Hello Mrs. Jaggie's 3rd grade class. Since Bobby is joining your class a little more this year and he can't really tell you about himself, I thought that I would jump in and give him a hand.
Oh, by the way, this is Bobby's Mom, Mrs. Smith. I have met most of you over the past few years when I have helped you pick out books at your Scholastic Book Fairs. I'm sure that I will see you again in the library this year when Book Fair time rolls around.
This is our house. Thankfully we have a very big yard because Bobby loves to play outside. Bobby doesn't have any brothers or sisters, but he does have a dog.
Here's a picture of his dog, Zoi, she is a Golden Pyrenees.
Bobby likes to do many of the same things that most kids like to do. His absolute favorite thing in the world to do is ride our Yamaha Rhino with his Dad. Sometimes they take the Rhino and go on day trips where they ride for hours. Other times they just ride around in the woods that surround our house. Here they are on a riding trip they took to Burning Rock Outdoor Park in southern West Virginia.
Yes, they both got extremely dirty, but I didn't mind washing their clothes because they had such a great time.
Bobby's second favorite thing to do is go swimming. We have a pool at our house for Bobby and he spends a lot of time there during the summer.
This summer Bobby learned how to swim, so he spent some time swimming in the deep end of Krepps Pool and even learned how to jump off of the diving board.
We also discovered that Bobby likes the beach, so we took him to Deep Creek Lake beach a few times over the summer.
Next on the list of Bobby's favorite things to do is jumping. Bobby has an outdoor and an indoor trampoline that he uses often.
He actually jumps on his indoor trampoline so much that he broke the springs and we had to get him a new one.
Bobby and I like to take walks on all of the local rail trails. Some of our favorite places to walk are the Wharf District Rail Trail...
The walking trails at White Park...
The Decker's Creek trails...
And the walking trail at Prickett's Fort....
Bobby also likes to get out and play at some of the local playgrounds. The Cheat Lake playground is his favorite because he can look out over the lake while he climbs and slides.
The playground on the Wharf District rail trail is also one of his favorites...
Sometimes Bobby likes to play differently than most other kids. He really likes to watch things fall in front of his eyes, it's called "Visual Stimulation." Here Bobby is playing with the garden hose. Instead of spraying himself or someone else, he prefers to spray the water in the air close to his face and watch it fall.
For some reason watching the water like this is very calming to Bobby. You may have even seen him playing in the mulch on the playground and dropping it in front of his eyes. I wish that I could tell you why Bobby finds these activities calming, but I honestly don't know. Here he is watching moon sand fall in front of his eyes.
There is also another way that Bobby likes to play that most kids do not, he likes to line things up. He likes to line up groups of things that are the same. Here is a picture of some red Solo cups that Bobby lined up along our kitchen counter tops.
He often gathers up some of his toys, brings them to the kitchen and lines them along the counters in a way that the typical person would not even think to do.
Why does Bobby like to play this way? Why does Bobby only spend a small part of his school day with the rest of his class? You may already know the answer to these questions, but I'm going to tell you anyway. Bobby has Autism Spectrum Disorder, generally just called autism. I am not sure how much you know about autism, but I have added a handout that is full of great information.
http://www.bridges4kids.org/pdf/Growing_Up_Booklet.pdf
You also already know that Bobby doesn't talk like the rest of the kids talk. His verbal skills are developing much more slowly than most kids. However, he works very hard everyday on his talking skills. Bobby also makes some "eeee" sounds, even when it is time to be quiet. He doesn't do this on purpose or because he is being bad. We are working with him every day so that he can hopefully learn to control making this sound. These verbal problems that Bobby has are because of his autism. However, not all people with autism make sounds or have problems talking.
If you have ever wondered where Bobby spends the rest of his school day when he is not with you, well he spends it in Mrs. Wasserman's classroom. Mrs. Wasserman works with Bobby individually, because it is hard for Bobby to concentrate when there are a lot of people around and because he is working on different types of school work.
Bobby also leaves school early everyday around 2:00. But don't be jealous that he gets to go home early and play. Instead of going home, he goes and gets individual tutoring with a specialist who works with people with autism.
I hope that if any of you have ANY questions about Bobby and/or autism that you feel free to ask Mrs. Jaggie, Mrs. Wasserman or Ms. Deb. I would also be more than happy to answer any questions that you might have, these teachers know how to get in touch with me for my answers.
Thank you for taking some time out of your day to learn a little bit about Bobby.
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