Friends Make So Much Difference

 

Having friends is definitely really joyful.  I enjoy seeing friends.  I never thought I would have so many.  Starting in real spelling has made me able to live with no regrets.  

I try to imagine someone starting spelling and imagine real communication for the first speller.  To speak my thoughts is my main goal every day.  I must try so hard to imagine spelling real words if I am able to move my hand to letters.  It makes me tired but exhilarated to communicate.  

Just saying hi to a friend is caring for them.  I am looking forward to fun times next year with friends.  I like to paint, and I paint in a lot of colors that remind me of my beautiful friends.  I am happy to live in a time when I unwind stereotypes about autistics.

• Trevor

      

Pantoum: "Google Maps" by Aiden Levy

 

The quiet storefronts almost upset me

Buried relics of the past

Dinosaurs among Amazon’s kingdom

We verify their existence on Google Maps

Buried relics of the past

Now memorialized forever —

they still exist in Google Maps —

moments frozen in the past

Now memorialized forever,

life always advances around

moments frozen in the past,

and the quiet storefronts almost upset me

Sparks by Miller Laffoon

 

Austin holds a tiny woman.

Not everything in Texas is oversized.

Big things come from small people.

Sparks start fires.

Houses are forever changed.

Austin holds a tiny woman.

Tito sparked the fire.

Soma poured everything into him.

Big things come from small people.

Letters to words, words to thoughts,

silence to freedom.

Austin holds a tiny woman.

One single person,

in the state of Texas.

Big things come from small people.

Way beyond the board.

Homes blazing with the fire of voices.

Austin holds a tiny woman,

who made big things happen for countless people. 

Sparks create explosions. 

Ruhi Khanna

Fun Words Wrong Letters (a pantoum by Pablo Hernandez)

 

Get it. Can't seem to get it. Again I’m feeling

Each try is falling down. I may slip and not get there.

Waking to freedom eagerly, but revealing

my addiction to fun-sun-run words. Aware

each try is falling down. I may slip and not get there.

My hands try to get each letter, breaking

my addiction to car-star-far words. Aware

that my long-buried hope may be waking.

My hands try to get each letter, breaking 

the failed steps to find the letters. Find

that my long-buried hope may be awakening

Force my hand to say the word that is in my mind.

The failed steps to find the letters find

hope inside that makes me always try hard.

Force my hand to say the word that is in my mind.

Get it.  I will get it. Feeling not so confined.

Cardamom by Sophia Kapoor

 

 

Cardamom is sugar and spice 

It is just like my life 

Aromatic and calm 

Sometimes too strong 

It can flavor or remain dormant 

It is like a journey 

To the moors and Andalusia 

That surprises and delights 

The senses and soul 

Not The Kind Of Flight You Want To Happen

 

by Jack Haynes

Do you have a nonspeaker that elopes? Let's discuss why it can happen and how to help. 

Elopement is a scary thing for everyone but most of all for us, the nonspeakers. We aren’t in control when it happens, our bodies just take off. There could be any number of triggers and that varies from person to person. It often happens for me when my sensory system is overstimulated. My body just needs to get out of there, even if my mind wants to stay. When it's too loud my body goes into flight mode. For some of my friends it is a loop that they are stuck in in certain environments. Maybe flight mode was triggered once there and now their anxiety is high in that environment and that puts them into flight mode again. It's terribly cyclical. Anxiety is common among nonspeakers. Sometimes we perseverate on wanting to do something and when we finally get our bodies moving, we can’t stop it. When you don’t have a ton of control over your body because of apraxia it is easy to get stuck in fight or flight. 

How can you help? Use a tracking system. Be prepared to help us regulate in overwhelming environments. You can use child locks on doors that lead outside. Practice purposeful motor skills with us all the time so we can gain more control over our bodies. Calmly coach or prompt us to stop our feet or turn ourselves around. We don't want to run or be lost because we can’t communicate with strangers. The more panicked we feel the worse it can get. Stay calm and clear headed for the best outcome.

READ HEAT (pronounced "Red") by Aulton Grubbs

 

 

When I go new places in books, it

builds a delicate fire, coursing through words

Kindling flickers fanned by language 

Feeling so much power in listening  

It is delightful, funny, and terrifying to read

Find your dazzling flames in books

 

Frodo mingles with the “Little Women” of Alcott books

Grapes of Wrath and Atticus chat a bit

The opioid kings should Jane Goodall read

“The Code Talkers” win with words

Lincoln, Kennedy, and Obama seem to listen

To the power of syntax and language

The wars are filled with bloody language

I can see them on my mind’s screen through books

Good sings in the end if you listen

I find power in the literature and the light is lit

My mind fiercely ignites in words

The fire, the power, the necessary. Read.

Young and old should read

The beautiful, glorious, assaulting language

You can learn, revel, and devote in words

Environmental challenges, classics, family books

Colors, animals, the universe and really all of it

Pour out your heart and listen. 

Death to books, they say. Don’t listen.

