One of the biggest struggles I have as a parent to an autistic child is that others are not as prepared as I am. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the nine years since The Boy was diagnosed, it is that you need to do the groundwork in advance, or the likelihood of a meltdown or other avoidable issue increases. For example, when you know dad will probably cancel Spring Break, have a plan B to distract The Boy from his disappointment. Learn which restaurants only serve soda pop, so you can either avoid them or bring your own juice boxes. Half days before break are going to be hell, so find out who will be absent, prepare The Boy as much as you can, and hunker down.

Last night, I got a text from The Boy’s band director. “Wear your band shirts tomorrow for pictures.” Um… The Boy wore his band shirt yesterday. If I had known, say last week, I could have prepared a bit better. No meltdown this time, because I just made him take it off as soon as I got the text to avoid spillage, but he’s basically wearing the same thing to school two days in row. *sigh*

It’s almost April, and I’m remembering why we used to have The Boy’s physical scheduled for February… camp applications. Except the local Autism Society chapter has great and exciting news (that they’re having a hard time getting the word out about) – they will be hosting an overnight camp and a day camp this summer! Great! How about some information to go along with that, like dates, and say… physical requirements? Because if it gets to June, and there are no more spaces, or we didn’t get a physical in time, I’ll have a melted kid on the sidewalk…

I know I can’t rightly expect the rest of the world to conform to our needs, but whatever happened to a little advance notice? I don’t think I’m asking too much, and I know people get busy, but seriously? IEP questionnaires that get sent home two days before they’re due, no information yet for chaperones for a trip to Washington DC in May, no word yet on when our spring IEP might be…

The Boy is not alone in his anxiety