So, getting an official diagnosis of autism hasn’t made everything as different as I thought it might. I guess I was a little surprised that my son was diagnosed as autistic rather than having Asperger’s syndrome, but since there is a list of criteria that gets checked off, if you have enough checkmarks under the autism umbrella, that diagnosis trumps Asperger’s.
The phrase “high-functioning” was mentioned a lot, though that wasn’t much of a surprise, as Brody has taken recently to becoming a walking billboard, writing “www.thx.com” on his arm and filling up reams of paper with all his favorite words.
An official diagnosis, I suppose, not only gives us a starting point, but it will make getting assistance for him a little easier. I hope.
But in the big picture, not a lot has changed. After all, he’s still my son. He still does all the goofy and amazing things he’s always done. I think it’s important not to lose sight of that.
My wife will likely roll her eyes so hard she will see into the past when I say this, but when I think about talking to my son sometimes, I’m reminded of the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Captain Picard is on a planet with an alien captain who speaks in metaphor. So instead of things like “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra,” it’s “She’s gone and I’ll never see her again,” which is something he says when he’s sad or overwhelmed. It’s from an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.
I think this is hardest on my wife, because she has to deal with both of us. But even then, knowing the reason behind something makes it a little easier to understand. Of course, knowing why your husband is obsessed with old TV commercials and crappy movies probably doesn’t help when it comes to you know, actually helping to take care of the kids, but she’s pretty awesome.
So it’s kind of an adventure for the whole family. We never know quite where the day will take us, and we don’t know what TV show or movie Mr. Total Recall will use to convey a point (seriously, it’s a little eerie watching him perform stuff he’s seen only once. He gets the inflection down pat and everything), but underneath it all, he’s a great kid, and I love watching him grow up.
Perhaps some day I’ll join him.
Jeff Sparkman is a pop culture junkie who pontificates daily on all manner of things that are vague tickles in the backs of most people’s minds, like the theme song to B.J. and the Bear or the merits of the various seasons of The Super Friends on his blog, Siftin’. He also occasionally updates his parenting blog, The Dynamic Adventures of Dork Dad. He also feels mildly apprehensive about referring to himself in the third person, but he’s getting over it, as it’s really for just one paragraph.
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Genevieve Hinson is a social media coordinator for Children's Hospital Central California. She's also a writer, wife and mom to two boys and a girl. The opinions she expresses here are her own, as is her obsession for coffee.
Wow, I totally know what this guy is going through.
I have a new post up. Wasn’t sure how this Blogging for Autism worked, and I apologize for not writing more this month. Thank you so much for getting this together and providing an opportunity for our voices to be heard. Here’s the link:
Autism Awareness Month – I’m So Proud of My Son
You know I was thinking about the little ditties and catch phrases that so many of our children use, or in our case, patterns or clumps of words that have a particular meaning or association for them.
It came up again in the context of how often they have great difficulties understanding idioms, those lovely literal minds. Yet sometimes I wonder if their ‘word collections’ don’t serve the same function as an idiom?
We use so many idioms in everyday speech that have meaning for the listener, I wonder if this isn’t their version of the same thing? When I hear those word lumps, they convey a very clear message once I understand them.
Best wishes