Mornings in our home are stressful. Not the normal form of stressful, they are insane. The boys both engage in a play of echolalia that would drive a normal, sane person up a wall. They love to hear themselves talk, make noise and imitate things they have heard. This goes on for as long as they are together. In a home where there is only one autistic child, this may not happen, since there is definitely a synergistic element. In our home, it explodes, into a cacophony of baby voices, chatter, high pitched squeals and irritating sound effects. I have a friend that says "I don't know how you get through it". Honestly, I don't know how I do. It goes on sometimes for hours(on the weekends) and the noise is often deafening. Add to that their fascination with stuffed animals and animating them and it seems like an episode of Barney when they practice whining and high pitched chicken noises.
How is that for a slice of life? I don't post often about the difficulties of living with autism. It has become such a part of our daily regimen that I sometimes forget that it's not normal. Today, I realized it is only not normal but would tried the holiest of saint's patience. I also post this so that other parents, possibly with recently diagnosed children with Asperger's or Autism will know they are not alone. There are many of us. My day is full of a constant stream of prayer, asking for patience, meekness and courage. It is through them that I see my weakness. Through them that I must rely on God for my strength. I could not imagine raising my boys without my faith. I will "slice of life" more on another day.
(UPDATE: I had to go back at edit my grammar for fear Catholic Grammar Girl would catch me. I didn't have coffee this am so I did the best I could)
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5 comments:
God bless you, Thornie.
You and your family are in my prayers.
(At least you don't need the earplugs for Mass today! WOO! Thanks, St Patricks!)
HA! I don't have any children with any of those conditions, but they do those things too! I'm sure it's not to the degree of what you experience, but it has me saying, "WHAT are you guys DOING that for?" and "What the heck does that MEAN?" a lot. I think it's both cool and irritating that they have "things" they do. They just spend so much time together that they can almost read each other's minds and have a secret "language" that anyone else would think was dangerously odd and grounds for commitment into some kind of asylum for the insane. So, my kids are weird. They are NOT "normal". But, they are my kids and I love them so much. I yell a LOT, but I can honestly say, that when it's really quiet...I know something is WRONG (either that, or the oldest ones are at friend's houses and the little ones, by some miracle, are all sleeping at the same time).
That said, I'll pray that you have some peace!
My days are not even a fraction of that kinda crazy - just a lot of assisting with explanations of why something is funny, why it's not funny, soothing frayed nerves and tempers when older sister hums to herself or whistles (the stimuli that freaks her out). God bless you, truly. I'm humbled by parents like you.
http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2008/04/alaska-governor-and-possible-veep.html
if you haven't seen it, thought you would appreciate
That is an amazing story. It is my prayer that God will "punish" our family with another baby.(I mean that in a good way, of course). It's hard not to see the absurdity of such ignorant comments. The amazing thing is that his followers just look the other way and act as if this shouldn't be a problem. God, help us.
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