Censorship means death and...a must-read

Jealousy and vengeance can’t extinguish it 

When looking at language,

Compassion is found in new ideas in books

Remember the selflessness and kindness in words

Victory only if you trust words

Too dim were the days with picture books, I listened

The opinions were in real books

New ideas emerged when I really read

I have read coarse language 

And lovely words that together seem to fit

 

Listen to the calm and fury in books  

I can’t explain what words and language 

Can do, but you can read about it.

Exercise by Kate Gogal

 

Exercise has impacted my life in ways I could not have imagined. Sure, exercise helped me shed a lot of weight, and don't get me wrong, losing weight was a good thing. I gained a lot of weight when I was in elementary school, because I ate poorly and was not as active as I should have been. The consumption of delicious freshly baked chocolate chip cookies the lunch lady snuck my way almost daily throughout my years in elementary school didn't help my weight issue. 

Walking is how it all began. I started walking four miles everyday, and I still walk that much today, all these years later. Eating healthier meals and consuming less treats followed. I began homeschooling around this time too, which helped eliminate my daily cookie intake. The weight began to melt away, slooooowly. I began looking and feeling better. Finding clothes that fit properly became a lot easier and this made shopping for clothes more fun. 

When I entered middle school, I added to my exercise regimen. I continued walking but also started doing exercises to strengthen my muscles. I learned how to do sit ups, planks, burpees, and hand weights. With time, my body got stronger and my movements got more precise. Like many of us with apraxia, controlling my movements on demand was a huge struggle and it continues to be challenging when I am learning a new exercise. The key to learning these movements is to have the motor plan broken down into multiple steps. This process has made it more manageable for me to learn new movements. Using gestures and tactile cues when I get stuck with the movements has also been extremely helpful. Over time I have noticed that I am able to learn new exercises much faster than when I first started exercising. I am proud to share that I went from barely being able to motor plan a sit up to participating in a weekly live zoom exercise class with my peers. The exercise class I participate in is 30 minutes and quickly transitions from one exercise to the next. Years ago, this pace would have been too fast for me and would have caused great frustration. Today I am keeping up with the pace.

The strategies that are used in my exercise program can be transferred into all daily living skills because everything we do in our day requires motor planning. Exercise has given me better control over all of my movements in my daily life. Exercise has become a lifestyle that has given me access to recreational and social activities that I can enjoy with my family and friends. Exercise has also shown me and those around me that motor movements can be complex and there is great value in breaking those steps down to make them more manageable for someone with apraxia. 

Summer Reflections by Brynn F.

 

It has been pollinator enchantment in my backyard this summer. What began as an idea and an experiment, caused a flurry of extraordinary winged creatures to enter my life. Bumblebees began the procession along with carpenter bees feasting on borage and sunflowers-their sweet legs full looking like pollen pantaloons. My brother and I built a house to welcome mason bees, though there are no residents yet. Sweat bees, skippers, moths, and the occasional monarch come to visit too. Cosmos, zinnias, blanket flowers, cone flowers, and different types of milkweed are here to greet any permanent residents or late summer visitors. Next year there will be more flowers to welcome local and distant pollinators. A small seed pack changed my backyard into a welcoming local sanctuary and made my heart happy to make a positive environmental impact.

Night Song by Nadia Sohn Fink

 

Sitting on the tile stairs

Waiting til the night comes

Yellow helps each stare

Talk until the night comes

Kindling of another kind

Listens to red notebooks

Welds that hold within time

Clouds, embers, notebooks

Red’s the friend of the night

Under the alternating light 

Kneeling at the flight’s edge 

Hovering, halting, stalling 

With the parting night’s edge

We, listening then falling 

Stood fast, night receding 

Seconds until burning sun

Marks the sky, keeps bleating

Until moon becomes the one 

Red’s the friend of the night

Under the alternating light 

Let the intermission yawn

Room to finish reading

Door made to fit dawn

Plugged in through feeling

Red, the friend of the night

Under the alternating light 

Thomas Callahan

 

The sun is back in the morning

Hope for the new light

Every night will end

Hope will shine bright

The sun is back in the morning

And birds began to sing

There is always hope

Let's see what the day can bring

Pep Talk To My Mouth by Fox Bailey

 

Alright mouth!

It’s time to get moving

Feel the tongue

Feel the cheeks

Really feel them

Get sensitive

Dash of patience

It’s a long game

Have realistic expectations

We might hate it at first

Then something starts to happen

Mouth, you start to make sounds

The sounds I want

Sounds magical I know

It makes hard work worth it

Don’t have the words to explain the feeling

Mouth, you got this!

- Fox Bailey

Gone to Nowhere by Arth S.

 Of all the seasons I most admire and love spring. Hope it comes back gracing us infinite petals. Here is a painting I named "Gone to nowhere". 

Gone to nowhere 

Gone to nowhere 

Where the sky spreads seasons 

Have to wonder if spring has its reasons 

Away to some new place 

Goes to astound and grace 

Forests, mountains, streams, and paths 

Godly, but it can not last. 

Can blossoms blow back to trees? 

Can we make more memories? 

Can dreams discover the beaches where 

Seasons never leave to nowhere? 

- Arth S.