Socialization Meetings
A friend of mine on facebook posted this picture the other day:
It is from a facebook site called Laugh, It's Free.
It reminded me instantly about the comments we still sometimes get about how could possibly never expose our son to any type of socialization activity. When my son started to withdraw from youth group activities at church, I worried instantly about him getting enough exposure to children of his peer range in age. After talking to one his therapists and some friends on an online support group...I realized how he is socialized all week in a multitude of scenarios where he has to interact and be civil to people and each setting has different rules.
So, it occurs to me to follow one typical week for us and think about all of our activities. Mind you these are not necessarily in order, but here goes:
church
grocery store
Boy Scouts
Music lessons
Art class
Speech therapy
Occpational therapy
homeschool youth meeting
Walmart
my office at the nonprofit twice/week
the homeschool conference/convention
pet rescue project
riding bike around houses of neighbors
helping to babysit neighbor's baby
working outside in yard with friends and family to plant vegetables and maintain yard
He does not interact with people of his own age at all of these times. He has to learn to conduct himself in a multitude of settings with people of all ages and to act appropriately in a civil and societal manner. This is more aligned with real life, than public school gave him sitting in the same building for 8 hours per day five days per week. I think he will become socially as adept as he is capable.
It reminded me instantly about the comments we still sometimes get about how could possibly never expose our son to any type of socialization activity. When my son started to withdraw from youth group activities at church, I worried instantly about him getting enough exposure to children of his peer range in age. After talking to one his therapists and some friends on an online support group...I realized how he is socialized all week in a multitude of scenarios where he has to interact and be civil to people and each setting has different rules.
So, it occurs to me to follow one typical week for us and think about all of our activities. Mind you these are not necessarily in order, but here goes:
church
grocery storeBoy Scouts
Music lessons
Art class
Speech therapy
Occpational therapy
homeschool youth meeting
Walmart
my office at the nonprofit twice/week
the homeschool conference/convention
pet rescue project
riding bike around houses of neighbors
helping to babysit neighbor's baby
working outside in yard with friends and family to plant vegetables and maintain yard
He does not interact with people of his own age at all of these times. He has to learn to conduct himself in a multitude of settings with people of all ages and to act appropriately in a civil and societal manner. This is more aligned with real life, than public school gave him sitting in the same building for 8 hours per day five days per week. I think he will become socially as adept as he is capable.
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