When you don’t fit in a place..

Which was meant to accommodate you.

Have you ever felt this? We have been told by Dr. A (Anand’s behavior therapist) that we should make extra effort to socially accommodate him, encourage him to go out and spend time with other kids. Dad and I also have been feeling the same but how and where was always a questions. When your special need child is in middle school you can feel the difference in social circle. They are not invited to so many Birthday parties or sleep over. You call his OLD friends and they don’t come running to your house anymore. So we thought of joining some social circle made for special need kids.

Last night was one of the try. Special Olympics’ basketball season in Canton. Thursday is always a busy day in Pandey household so I was little hesitant but Dad wanted to give it a try. So I met them from work and Dad brought Andy to Canton.

We met the coach and many more volunteers. They were wonderful. Andy was complaining of headache since morning so it was not a good sign anyway. But sometimes you just have to do what you need to do. A Dunkin donut treat brought him to Canton at least. Within 10 minutes we figured Andy doesn’t belong there. The assistant coach tried but it was just not the place for him. I saw a lost kid who was trying hard but just couldn’t be there. Finally in 20 minutes he was mad and angry. "I just want to go home ". The sound of the whistle, screaming kids was enough to abruptly end the basketball season for us. On the way back he was mostly quiet, we talked about importance of sports but he just didn’t want to go back to that place again.

That is the weird thing with Autism. It is custom made for you. You child will be only one piece. To find a perfect place or solution is very hard. They just don’t fit not even in a place which is designed to accommodate them. Well, the search begin again...