My autistic son.

[zns]

I have Asberger Syndrome, and let me tell you, whatever your son goes through in life I understand completely. As I get older though, I am able to realize what I say and do and try to think clearly about what I am doing and how it affects me and the other people that I am around. But I have made a pact for myself. I intend to enjoy life, stay optimistic, and admire those that care.

 

[RedPiggy]

I have a couple of friends, both Aspies. One of them, my male friend, despises being PC, which I have to say I admire and respect. He also swears my mom and I have Asperger's, since we seem to have plenty of the signs. I don't really see the point in getting assessed for a diagnosis now, though. I'm already who I am.

 

[Scott S]

Beaker, I don't want to influence you, but you seem like one of those people that understand disabled kids. I know most of Daniel's teachers have a twinkle in their eye at the end of the day talking about what happened that day.

Red, you have an outstanding outlook on life! I am like you when I see people not appreciating the gifts they have. Primarily parents that have kids that do not have any medical or learning diabilities. (My daughter had medical problems when she was born). These parents have perfectly normal kids and yet they do not spend the time to raise them (in my eyes) correctly. Too often people take what they have for granted.

Z, I have learned so much about myself from Daniel. I am easily borderline Asbergers. I am not very social, I HATE eye contact for example. In my younger days when I had too much I would say that I had "sensory overload". Now I see that Daniel has that all the time and when he has too much he shuts down and goes into a shell. I am glad that you know about your condition (I grew up not knowing) and you also have a great outlook!

You all are AMAZING! I have learned that there are angels on the face of the earth and I am have seen 3 of them right now.

 

[Scott S]

Redpiggy, I don't need a diagnosis, I fully admit that I have a touch of it. I know there are varying degrees of autism. Luckily Daniel is "high functioning". Once you learn about autism it seems like you start to see pieces of it in people that you know. Like I said I have learned so much about myself through Daniel, and we see definite signs of it in my wife's family. No wonder that Daniel has it then.

But he is a complete joy!

 

[RedPiggy]

I was very outgoing as a child. Withdrawal was learned, really. I can sniff out inconsistencies in people's behavior pretty quickly, which means I'm not very popular. I can have obsessive thoughts (which has hurt my school/work performance sometimes). Although I am (usually, if I'm not stressed out for other reasons) very friendly, I would rather have the puppies we're getting. Animals don't act like people do. I also admit to coasting a lot through school ... I didn't really have to study hard until college. I'm a non-linear thinker ... so I tend to end up looking like my head is scrambled and my attention is shot. It makes me very creative, but people get mad when sometimes I lose track of details.

 

[Xerus]

X, WOW! Very rare that you were diagnosed that that age (We are close in age BTW). Daniel has it pretty good. So what are you doing now for work? I don't want to ask any questions and insult you, but would obviously like to hear more about you. I know I certainly have some autisitc tendancies. I HATE looking anyone in the eye for one thing.

Scott

Well, I hope someday to be a famous cartoonist, but right now I have a job filing papers for the city. And I live in a condo close to my parents' house. It's a pretty simple quiet life.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Great story Scott S. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Nick22]

That is really a touching story. I have a cousin who's autistic. He is usually very energetic and loves TV. He is also very loud and loves to be around people. He is also very tough, and very funny sometimes.

 

[Scott S]

RedPiggy, I like how you described how you think. You reminded me that many people say that Einstein was probably autistic. For the reasons that you describe, and also the fact that he would do "thought experiments" where he would visualize things and many autistic people are described to "think in pictures"

X, That sounds great! We know that we are going to be enjoying Daniel's company for many many years, so it is cool that you are on your own. Would you care to post one of your cartoons here?

Ilike, there are daily and hourly struggles, but all in all he is such a joy we are grateful for him. Plus we have seen many degrees of autism and we are thankful that he is high functioning. Although in reality that is not how you want to describe your son.

Nick, Hopefully your cousin likes the Muppet show. We showed Daniel how to use Netflix for the Muppet show and now he has the top of the queue loaded with the Muppet shows. We have to tell him to let some of our stuff at least be #2 and 3 in the queue.

 

[Scott S]

Oh yeah, I got him the Muppet board game yesterday for his birthday next month! Woo Hoo!