Dear world: It isn’t misbehaving. It isn’t hyperactivity. It isn’t too much candy. Or too much soda. Or too little discipline.
It’s called coping.
It’s called an autistic brain coping with this incompatible world the best way that it can.
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Tag: Scott
All week long, I’ve prepared Scott for the inevitable fact that he will wear a shirt and tie to school today. All week long he’s informed me that he will NOT wear a shirt and tie to school today.
This morning, I allowed 15 extra minutes and got out the clothes from which I would allow him to choose and he melted down. Clothes went everywhere. Tears fell. Beds were kicked. Pillows thrown. Choices given.
Yesterday, on my main Facebook and on my Hallee the Homemaker Facebook, I posted this:
Ode to the mother of the autistic child who’s had every schedule in his life obliterated by the Christmas holiday and a continuous succession of snow days…
At 7, Scott is our middle child. He is also our miracle.
Born at 30 weeks, weighing in at 3 lbs. 5 oz., Scott is a testimony of God’s amazing grace, and the power of prayer. There should be a dozen things wrong with him, from poor eyesight to breathing issues. As it is, he is perfectly and wonderfully healthy as any 7-year-old boy out there.
I’d always feared that I would come against a giant and my faith would waiver. But, 7 years ago today, I faced a true test of my faith. Instead of waivering, instead of being afraid, instead of not trusting, my faith in God, my trust in God, and my peace grew. I blogged about it 3 years ago on the piece I wrote titled Peace That Passes Understanding.
I’m not strict about turning things off on Saturdays. They don’t have time to do a lot during the school week, and on Sundays we only watch shows that are about God or The Bible. So, I tend to give them free reign on Saturdays. As summer approached, it became clear to me that the boys were anticipating every day during summer being like Saturdays. I realized I had to quell those thoughts.
I was really upset about this email, because Scott turns 7 in July. We purposefully red-shirted him and started him in Kindergarten when was already 6. What I read when I read this was that they were considering retention. I said something to a friend who has a middle schooler with Aspergers, and she said, “Call and ARC meeting.”
His pediatrician looked at him and did not like the way he acted or looked, so he sent us to the ER for a CT scan. About 5 minutes after I got there (our doctor had called ahead and immediately triaged him and put us in a room), Gregg arrived from his office, and about 5 minutes later, our pastor arrived. He annointed Scott with oil and prayed over him. (I love our pastor.) Scott was a trooper during the CT scan, even though he was scared. The results were clear – no bleeding on the brain — but he definitely has a concussion.
I KNOW he is a miracle among miracles. I KNOW the fact that he can see, hear, comprehend — those are miracles.
After being open about some issues with him and the problems we’ve had with schools, and the process we’ve gone through and such, I get a lot of inquiries from family, friends, and readers about how he’s doing.
My mom told me, years ago when Kaylee was just a baby, that there were two areas that a child felt like they had control: eating and sleeping. With everything else, they could not control you or your responses, but for some reason, they feel like they can control food and sleeping.
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