My younger son has Down syndrome. I know, the headline
is about autism, so why am I talking about Down syndrome?
Because having a child who is different from the "norm" gives me a
unique perspective that helps me embrace all sorts of people whom I
might have dismissed in the past.
Like people with autism.
I remember long ago, probably based on some "Afterschool Special" brand
of TV "journalism", having thought of autism as being some scary
"disorder" of vacant-eyed people who rocked constantly and were mute.
It turns out I was completely wrong about that, and in reality, there
is a vast spectrum of manifestations of the little-understood world of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Take Jonathan Galbraith,
for example, who has the version of autism called Asperger's Syndrome,
which has rendered him "simultaneously brilliant and developmentally
delayed". He's a mechanical genius, is his school's software
expert, yet has trouble tying his shoes. I am wondering, though,
why must Jonathan be labeled? Yes, surely his label has helped him
obtain therapies and special services which have aided him, but as an
adult why can't he simply be Jonathan who happens to have some
peculiarities, but wow, he can take apart your computer, or your car, and fix it and
put it back together! It bothers me that as a society we are
still very exclusive and excluding in so many ways.
Some of the
faces of ASD aren't quite as outwardly "appealing" as Jonathan's. ASD
is often accompanied by low IQ, seizures, or difficulty connecting with
other people. There can be persistent gestures such as
hand-flapping, and many people with ASD also become immersed in the
world of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and require routine and
constancy in order to function. To me, though, people with ASD
simply have different priorities from the rest of us. I would love to
see these unique people better welcomed into society and the world at
large.
Although developmentally there is a wide variation among
all children, there are a few things as a parent that you can look for in
your own child to help determine the possibility of a variant of ASD:
- Does not babble, point, or make meaningful gestures by 1 year of age
- Does not speak one word by 16 months
- Does not combine two words by 2 years
- Does not respond to name
- Loses language or social skills
If your child exhibits any of these symptoms, you may wish to have him evaluated further. You can learn more here and here. But autism isn't the horrible sentence of insitutionalism that it once was. Just ask Jonathan Galbraith.
