As I briefly mentioned in my About section I have a son with severe autism age 21. Jacob currently lives in an adult group home about an hour from us. We try to go see him every other weekend. We usually at his request either take him for a "Ride In The Country" or we bring him home for the day and spend time with him here.
When we go on rides with Jake he always requests his favorite songs...
In order these would be:
1- Celebration- by: Cool and The Gang
2- Don't let the sun go down on me, Crocodile Rock, or Daniel by: Elton John
3- Yellow Submarine by: The Beatles
4- Hound Dog by: Elvis and sometimes the whole Elvis CD
5- Big John by: Jimmy Dean
We usually ride him for an hour to an hour an a half. Sometimes out of nowhere he will holler "Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Elton John" and laugh and just clap. We laugh and clap with him. He loves spending this special time with us and taking the scenery in. When we get back to the home in the fashion of everything has to be a certain way like it is with most individuals on the Autism Spectrum Jake will tell us to "take the CD out" and :"Put it up." He will not get out of the car till that CD is out of the player and put in it's rightful place. We usually then walk him back to the house he either leads us to the couch or if he is "done" with us he will wave and tell us bye. Usually if he tells us by it's time to eat, time for his snack, or he's just tired. While we laugh about it other's have asked doesn't that bother you? Why should it? This is who Jake is and we respect that. Besides something wonderful he started doing a few months ago is calling us between visits on his own accord. The staff tells him the number to call and he dials it. Usually he wants to speak to "Daddy" and either he just wants to hear our voices and say Bye or he will say "Come see me" as in a question format. We tell him when we are coming to see him and he is content with it. He has come so far and progressed so much. In the coming posts I will be talking a little about just how far he has come and how he has amazed everyone that has been involved in his life. If I can leave a parent of a special needs child that is down,exhausted, frustrated and hanging on by a thread with one thing... NEVER give up HOPE! Find positive support from wherever and whoever you can. Our son is living proof consistency and hope pays off.