At what price?

Is there a point to "force" an academic moment? At what cost? At what price is it worth to force a word like 'cat' to be read, when we know he knows the word, but it gets back to absolute opposition,

absolute defiance, absolute the strongest will you would ever meet in a child?

To what point? And to prove what?

Maybe I"m missing something here, but it seems kind of ridiculous to "make" a child we know who suffers so much in every day to day activity, who enjoys learning, who wants to learn, wants to teach but yet we are trying to make him fit into a square box once again when he is clearly triangle shaped.

So, why? He'll read the recipe book I put in front of him and encourage him to cook something, or bake brownies, or I offer him a new book on animal evolution, on reptiles, snakes, dogs.

Why do we make children who are clearly differently abled.... fit into what our society feels is "the best" mold, the square mold, the one that according to everyone else is the 'right' mold?

Continuing to do this with my son, makes him even more unable to access his coping skills and enjoy things in life that he has begun to enjoy.

I can honestly say since he was born almost 10 years ago, there has been very little that has made him happy or that he has truly enjoyed!

He doesn't leave our house without over reaction to his system, without so much anxiety that he flees without hesitation to danger.

Why are we trying to make him say the word 'cat' written on a card, when we know he knows it, he knows he knows it, and to then just say, 'see we MADE him do something he didn't want to do!'

But that still doesn't help him or our family to have an outing, to go to the park, to walk around the block for fresh air, to experience an event that is joyful!

So I again ask the question, why? What price is it worth to people on the outside?

The price is usually too high, when he's simply not ready.

He suffers, our family suffers, it's simply not fair to him- it's petty in my opinion. I'm not here to "rule" over him.

We are here to guide him, to love him, to help him, to support him, to teach him, to do everything in our power to assure him a happy life!

And so far, it's been anything but

And to just sit on the outside, and let people who have known him for a very short time, who think they know him best, to force him so that we (everyone on the outside of Ty)can say we have the power over him, it's such a wrong approach. Just wrong! Aren't we trying to empower him?