since i last posted about life with Max.
It's very tiring and frustrating.  There's tutoring and yoga and music to take him to.  Since he's a morning person, these are much earlier than i would choose to meet the day. 
  His aides rely on loaning him their phones so he can relax with videos.  MyGuy and i need to navigate the getting him a phone thing.  We prefer to do contracts, but apparently in this situation the pay as you go will work better.  The behavior management person mentioned a $20 tablet that should provide all he seems to want a phone for.  i'll have to check into it.
  i need to get another call in to VR and start that process again.  Maybe it will take this time.  Max is beginning to be ever so slightly open to the idea of moving to a group home, with me as transport person.
  Because of our book club, he's more interested in reading.  Our evening homework is pretty much entirely reading big books.  MyGuy is introducing him to all the space books he loved as a kid - some of which are older than we are.  They both enjoyed Tom Corbett stories.  On my homework nights, we usually catch up on the current club book - Wonder, by PJ Palacio, at the moment, but also have enjoyed some Christie short stories.

Come to My Church (Be Sure & Listen Close the 1st time. . . .)

  i've generally made it a policy to not mention by name the churches & schools i'm associated with.  Not that there's anything wrong with them, but, in the natural course of events, life does not flow smoothly when humans get together. And, to a certain extent, the heart of blogging is discussing problems.
  My idea in this reticence is