Social Activities

I'm really proud of Mr T this week for making a decision by himself and choosing whether to take part in an activity. It is difficult for autistic people to contemplate whether to choose an activity as they involve a lot of social interaction which can be exhausting. I know for myself I find some events a big challenge but then end up feeling happy that I gave it a go.

I work myself up to some events thinking it's going to be worse than it really is even to the point of high anxiety but then it never seems as bad and I end up wondering what I worried about so much. It's the fear of the unknown, sounds like a tense scary movie eh? No really in some cases I have to visualise the whole event from planning the route to get there (in detail), making sure there is somewhere to park if needed, I will result to the bus or a taxi if it's all a bit too much and then I like to know the layout of a venue too so that I know exactly what's what. OMG if it's somewhere I haven't been before then that's a major issue. I have been known to give a place a trial run before the real thing.

Oh bless Mr T and his venture into an activity if that's what his mum goes through. He hasn't really been big on going to any after school clubs or activities and although I have encouraged, I've never made him go anywhere because as you can see I know how hard it is. Mr T announced he was going to go and try a choir session held at college on a lunchtime so I thought this would be great for him. He had sourced it out or been asked and decided yes, he was going to give it a go. 

I went to pick him up after the session and asked him how it went and he didn't think it suited him, he said 'just pick me up at the normal time next week'. I quizzed a little to see what the problem was, not too much as he doesn't always want to talk about things but I did get to the problem. The choir was for the whole school to take part rather than a small choir from the part of the school where he was studying for Post 16's. This meant he would have to interact in a mainstream environment which I don't think he felt completely comfortable with and found it a little overwhelming. 

That's ok though, the fact is he made a decision he was going to try it and found out for himself whether it suited him or not. Maybe there will be a chance to join something else in the future but it's a start. I suppose this post continues from last week with the decisions that we make but again we have to try. Fair play to Mr T, for now we will carry on singing our heart out in the car to The Beatles and for him a choir is on hold but hey our choir of two is fabulous for now and very funny. 

It's only funny because I get the lyrics wrong sometimes......yikes I bet John Lennon is tutting at me from above and if Mr McCartney is reading this (yeah right) then I do apologise but just so you know, I did bring my son up with a great taste in music and he gets all the lyrics right!! 

Thank you so much for reading today, please come back for more tomorrow when it's time for Pass the Remote but for now.....

​Take care.