The Samarth Surprise

My daughter’s school transportation has changed a lot since the beginning of the year.   Different van drivers, different students and different routes to and from school.   Some of this is because of the track system, some of it is driver changeover and some of it is working on best student to route optimization.   Some of the drivers and students my daughter has liked a lot while some of them she hasn’t gotten along with so much, like the “baby” who would steal her cane and cry a lot.

The current ride situation is by far the best.   She gets picked up first but gets to school earlier too.   She also has her visually impaired classmate, Aditi, in the van with her.   This gives the two of them time outside of class both to and from school to talk and play games.   She has another student in the car either to or from school, or maybe both, I’m not sure.  His name is Samarth and she’s been talking about his birthday party for a week or two.

She’s in a school that has autism spectrum and visually impaired students that are brought to her regular elementary school from areas far outside of the school’s normal district.   That means the students in my daughter’s van are autistic spectrum or visually impaired, like her friend Aditi.

The first and second quarter she had some autism spectrum children that were mentally boring to her and we had some issues with anger and frustration from that boredom.   This quarter she has her friend in the van with her and that’s helped a lot.  I don’t know who Samarth is, but I knew he was older and I thought I had met him a few times before.   He was in fifth grade, my daughter had told me, and he wants me to come to his birthday party.    It’s soon, so we need to go to his house.

I didn’t think much of it until today when I was emptying her backpack and found an envelope in the bottom with her name on it.   And guess what?  She had been invited to Samarth’s eleventh birthday party.   Oh dear, how long had the envelope been languishing in her backpack?   I called and left a message with the mother RSVPing.   I got a phone call back a short while later and discovered that the invitation had just come today and she was so glad my daughter could come.

When I asked my daughter about this she told me Samarth had given her the envelope today.  I’m not sure why I didn’t ask her, she always knows these things.   The lack of vision makes memory and everything else come into sharp contrast.

So, party RSVP complete, calendar entry added and now I had to figure out what to get a fifth grader for a present.   I asked my daughter what Samarth might like.   I was hoping she had an idea because I didn’t know what his mental capacity was if he was autism spectrum.   She told me he wanted a clicker.   “A clicker,” I asked?   She said it was so he could find his way around.   Wait, why would he need a clicker?  She told me like the character in one of her shows who couldn’t see, how he has a clicker.   Then she followed up with, “you know, Samarth’s completely blind.”

Oh.   No, I didn’t know.   Well, I did sort of.  I knew there was a fifth grader who was completely blind at her school but I hadn’t made the connection until she told me.

So back to the birthday present.   What do you get for a blind fifth-grader?   I haven’t the faintest idea.   Nothing at all.   She told me, “he already has plenty of paper” so braille paper is out and I’m guessing any braille supplies and books are specially ordered in braille and we don’t know what his reading level is or if he has them.   Anything you can think of that you need to see to do or understand is out for a completely blind child.

So I just went for it and ordered Pie Face the game.   My children love it and even though it’s 5+ in age, the adults have had fun playing it with the children and it’ll be fine coming from a kindergartner to a fifth grader.   Well, that and the pair of clickers I found that my daughter said she’s going to split with Samarth.   Presents ordered, we’re now looking forward to the party on Saturday.

The Big Boy Update:  After the Falcon Heavy rocket launch yesterday where my son saw a car launched into space, he wanted to talk to my husband and me about cars.   He said he’d decided to create his own car company when he grew up named ‘Moro’.   The logo for the car was going to be a fox.  (My son’s middle name is Fox.)   I told him I hoped he’d sell me one when he started making them.    He was quiet for just a second and then said he was going to give me one for free.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  After dinner tonight I told my daughter we had new dessert choices (by way of new Yasso pops in the freezer).   I listed the new choices and she told me she wanted the chocolate chip cookie dough (not surprisingly).   I asked her if she was sure, some of the new flavors sounded interesting.   She replied, “what are you waiting for, I put in an order.”