The horse ridin' soccer playin' Liam!
Liam’s therapeutic horse back riding went very well. Liam was all excited when he got there and when he saw his buddy Kennedy from school. When Jill put Liam on the horse he was a bit scared at first. He was high up, and within a few second he was said “done”. Jill coaxed him into staying on the horse. Once he was on there the instructor gave him direction on how to make the horse go and stop. Liam did surprisingly well with the instruction that was given. The lesson was a little comical as one of the assistants that would be there to walk along with the horse and guide Liam could not make it. The instructor gave Jill instruction on what she had to do. Jill had to walk with her left hand on the horse to be there in case Liam needed help. Well, 5 weeks ago Jill had carpal tunnel surgery on her left hand. To top it off, Jill was wearing her tiva sandals! Everything was going ok at first along the trail until the instructor said, “Ok Liam, we’re going trot a little!” So here is Jill with her bad hand on the horse jogging along in her sandals. Luckily she didn’t get stepped on her fall. Liam’s was instructed several times to make his horse go and stop. Liam really enjoyed that. He got to say “walk on” to make the horse go, and “whoa” to make it stop. His horses name was Opey. During the whole hour ride Liam would repeatedly say he was done and ask to get down. Jill had to coax and talk Liam into staying on. Overall, it was a great time for Liam. He was so excited to tell me about it when I got home from work.
Saturday morning Seamus and Liam had their first soccer games. Seamus was at 9am, and Liam started at 9:30. Since I was coaching Seamus’ game, I was going to have to run over 2 fields to see Liam play. Seamus ended up having another great game. He scored 4 goals and played some good defense.
When I went over to Liam’s game I could see Jill out there coaxing Liam to keep playing. It turns out Liam wanted a donut from the concession stand. When Seamus first started soccer, getting a donut with Grandpa McCourt was what he did there. As always with Autistic kids, there is a routine. Saturday was a new routine starting for Liam. When Liam was on the field he was ok out there and ran with the other kids while playing. They are all 4, so you can imagine what it is like when they play soccer. Our neighbor and friend Sean who Liam adores, was coaching and he was simply great with Liam. Each time there was a break in the action, Liam would run over to Jill and want water from his water bottle. He would then need a little coaxing to go back out. One thing we really noticed with Liam and his under-sensitivity his when he kicks the ball. As soon as his foot hits the ball, his foot goes instantly limp and the ball doesn’t go too far. This is fine though. Hopefully by the end of the season he will gain some strength from it all. When the game was over Seamus was right there to tell Liam how well he did, and even hug him. It was great to see. Now that Liam has gone through this once, next week he will remember the routine and hopefully be more into the game. Jill’s dad was thrilled how Liam did. While talking to him he pointed out something I had not thought of. He was so happy to see Liam playing soccer he recalled that last summer Liam could not even pedal a bike. Now a year later he is riding a bike and playing soccer with other kids his age. He’s right. This definitely shows all the hard work Liam has done is paying off. It truly is great to see progress being made.
Later Saturday evening while down at a neighbor’s house, Liam had a meltdown. I was at our neighbor’s Sean and Kim’s when Liam came down with Seamus. They started playing with a bunch of the neighbor kids when they ran down to someone’s house where they had an inflatable castle for kids to jump in. Apparently Seamus was allowed in, but not Liam. One neighbor lady we don’t care too much for said it was because there were older boys in there playing rough. That started Liam’s meltdown. All he wanted was to go with Seamus. Jill had just come down there as I was carrying Liam back screaming and his body rigid. We tried to settle him down, but that wasn’t working too well. I was supposed to stay to watch the OSU game, but Liam while crying started saying he wanted take a bath. Jill said she would go, but Liam wanted me. We came home, he took a bath, then we sat in the chair together where he quickly fell asleep. For comparison sake, Aidan and Brendan started running to the castle when I said no and to go back the house. They both turned around went with me.
