What do you see in the picture? A pelican perch? A log in the water? Something else? I think of a sea monster. A great Goliath of a sea monster, hiding beneath the surface of the water waiting for an opportune time to strike. Autism Spectrum Disorders are a lot like that. Lots of kids seem "normal" or even an acceptable version of "artistic" or "weird" until something triggers them.
Some ASD kids have hyper-sensitive senses. Hearing, for example, can become very acute. For an ASD kid, the neighbor's lawn mower starting up can sound like a 757 jet engine roaring in their little faces. Or a baby's cry can be torture, akin to locking yourself in a small, metal room with a fire engine siren on full blast. Lots of senses can be affected. Touch - for instance, tags in clothes or certain textures can be a nightmare. Smell, Taste, even Vision can make some ordinary tasks impossible for an ASD kid.
Unless you are a parent of an ASD child, you probably won't be able to tell an ASD from an ADHD. (For added fun, some spectrum kids also have ADHD!) Unlike Down's syndrome, there is not a specific set of visual clues for the observer to pick up on. Think about that, the next time you are in a store or restaurant and a child goes in to full melt-down mode. I know I used to blame the parents. "That's bad parenting," I would think to myself and chuckle about how I'd never be that lenient with my own kids. HA! The things you don't know until you live them! Now, I'll cheerily bribe DEE-structor to get a little peace in my house. He ridiculously easy to bribe, too. Chocolate works every time.
So, how do you teach a kid how to deal with life (and all the other people who have NO CLUE your little guy has ASD)? Any suggestions would be welcome! For us, it's immersion therapy. We take DEE-structor to all kinds of places and are prepared for a meltdown. At birthday parties, we prepare ourselves to leave almost when we come through the door. Each time we take D. somewhere new, he gets a little more comfortable, a little more experienced. D. has also discovered that new things can be fun. We try to "balance" his needs with our normal chores. We are teaching flexibility, by changing when we can.
