Saturday, 14 November 2009
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Normalizing Relations
Two weeks ago, our 7-year-old son was invited to a neighborhood birthday party. He waited in line with the rest of the kids for his cake and ice cream, then the birthday boy's dad asked him what he would like to drink."Alcohol," E-man says, a proud participant in his school's D.A.R.E. program.
We found out later this was the first word he has *ever* spoken--before or since the birthday party--to our neighbor, after several years of conversational rebuffs on our son's part.
I always enjoy sharing these kinds of stories with other parents of children with autism ... we all have them, right? And it helps me get over my embarrassment to know there are parents out there who have similar experiences!
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About the Author
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- From: renaej6@xanga
- Name: Renae
- Location: St. Louis, Missouri, United States
- About Me: Around 40-something, married with five children, four girls, one boy smack-dab in the middle whose *issues* place him on the autism spectrum. The rest of us don't have the luxury of a formal diagnosis ;^). Ministry-minded, Gospel-focused, city-loving, downwardly-mobile, living purposively in the midst of the already-but-not-yet Kingdom of God.
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Comments (2)
Cute little story.
Makes me have a bit of hope for children with autism..
My mom, at the time unaccustomed to my kid's way of speaking, had bought watches for both of my kids - infinity watches that have a sort of holographic appearance to them. I told the kids that their Grandma would love to hear a "thank you" on the phone. My oldest said, "The watch is way cool!", talked a few minutes, announced his younger brother, then took off. The youngest said, "Mom said you would love to hear a thank you on the phone... Yes I got the watch.", then handed me the phone as he took off to do his thing, with my mother asking, on the phone, "So...did you like your watch?"
I picked up where he left off, and, eventually, we both came to smile about the fact that he at least reached out enough to say that much.
There will be a few socially awkward moments. Relatively recently, the kids went to a school function. There were female friends who asked my youngest if he was attending. The misunderstanding/social nuance thing came into effect when he had to have it explained, after the event, that none of the friend girls were asking him to "go with" them [as each came with dates], but were rather asking if they would meet there.
Things will get better, though. They always do.