Today, Pierce is in the fifth grade, and still in mainstream classrooms for most of the day. An aide helps him keep up with all of the assignments and class changes typical of middle school. His performance in most subjects is on a fifth grade level, with the exception of reading and language. He reads on a first grade level, mainly due to his lack of comprehension. He doesn’t have what you would call friends, but he is loved by peers and adults at both school and church. He still receives speech therapy, because conversation is a skill he does not grasp. Pierce uses a lot of what is called echolalia. He is constantly (and I do mean CONSTANTLY) quoting lines from movies, TV shows, commercials or songs on the radio. He becomes very frustrated when his routine is interrupted. He thrives on a consistent schedule. Pierce continues to be bothered by loud noises, especially crying or screaming children. He tries to run from noisy situations, and since he is now taller than me, trying to hold on to him when he is intent on running away in public has become nearly impossible. We avoid taking him shopping, because it really seems to stress him. We do eat out quite frequently, and the whole family is acutely aware of any crying kids in the vicinity and are prepared to calm Pierce the instant he begins to freak out. You will usually see him with earplugs in his ears when we are at church or in other public places. I have a ziploc bag full of them in my purse. He is pretty clueless about what to do in most social situations. I’ve already noted that eye contact is difficult for him. He’s getting better with greetings, but we still have to prompt him to say “hello” or “goodbye”. He walks around in his own little world, so he isn’t always aware of other people around him. He bumps into people, and doesn’t always remember to say “excuse me” or “I’m sorry”. Modesty is an issue that we are always addressing. For example, it doesn’t occur to him that dropping your pants in the hallway on the way to the bathroom at school is inappropriate. Poor Reagan won’t be surprised by the male anatomy on her wedding night as Pierce streaks through the house naked quite often. Of course, I grew up with only a sister, so this could just be a typical boy thing! Hygiene has not been much of an issue so far, but he is going through puberty. I’m sure we’ll have to stay on him pretty soon about remembering things like showering and deodorant.