A day in the life with two special needs kids

    The title is a bit deceiving. It was a workday for me and a school day for the kiddos. Today, however perfectly captures what it's like to raise two special needs kids.

    I had a class today, so I got home a late tonight at 5:30. As I type that it hits me that is a normal day for most folks. I do have to say that I am pretty fortunate to leave work at 3:45/4pm (most of the time). That time frame allows me to come home before the kids get home from school, catch up with the wife, start dinner while she walks the kids home from the bus stop. Dinner is typically ready at 5:30, eat, check on homework then do a kid's activity until the bath/shower routine. 

Today was a little different.

    Getting home at 5:30 means the wife had to pick the kids up, start dinner and play referee until I get home. Dinner is a fight because Noah has to sit at the bar in the kitchen because that's his favorite seat. Noah has a meltdown because we want him to sit at the table. Hudson doesn't want to sit at the table either because he is playing video games, so he fights us too. We finally all sit down at the table. Sarah tries to catch me up on the day's events but Noah interrupts by signing "This is Halloween" from Nightmare before Christmas over and over. We get a moment of silence and start a conversation. Couldn't get two words in before Hudson takes two bits and wants to get up from the table. I tell him sure, but you got to stay at the table and engage us in conversation for 5 minutes-Yep, wrong move. Hudson blows up and Noah starts his American Idol audition again but this time it's Micheal Jackson's Thriller. On a side note-our kids love the Thriller music video. If you need 12 min of quiet time.... put on Thriller.  

    We finally make it through dinner-I go to clean up and prepare food for the next day (I am too cheap to go out for lunch) when Noah wants to walk around the neighborhood looking at Halloween decorations-absolutely Noah-lets go. 

"Huddy-you want to go?"

"Sure"

Huddy puts on his rollerblades with a hanger (its apart of his stemming process....it makes him feel comfortable).

Instead of coming with us he beatboxes outside with his hanger. We know when Hudson does this, he wants to be alone. Quick text to the wife that Hudson is outside, and we are walking around. 

Getting back inside is another fight for bath-Noah has to do it himself and throws a fit when we try to help.... even though he has a huge clump of soap in his hair and Hudson stays in the shower like he pays the water bill.

Finally, both are out of the shower and in PJ's. 

All clear, right? nope Noah throws another fit because we gave him Teddy Grams instead of PeanutButter crackers. Sarah takes over while I go downstairs to study. Hudson grabs his hanger; roller blades and goes back outside (its dark at this point)-He gets upset because its dark, so he beatboxes inside. I change course and write this instead. 

To sum it up three separate fights with two different kids over what seem like trivial things, however these aren't trivial in our house. 

These are everyday occasions.

Yep, that is one evening with special needs kids 

Speed breakdown

 

    

The above clip is from the documentary Talladega nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. It depicts the story of a race car driver Ricky Bobby from his start-up as a pit crew member to top of the field that suffers a horrific crash and his journey back to the top of racing.

Real talk it's a comedy.... did I have you going??

. Tangent time-want a quick laugh? Call a comedy movie a documentary or quote musicians as philosophers. One of my favorites is, "As the great philosopher once said...Mo' money Mo' problems.

Back to speed. 

"I want to go fast" 

But how?

We touched on this on an earlier post about how to train for speed. Spoiler alert combining strength training + plyometrics + sprint training should increase speed.

Speed is generally defined as all out max effort for 15 seconds. Why 15 seconds? because that is generally the extent of the Creatine Phosphate energy system.

Mechanically, sprinting is the correlation between stride length and stride rate. Stride rate is how quickly and forcefully each leg applies force to the running surface. Increases the amount of vertical force is key. This goes back to our previous article about rate of force development or how quickly force can be applied in the shortest time frame possible. Stride length is the displacement of mass or how long you are spending in "flight". Elite sprinters spend more time in the air than your average person. Watch the 100m dash in slow motion-look how long they are in flight time. 

Ok, so I increase my stride length to improve sprinting? not quite. You want the optimal amount of stride rate and stride length for correct application of force. Go back and watch the video

The entire race the stride length and stride rate are perfect. 

You can also see the start, acceleration and top speed associated with sprinting. Coming out of the blocks (and the 2 steps following the start) represents the highest amount of vertical force within the race. In elite sprinters the start phase lasts 5m or less. As the acceleration develops more horizontal force is applied through shorter stride length. As the race develops into more of maximum velocity the athlete combines the ideal stride rate and stride length to win the race. 

