On how to raise a special needs child, experiences, gained from the outside world, translated…
Although we’d still yet to receive the combined assessment report of Strong, but, the psychiatrist who’d done the evaluation for him said, that his cerebral palsy may have been caused by a heightened level of insulin in him, that’s made him developmentally delayed in his physique, his cognition, as well as in his language. He’d also shown signs of lacking socialization, stereotypical or repeated behaviors too, and the psychiatrist listed him as “Autistic Spectrum Disorder”, at the same time, he’d explained, how they’d used a sort of a light spectrum as they did the evaluation, which showed, that everybody in the world is autistic, to some extent, it’s just the severity that’s different, that we all have different ways of interacting with our external environments.
After hearing this assessment, don’t know way, I’d felt, more steady, after all, this was, no big deal, considering how the doctor said he might be a vegetable for the rest of his life, comparing, autism doesn’t seem that bad, we’d not felt especially sad, just believed, that we only needed to get enough information on this developmental disorder, and use a more active way of accompanying him, to find an alternative source of treatment.
Perhaps, it’s because we were already, prepared before, so, we’d, quickly, entered into our problem-solving mode, and can speak of Strong’s condition with everybody we know, we’d no longer needed to, explain why Strong didn’t like maintaining eye contact, or how he’d loved playing with fans, and other circular items, or what as he was almost two, he’d yet spoken his first word; and, as other people “kindly suggested” to us, we should have another baby, that we’d told them, unless Strong told us, that he’d wanted a younger sibling, and grown the abilities to look after his younger siblings, otherwise, we shouldn’t, have a second child, who will become his surrogate mother or father.
In a gathering, as I was chatting with my former graduate professor and his wife about Strong, being anthropologists, they’d understood not to show me their sympathies, instead, they’d, recommended books to me, “The Anthropologist on Mars”, so I can, learn about the differences through reading the literature myself.
Of them, “The Odd Genius” and “The Anthropologist on Mar”, are both about people who are autistic. Both mentioned that those with autism showed advances in music, art, mathematics, and many other different areas, or that they have above average focus or memory. More importantly, it’d described how although they seemed uninterested in other people, but they still have emotional needs, even though they lacked the ability to understand what love is, but they have their own special way, of expressing it, how they’re able to, soothe themselves, show care or concerns toward other people, or animals.
Although we have yet to discover how Strong is special, but, we’d viewed his special needs as something that’s, unique to him, and, gave him the love the best we can, hoping, that he will one day, develop the ability to be loved by other, as well as loving others as well.
And so, even though, there’s no treatment for autism, there are, things you can do, to make the passages of these special needs children easier, by leading them to discover what they’re good at, by helping them grow up the way they’re, supposed to, and what if they don’t fit properly, into those BOXES, nobody’s supposed to fit properly inside those boxes that we adults, are currently making ourselves live in right now!
Life, the Obstacle Course 