The School Holidays of Samuel Pope Read online

The school holidays of Samuel pope -

  Understanding autism - for children

  ANDREW MADDOCK

  Copyright 2012 Andrew Maddock

  A big thankyou for downloading this story

  Introduction

  What an interesting year for myself and Samuel pope, our exploits were featured on just about every ASD website and publication which is brilliant, parents contacted me online, schools, newspapers - a very awkward photo shoot, the national autistic society.

  Thankyou so much for those who bought it, and in return i give you the sequal, or the second single off my album for free, no catch, well there kind of is - if you downloading this for free, maybe you could purchase my first book - maybe??

  Thankyou again and enjoy!

  Monday 30th July

  Today is the first day of the school holiday, and I'm getting my stuff ready to stay at my friend Luke's house, I can't wait!

  Luke lives with his mum and his older brother mike, Luke has autism, which I've figured out a little bit about, Luke doesn't really look at me when I talk which I play a little game to make him look at me, which he finds hilarious.

  Luke likes me to keep my distance and especially hates it when I accidentally touch him, Luke can tell you anything about dinosaurs and trains, it's scary! Luke is excellent at drawing

  He can even tell me what I had for lunch every day since I have known him, he needs to meet Simon Cowell right now, he would walk Britain's got talent, it needs to be done because Luke would win any talent contest with that talent.

  It makes me sad when a couple of kids from school make fun of Luke but he doesn't seem to notice or care, which makes him super cool, they just don't understand my friend.

  Luke speaks in an American accent even though he's from parr, I know several people from parr and non of them speak American or even very good English.

  Luke is the coolest kid I know, he can get a bit upset sometimes, once at school Luke wrecked our class because his mum was going into hospital , my teacher said ' it's because his morning routine was changed ' something about his mum didn't make him breakfast and she always does, my dad makes rubbish breakfast too, mum calls him bone-idol - don't know what that means?

  Luke flaps his arms sometimes , I've now noticed he does this when he is super happy, I join in sometimes, I wonder what people think when they see us flapping!

  I arrived at Luke's house, and the first thing I noticed was Luke hitting his brother mike and running upstairs, Luke chased him, oh dear I'm in a mad house!

  Luke's mum introduced herself to me and my mum, Luke's mum said that Sam is autistic, duh, I could have told her that before she knew, my mum said that I have told her that, as if its a problem???

  I left the oldies and went to find Luke, Luke's bedroom was amazing, Luke was in there waiting , he doesn't say much but he's still the coolest, he did tell me to come and play, he's quieter than normal, confused!!

  Luke's bedroom was like a space station, it had lights, fibre optics and cool sounds when you pressed stuff, he also had a wii, and every Mario game there is , and I mean every game.

  We played for a bit, had some toast and went to bed, great first day at Luke's.

  ~~~~~

  Tuesday

  I woke up earlier than Luke so I went downstairs, Luke's mum was making breakfast, Luke's mum said that her son really likes me, he doesn't talk to everyone, very rarely to her and that makes her really happy that I'm a good friend, there were little pictures all round the house, I asked her what they were, she told me they were called pec symbols, they are used for Luke to talk if he doesn't want to communicate, this lad has got it good!

  Luke finally got up, he's still very quite with me, sort of like his first couple of days at school, has he gone off me already? I don't smell today, I had my weekly bath yesterday, I asked him what the matter was and he just talked about Mario, I'll get to the bottom of it, I just hope it isn't my bottom, I might have to have two washes a week now!

  Luke's mum dropped us off at the park which is just near our school while she read a paper in the park, Luke suddenly became a chatter box, he spoke so fast I couldn't understand anymore, has he broken , do autistic kids break, do I need to ask for help, I shouted his mum, his mum ran over, I explained what happened , she laughed and said maybe he sees you as a school friend and your not someone who should stay at the house, it's too normal to him, his mum asked should Luke stay at ours again tonight? I feared the worse but he said yes, wow two nights with my best buddy.

  We drove back, I rang mum told I her I'm staying, I think dad was watching football I could hear cheering in the background, that night we went to McDonald's , Luke ordered with his pec symbols and ok I'm not going to lie, so did I too, I chose the fries and burger symbol, yum.

  We got back and watched tele, Luke's brother Kevin came in and wound him up and ran off again, he's starting to get on my nerves, we finally got to bed, Luke was talking to me a bit more now, I'm having a a great first weeks school holidays.

