Appraisal

Ok, so I skipped last week, I feel bad, but not bad enough to appraise that I needed to go back and do the entire post again. You see I didn't forget to write my post, the blogspot server just decided to give up on me the minute I was about to publish. Ugh!! Talk about horrible appraising - the computer system should have appraised that that was not a good moment to fail me. So lesson learned: save as you go along or type it somewhere else and post it into blogger once you're ready to post...

So appraisal according to the Merriam Webster dictionary means:
1 : to set a value on : estimate the amount of
2 : to evaluate the worth, significance, or status of; especially : to give an expert judgment of the value or merit of

A few ways that we appraise daily:

• What's more important: Waiting at a red light until it turns green or turning right on red because there are no cars coming . Perhaps if you have cars honking from behind you, you may appraise the importance of turning sooner as more important or if you are running late for work/school.
• What's more important: Finishing your homework or wasting time searching the web (that was for you duct tape girl - although I must say it was a good find)
• What's more important: Flushing the toilet like you are supposed to after using it or waiting because you might wake your sister up? (A wonderful appraisal moment by a client of ours not too long ago)
• What's more important: Going deeper with this blog post or spending time with my family after being gone all day?

On that note, I must finish up this post and get my girls ready for bed. I think I appraised that one well. There are many times during the day that we must appraise what is the most important thing at the moment. In the morning it's probably more about getting out the door on time than making sure that the car is warmed up or that the kid's hair is perfect. On the way to work/school it's probably more important to take a different route than to arrive 15 minutes late because a car accident is in the way of the normal route. You get the idea.

Unfortunately those with autism struggle with knowing how to appropriately appraise a situation. Often times we see that a toy, fan, light switch, telling a certain story, reading/flipping through a book, watching a show etc... are more important than the person they are with. It's important for us to slow thing down and help them realize what is most important in their surrounding so they are able to appraise situations better in their future (not that we are always right with our appriasal or the way we respond to our appraisal: i.e.: I kow it's more important to be with my kids right now, but I'm still on the computer)

Until next week (as I'm being tugged off the computer by my one year old - I'll make a good appraisal moment now),

Michelle