Than Goodness for Rubber Chickens

Including Jack can be difficult. Jack is sometime uncooperative. Anyone with children can relate to that, but if you have a child with special needs, you realize that I am painting a nice picture by using the word uncooperative. When he was little I used to be able to pick him up and carry him on my hip if he pitched a fit and refused to budge. Back then all I had to deal with was the disapproving looks of strangers, thinking that I had a spoiled kid on my hands, and not the autistic child that he was, sensitive to lights and sounds that would set him off and make him cry. At 14, lifting Jack is like trying to dislodge a bolder from the ground. There's no moving him if he's made up his mind he's gonna sit.

When he was eight, our family went to my daughters dance recital. My husband dropped my daughter, Jack the baby and me, off near the building where we were headed because the parking lot was full and the only spots required a long walk. Jack decided that he didn't want to go into the building and so he sat right down in the middle of the parking lot. As all eyes turned towards us, Jack began his usual commotion. My 5 year old daughter, all dressed up in her cute little tutu, looked up at me and doled out the obvious observation, "Maybe we shouldn't have brought him ". She was right, and I wished I had gotten a sitter, but alas, I was relegated to listening to advice from my 5 year old that I wish I had figured out earlier.

Jack still has cooperation issues today, but we've all gotten smarter. Sometimes, Jack just doesn't get to go certain places if I know ahead of time that it will be difficult for him to cope in certain surroundings. We've also learned what motivates Jack to behave.

Jack rides the bus to school everyday, and the bus driver, God bless him, related a funny story to me. The other day the teacher came out the get the kids off of the bus at school, and Jack wouldn't budge. So she picked up her walkie talkie and called for backup. The bus driver had a laugh, because she called the other teacher to bring out the "Emergency Rubber Chicken". Apparently Jack got the rubber chicken and happily exited the bus to begin his day of school.