Zack's Journey - Baseball

In our effort to find extracurricular activities for Zack, we tried tee-ball. Debbie's nephews all played and I remember having fun playing baseball in the Y league so it seemed a natural fit. There are some problems that come with baseball, however.

The Leander baseball league for kids is really competitive. Some of the older teams regularly compete in statewide competitions and win. It's a program known for producing college scholarships for baseball.

Sadly, even at the five and six year old level, some of the coaches were incredibly competitive. They played vicariously through their sons and any mistakes were met with harsh criticism. I'll have to say I was proud of the coaches on Zack's team. They didn't suffer from this but others in the league did and I found it disturbing. These over-competitive folks stressed out all the kids during a game.

Another problem with baseball is that the kids wind up standing out in the field for a long time with nothing to do but wait. This really wasn't and isn't the sort of activity Zack enjoys. He and others wound up squatting down and looking at ants or flowers or looking off in the distance at something they found interesting.

We lasted one year and were glad for the experience but, in the end, decided this wasn't the right path for Zack. I will say his coach was amazing and never gave up on Zack. He asked me to bring him back the following year but it didn't work out. Zack was his fastest runner and a good hitter. It was the field work that was problematic and Zack began suffering what can only be described as panic attacks before taking to the field much like he did with soccer.

It was later we learned that Zack had something called Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Basically it's like hearing dyslexia. It made it hard for Zack to react to coaching yells while he was in play. Once we discovered that, we began looking for other sorts of activities that would naturally limit the effects of this issues.

The good news is that we found several things that worked. Those posts will be coming shortly but first, something that came close to working: swimming.

Zack's Journey - Gymnastics

A word of caution, the Zack's Journey articles will likely be out of chronological order. I've documented these experiences on other blogs but they came in a random order as I remembered to write them down.

I belive the post below occurred when Zack was 5, in 2008.

Gymnastics

Well, we’re off on another Zack sports event: Gymnastics!

Zack's Journey - Shadow Dance

Having a child with attention issues is often considered a burden. The problem with AD(H)D is that so many are stigmas associated with it. When you have a child that goes a little odd when stimulated, people give you 'the look'.

True, there are problems with ADD and ADHD but there is also magic. These kids tend to be incredibly creative and enjoy living 'in the moment' the way others cannot. On a late summer night in ’05, a two year old Zack discovered the fun of shadows the way I've never witnessed before. This is a blessed memory that I will always cherish.

It began with Deb and I sitting in our white wicker chairs by the driveway. We have one of those security lights comes on  when it senses motion. It's a powerful light which completely illuminates the driveway and is an excellent shadow maker. Not the multiple shadows you normally get from artificial lighting but one, strong black shadow usually reserved for dark rooms and flash lights.

As Zack pushed his toy police car around the drive, I made the age-old rabbit shadow with my hand. This fascinated Zack. He tried to grab it but the wascally wabbit was too quick. He laughed and giggled until he discovered he had a shadow as well. At this point the the magic began.

I felt like I was watching something out of Peter Pan as my son tried to catch the his own dark image which was always just a little too fast for him. After chasing the shadow down the driveway, he found that the shadow would also chase him as well. Zack ran away from the dark boy on the ground watching the shadow as he ran. He was so intent was he on the dark image that he ran head long into Jessica’s car,  falling to the ground the ground in a heap of giggles.

Deb and I showed Zack how to control the shadow with his own movements. He waved his arms and laughed. Then he raised his foot into the air watching the shadow detach from his foot. He tried to touch the shadow but it was always just out of reach. Finally he learned to squat down. The shadow squatted as well and at last he could touch the illusive being.

Zack had so much fun it was hard to get him in for the night. Finally coaxed him into my arms to look at the stars. I sang him a song as we walked back toward the house. The rhythm was to a Louis Armstrong song “What a wonderful world” but the words were my own which talked about stars in the sky, reflected in baby blue eyes. 

Zack didn't fuss at all as we walked into the house. Once inside, Deb had to call her mom to describe the evening. Zack and I played ‘Tent on the couch’ where his folding tent goes on one section of the couch and he climbs in and out. We sang twinkle, twinkle little star for a while until Deb got off the phone with her mom.

Its nights like this when everything seems right with the world. I wish there were more of them.

Zack's Journey - My Kid Has ADHD?

ADHD kids are not like others. The AD part of the acronym means they don’t concentrate well while H causes them to act without regard for the consequences of their actions. Put together you have a child that can’t stay on task and often moves, makes noises, or exhibits other potentially annoying behavior. They get in trouble often and almost as often can’t remember what they did that caused the problem. Thus we have the final D in the acronym; Disorder.