  ~~~~~~~

  Wednesday

  My last day at Luke's , gutted!

  I went downstairs, Kevin was downstairs , I wanted to leave straight away, he was 17 and everything you would expect from a 17 year old lad but then he surprised me, he told me that I'm Luke's first friend which makes me his friend too, he high fived me, he was making pec symbols for Luke, how cool is he? He even made me some breakfast.

  Luke came down, hugged his brother and sat with me...I like it here.

  After dinner Luke's mum drove me back and Luke said can I come for tea, I got excited and ran in the house to Ask mum, she Said yes.

  Luke and I played in my room, it probably wasn't as cool as Luke's but it was ok, I had a wii too and Harry potter toys, we played and Luke was talking a lot more now, maybe in his mind I didn't belong in his house, that's fine, I think I understand, sometimes I don't want people in my house when I've had a long day at school, that pretty normal.

  We had burger for tea, Luke ate all his up, I was a bit worried because Luke got upset the last time his mum didn't make him a meal, my mum said I kind of help to cope a bit better, I want that job for life.

  Mum then said the best four words in the English language ' maybe Luke could sleep' I hugged her and ran to tell Luke, he seemed a bit unsure, he got a bit panicky, flapped a bit but said yes, I again asked him is he sure, I said I could draw you some PEC symbols , I was being serious he just found that funny.

  Luke slept in my bed and I slept on the floor, he went to sleep pretty quickly, I lay there thinking I'm so lucky to have a friend like Luke, not many people understand him, which is sad but I'm lucky because I think I do.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Thursday

  Mum took me and Luke to the cinema today to watch James Bond, wow, we both were so excited , Luke cold tell me who played all the James bonds, all the films, all the ladies, were does he store all this information, it's amazing.

  He got a bit upset because this is not the cinema he normally goes to because they didn't have the right popcorn but he took it quite well, I just told him this one was better.

  We loved the film, when we got home , Luke asked my mum could he stay again, I can't believe he asked, was so happy!

  I've really got to know him better this week, he's not just my friend with autism, he's my best friend.

  That night I told him what I thought autism was when we first met, how I thought he was a spy or autism was a magical power that turned him into a dragon.

  He laughed but didn't deny it.... Interesting! .

  We played all night, talked about school, he did a great impression of our teacher, he asked me about this diary and why
I do it, I don't know why I do? I guess when I'm 79 I can look back and laugh at the fun me and Luke had.

  We finally went to bed, we talked Mario and how Gemma in our class finds Luke cute, he told me to shut up, I teased him about his American accent!

  ~~~~~~~~

  Friday

  Luke is going home today, I've had just an amazing week, Luke goes to Spain tomorrow where I go Prestatyn , hardly seems fair but there you go!

  After breakfast we dropped Luke at home, I said I would ring him after we both get back off holiday!

  I'll miss my friend.

  I've learnt a lot this week, that Luke sometimes uses symbols to talk, that when he's not in his comfort zone he can get a bit angry, that when he flaps his arms he looks cooler than me, but I've learnt he needs a friend like me, someone to help him, and I Samuel pope am the boy for the job.

  THE END

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  Andrew Maddock is a 30 year old writer from billing Wigan. He works at Lansbury Bridge special school in St Helens and is a RSW at Abbeyford childrens home again for children with disabilitys.

  Connect with me online

  Twitter @andmad54