My first post and decisions to be made. I have been thinking about some words I have heard. Or better yet phrases I hear. We hear alot of conversations with the term “typically developing kiddos” and “non-typically developing” I also get questions of “what is autism” and recently “how can one kid have Autism as a child and not when they grow up?” That last one is my favorite. I wanted to respond “If I knew that there wouldn’t be Autism!” but I didn’t, I simply added some of the things I have learned about connecting diet with ABA etc, and tried to explain that Autism is a social disorder. It is sometimes a hard concept to grasp. When I tell people that my son simply doesn’t understand whats going on around him, they look at him and wonder how that could be possible. You can see it in their eyes, they are trying to understand, but it doesn’t make sense. I am sure they are thinking, like I did when I first found out, well he can see can’t he, how can he not see the things around him? but as time goes on it becomes easy to understand. Relating it to intense focus, or blinders on a horse helps people to get a basic idea. It may not be the best analogy around but it works for me and I will stick to it.
Then I heard a speech by one of the founders of SARRC (Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center) Denise Resnick. She was talking about how autistic children are growing up and SARRC is developing new programs for teens and adults. It is no longer just a childhood disorder. Many adults and teens are living with Autism. As she told a story about her teenage child, she was making jokes about how determining a “typical” teen was impossible. It got me thinking, what exactly is typical. I understand they have a standard learning curve, and they say the average child, or person, should be able to accomplish certain cognitive stage by specific ages. But 2 things come to mind. 1) when I tell someone that my child’s major problem is speech. He can’t speak at 4, they always have a story of a child they know who didn’t start talking until 4 or 5. So I wonder what is typical about that? 2) She was very correct about teens. Just try to find a typical teen. Things have changed over the years. Individuality is in everyday life. We all want our kids to be individual. To be themselves, and act like themselves and not worry about what others think. Therefore everyone is different or “non-typical”.
Just random thoughts, but it got me thinking about the complexity of words and perception. Then I try to have a conversation with my child and those complexities go away. He fell off the bed and said “ouch” without any word prompts. A very appropriate response I thought. A few more non prompted words that come out are “up” “more” and the best is when we play Mario Cart on Wii before every race it counts down from 3. He lives for that moment. He will sit and play for hours just to copy “3, 2, 1, GO” Ohhhh its such a simple sequence of words but so beautiful to a parent of Autism. I could listen to the words “up” and “go” all day, everyday. It made me start to think how much I like Autism. It helps me to see things just a little more simple. It keeps things in perspective when life can get complex. I was scared when I first learned about it. Sad when the diagnosis came down, and now Happy everyday I get to laugh with him. Its official I like Autism.
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