 

 

Nerdy overview of speed

     There is a scene in Justice League where Bruce Wayne goes to recruit Barry Allen to join the fight against Steppenwolf. 

    Throughout the conversation between the two Bruce says, "So, your fast?" Barry replies, "That's an over-simplification"

    While that movie wasn't the Avengers like box office success like DC thought it would be it did have that line that greatly defines what it takes to be fast.

    Being fast or having the ability to run fast is more often the not accredited to pure genetics. While genetics does play a factor it is indeed an over-simplification of speed. 

    Speed can be in a pure straight-line speed. An example would be a 40-yard dash. Change of direction is speed with known changes in direction. This would include elements of acceleration, deceleration and technical prowess. Pro agility or T Test are excellent examples of change of direction.  Agility is change of direction, but in reaction to stimuli. Think a defensive back reacting to a Wide Receiver in American Football. Both change of direction and agility are a function of physical and technical practice. 

    When looking at speed we fitness nerds speak in terms of rate of force development and Impulse.

    Rate of force development is the maximum amount of force produced in the minimal amount of time. Another way to look at Rate of Force Develpment is explosive strength. If this sounds familiar to you it should. It is basically the same definition of plyometrics.

    Impulse is the product of generated force, and the time required for production. Often times impulse is depicted as a graph

Impulse shown as a graph. Notice the upside U showing that max force is used halfway through time.

Rate of force development and impulse both apply to speed. As you run your foot is applying force to the running surface; stronger the force then theoretically the faster you run. We want the maximum amount of force applied in each step. Elite sprinters are a scientific phenomenon in terms of how fast they apply force to the running surface. In pure sprinting Rate of Force development is the metric to use. For change of direction/agility or in a sport environment we fitness nerds look at Impulse. In sports we change direction so quickly that we do not have time to incorporate max strength-hence how fast can you produce force. 

    

    The key to produce force for speed boils down to three elements: Max strength + plyometrics and Sprint training.

    Training max force aids in rate production and rate coding. Or in laymen's terms sending powerful, repeated signals to the motor units. Training plyometrics aids in training high threshold motor units   . Sprint training aids in the development of the creatine phosphate energy system. All three of these training methods are used for increasing speed.

So, yes Barry Allen being fast is indeed an over-simplification.

Bowling with Noah.....

         My youngest son, Noah is a special needs kid.

More specifically he is Autistic.

Normal day to day life isn't normal in our house. 

Noah can be a ticking time bomb. 

You never know what will set him off 

                                                                   No pop-tarts? Outburst 

Don't have red chips? (Doritos) Meltdown

Moved his toys overnight? Eruption.

    Over the years we have placed Noah with OT, ABA, and Speech therapist. These have been a tremendous help getting him able to communicate, express his needs and wants, and perform day to day activities. He still has his idiosyncrasies such as jumping up and down or flapping his arms when excited. He also does laps around the house when overwhelmed to help calm down. Noah's speech is improved, and he is able to communicate in his own language. For those familiar with him know these are routine behaviors and speech patterns. When we first meet people, and Noah flaps his arms or runs around we tell them that everything is fine he is just autistic. Most folks shrug is off or it's a conversation starter.

    One of Noah's favorite activities is bowling. He absolutely loves it; he jumps up and down between bowls, flaps his arms as the ball travels down the alley, watches the ball until it reaches the end of the lane and only bowls with one ball. Noah will jump up and down until his ball arrives at the ball return then off, we go for another turn. We were super pumped that the base offered a bowling league for kids of all ages-we signed Noah up immediately. The first few weeks were a little rough figuring things out with how the league worked. After a week or two things were figured out and the kids had a ton of fun. Noah would be so excited to bowl. He would routinely ask, "Is today a bowling day?"

"Yes, Noah today is a bowling day"

"Yay! I'm so excited it's going to be so much fun!" 

It was all good. Noah had his bowling, and we were able to watch him in his own element being a "normal" kid.

 This was until the other night.

One of the helpers with the league had an issue with Noah's jumping up and down, flapping his arms and watching the ball come back through the ball return. She would routinely correct Noah's behavior. At first it was innocent, then it became mean. Her corrections became more and more angry. Noah was getting frustrated. I could see it in his face. He was backed into a corner and wanted out. It got to the point where I had to step in and let her know he is autistic and that's why his behaviors are a little odd. 

She told me very sarcastically, "Well I'm going to treat him like any other kid"

"With all due respect ma'am that's not going to work, he is a unique kid."

