Job Bank

“Alex, get dressed!”

Thank God he can do this himself now. “Pants, socks, shoes, a T shirt!” I call in the morning, and he vanishes into his room. A moment or two later he re-emerges in khakis, a T, with a mismatched pair of striped socks and his brown slip-ons in his hand. A moment after that, and another nit-picky task of parenting has been taken off my hands.

Parenting — and I think parenting of the typically developing as well as parenting of the autistic — was always to me a matter of being plunged into more work than I could ever envision, and step by step, day by day, being relieved of the jobs one by one. Toilet training was one (and boy did we get lucky on that one, largely due to Jill’s efforts).  Tooth brushing has been another example: Alex will brush his teeth by himself now, and to us has fallen the fine points of Waterpikking and flossing.

Alex’s gumption has expanded to include some hold jobs, too. He’s terrific at scurrying to put away folded laundry of his, such as socks, pants, and underwear. He’s pretty good at holding up his end of the bucket brigade that is putting away groceries in our house, helping Ned unload the bags and handing the items for Jill to storage (I take a supervisory role at these moments; someone has to). I did always think Alex would also love loading the dishwasher, since it’s kind of a jigsaw puzzle, but that hasn’t ignited in him yet.

Dressing has joined these tasks, but others remain, with people’s exhibit A being making his bed.

A tough and tight layout in their bedroom, I admit, and even I with that Jill terms “your gorilla arms” sometimes have trouble reaching behind there and tucking the sheets in, but surely Alex could help spread the thing up. Ned has sort of started doing this, when prodded (and prodded, and prodded). Maybe yet again Alex can be taught to follow Ned’s lead.

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Antidepressants offer no relief for repetitive behaviors in children with autism, at Medical News Today.