Sunday wasn’t too bad of a day for Liam. I went outside to cut the grass and he insisted he come with me. I told him he would have to stay in the yard and not to leave. That lasted for about 10 minutes when he saw Eli and Ruthie playing next door with the neighbor’s dog. Before I knew it he was down playing with Ruthie and Kelly at Kelly’s house. I talked to Jill about it and she said to just leave him there. She called and spoke to the father who said Liam was there playing and he was fine. When I got done with the yard work Liam had been down there 3.5 hours. Jill came home with Liam for a nap. She was told that Liam was very well behaved and that he had lunch while he was there. Jill said Liam had an air about him walking home that sensed he was proud that he got to play alone with his own friends. I sat down with Liam and we talked about what they did. It was really nice to see him playing someone else other than his brothers. As he gets older Jill and I wonder how he is going to do socially. Will he make friends? Will he get invited to birthday parties? Will he go to a friend’s house for a play date? It is still far down a way down the road, but knowing the social issues Autistic children have makes you wonder. Thinking about all this can drive you nuts. That’s why I prefer to just keep taking things one day at a time with Liam. One day we will hopefully be able to look back see that all hard work has paid off. After this weekend, despite the small fits and meltdown he had, I feel very good about his progress.
Saturday morning Seamus and Liam had their first soccer games. Seamus was at 9am, and Liam started at 9:30. Since I was coaching Seamus’ game, I was going to have to run over 2 fields to see Liam play. Seamus ended up having another great game. He scored 4 goals and played some good defense.
When I went over to Liam’s game I could see Jill out there coaxing Liam to keep playing. It turns out Liam wanted a donut from the concession stand. When Seamus first started soccer, getting a donut with Grandpa McCourt was what he did there. As always with Autistic kids, there is a routine. Saturday was a new routine starting for Liam. When Liam was on the field he was ok out there and ran with the other kids while playing. They are all 4, so you can imagine what it is like when they play soccer. Our neighbor and friend Sean who Liam adores, was coaching and he was simply great with Liam. Each time there was a break in the action, Liam would run over to Jill and want water from his water bottle. He would then need a little coaxing to go back out. One thing we really noticed with Liam and his under-sensitivity his when he kicks the ball. As soon as his foot hits the ball, his foot goes instantly limp and the ball doesn’t go too far. This is fine though. Hopefully by the end of the season he will gain some strength from it all. When the game was over Seamus was right there to tell Liam how well he did, and even hug him. It was great to see. Now that Liam has gone through this once, next week he will remember the routine and hopefully be more into the game. Jill’s dad was thrilled how Liam did. While talking to him he pointed out something I had not thought of. He was so happy to see Liam playing soccer he recalled that last summer Liam could not even pedal a bike. Now a year later he is riding a bike and playing soccer with other kids his age. He’s right. This definitely shows all the hard work Liam has done is paying off. It truly is great to see progress being made.
Later Saturday evening while down at a neighbor’s house, Liam had a meltdown. I was at our neighbor’s Sean and Kim’s when Liam came down with Seamus. They started playing with a bunch of the neighbor kids when they ran down to someone’s house where they had an inflatable castle for kids to jump in. Apparently Seamus was allowed in, but not Liam. One neighbor lady we don’t care too much for said it was because there were older boys in there playing rough. That started Liam’s meltdown. All he wanted was to go with Seamus. Jill had just come down there as I was carrying Liam back screaming and his body rigid. We tried to settle him down, but that wasn’t working too well. I was supposed to stay to watch the OSU game, but Liam while crying started saying he wanted take a bath. Jill said she would go, but Liam wanted me. We came home, he took a bath, then we sat in the chair together where he quickly fell asleep. For comparison sake, Aidan and Brendan started running to the castle when I said no and to go back the house. They both turned around went with me.
Sunday wasn’t too bad of a day for Liam. I went outside to cut the grass and he insisted he come with me. I told him he would have to stay in the yard and not to leave. That lasted for about 10 minutes when he saw Eli and Ruthie playing next door with the neighbor’s dog. Before I knew it he was down playing with Ruthie and Kelly at Kelly’s house. I talked to Jill about it and she said to just leave him there. She called and spoke to the father who said Liam was there playing and he was fine. When I got done with the yard work Liam had been down there 3.5 hours. Jill came home with Liam for a nap. She was told that Liam was very well behaved and that he had lunch while he was there. Jill said Liam had an air about him walking home that sensed he was proud that he got to play alone with his own friends. I sat down with Liam and we talked about what they did. It was really nice to see him playing someone else other than his brothers. As he gets older Jill and I wonder how he is going to do socially. Will he make friends? Will he get invited to birthday parties? Will he go to a friend’s house for a play date? It is still far down a way down the road, but knowing the social issues Autistic children have makes you wonder. Thinking about all this can drive you nuts. That’s why I prefer to just keep taking things one day at a time with Liam. One day we will hopefully be able to look back see that all hard work has paid off. After this weekend, despite the small fits and meltdown he had, I feel very good about his progress.
posted by Jim McIlwee at
9:23 PM
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