"Like I said before I'm going to treat him like any other kid"

I was shocked at the ignorance of her.

"He's autistic...."

Before I could finish the sentence, she cut me off

"Have you heard of the special Olympics?" Her voice was angry dripping with an insulting tone.

I was speechless, angry, in shock about how someone could be so willfully stupid and unemphatic.

Noah was so defeated that he wanted to go home. Normally, we have to pull him away from bowling. That night he asked to go home early.

 On the ride I called my wife to inform her of the situation and on cue Noah said, "Mommy, that lady made me sad"

So, whomever you are. Thanks for hurting the feelings of a six-year-old.  You ruined my kid's favorite activity. 

Your asinine comments towards a special need kid not only show how truly ignorant you are, but how much of a piece of shit you are. 99% of the people we interact with have no problem with Noah. 

You did  

You are the 1% that ruins things for special needs kids. You are the 1% that puts my wife and I in conflict about attending events and signing our children up for activities.

 Thank you for the reminder that people are douchebags

Taking my autistic son to Kings Dominion

     In Virginia, we have a theme park called Kings Dominion. Kings Dominion is a mix of roller coasters and water park. Upon PCS'ing to VA our in-laws got us season passes as a PCS gift. We went a few times over the summer to enjoy the water park and roller coasters. Our boys are 6 (Noah) and 9 (Hudson) which is that age where the 9-year-old can do some of the bigger roller coasters while the 6-year-old stays in the kiddie area. More often than not we divide and conquer, and one parent goes with one kid and the other goes with the other. Since the kids have gone back to school Kings Dominion is closed during the week and only open on the weekends. 

    Every so often Noah will come home from school and ask, "Is Kings Dominion open or closed?" It's a little heartbreaking to tell him that its closed. Last Sunday, Noah asked if Kings Dominion was open or closed. We haven't been in a while, so we decided to go. The plan was that I take Noah during the day then the wife would come up with Hudson for the Halloween events at night. 

    Upon driving up Noah was super excited, "Dad, we going to Kings Dominion", "Dad, I want to ride the blue roller coaster", "Dad, we almost at Kings Dominion" This went on for the entire 45 min trip. We hit a little traffic near the park, and he started to flip out. "Come on cars.... Dad's driving", "Ahhh man we going to be late."

    We park, and Noah's favorite thing is to watch the roller coasters, however instead of just standing still and watching he runs up to the fence, jumps up and down when the coaster travels down the track he follows it. This went on for a few of the rides. He would be perfectly content just watching and running with the coaster. We get in the park, and he sprints to the kid zone. Mind you, he is pretty fast for a six-year-old, so I have to put in some effort to catch him and tell him to slow down. Making it down to the kid zone he has a plan, blue roller coaster, then purple coaster, then plane ride, then boat. In that order. This kid doesn't deviate from his plan. I tried to urge him to go to the shortest line, but his mind was made up. Waiting in line Noah would jump up and down, flap his arms until it was his turn. Also, he rides each coaster only once. I would ask if he wanted to ride it again-nope. "Dad, I already did that one." 

    After completing all the kids rides, he walked to the bigger rides to watch. That made him almost as happy as riding on the rides. He would play commentator each ride too, "Hey, dad, they are going up the hill", "Hey dad they are going upside down", "Hey, dad they are going sideways."

    Walking around the park (did I mention that this kid walked the entire park?) We were there for five hours and he walked...well.... walk/run the entire way. Did he eat? nope. Did I try to get him to snack yes. Did he flip out when I asked him? Yep. Kid was all gas-no brakes. Food was not in his plan and in his mind, food was cutting into his Kings Dominion time. 

    Upon riding all the rides (and watching them!) Noah wanted to go home....as in he wanted to go home right then. He grabbed my hand, "Dad, we go home now" Ok in a minute Noah. "Dad! I want to go home" (first kid in the history of theme parks to voluntary wanted to come home). We get to the parking lot and of course we have to watch roller coasters for a bit before getting into the car. Then once we got in the car, we had to roll down our window to watch them a few more times. 

    As you can imagine the car ride home was very quiet (better for me as I could listen to a podcast). Noah didn't fall asleep-just soaking in the fact that he had a great day at Kings Dominion. Before we made our exit for home Noah told me, "Dad, I had fun at Kings Dominion"

   My heart melted. 

There is great satisfaction in the fact that he is special needs and can enjoy a normal (relatively) day at the park and that he can communicate that.