Appreciation for all the Autistics out there who have executive functioning problems/issues with processing, remembering and organising information and as a result often feel like they frustrate others and themselves.
This is me, so much, and why I flunked high school despite testing as gifted. 😦
Thank you for this reminder. I’m stressing myself out tonight, can’t sleep, anxiety at maximum levels.
We started school this week.
Such a simple sentence. No big thing. Kids in many places did recently or will soon. But this doesn’t mark days of freedom, backpacks, books, and bullies. Because I homeschool three of my kids.
The two middle kids are profoundly gifted. They’re also neuroatypical. The youngest is also gifted, and different yet again. They just don’t “fit,” and there aren’t a lot of educational choices where I am. So I keep them home and work my tail off to keep up with their driving need to LEARN.
And it’s hard! Some days it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. A lot of days I hate it. I’ve given up most of my plans for my life beyond kids, because I’ve got more than a decade of this ahead of me (unless miracles happen, but being practical…).
I needed this reminder. That there’s nothing wrong with these gorgeous little people. That there’s nothing wrong with me. That they deserve to grow up never feeling off or outside or broken or wrong or damaged.
To everyone who grew up the way I did, to everyone who has struggled and fought and still not been “good enough,” you’re amazing. You’re strong, and you’re perfect, and you’re all the constant reminder of why, and your stories give me strength for one more day.
I think I would have thrived in a homeschool environment, mainly because my mother is a teacher who taught us kids to read using home-made phonics cards long before we went to kindergarten. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an option for us, especially in the era before Asperger’s studies were known about in the West. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult.
I have so much respect for people who homeschool their neurodiverse kids. I have known multiple internet friends over the years who have made the choice to do it. They are raising such amazing kids in an environment so precisely tailored to their kids’ strengths and learning styles, I can’t help but feel awed (and not a little jealous). I know it doesn’t suit all kids or all families, but those who I know who are doing it are doing it well and for the right reasons and their kids are thriving in a way that they possibly wouldn’t (or didn’t) in a conventional setting.
knitting in the dark 