Autism Awareness Day 2 April 2010

 

Regular readers are probably aware Boy Child has Aspergers.  He was diagnosed at age 6 but we had been concerned about certain things he did from about 2.5 or 3 years of age.  We spent more than 3 years being told that all kids do x, y or z depending what it was we were concerned about at the time.

Here are just some of the weird, wonderful and sometimes bizarre things that have been part of our lives.

Noises of small motors would freak him out.  The vacuum cleaner couldn't be used while he was in the house.  The hand dryers in public toilets would cause him, to cower and cry with his hands over his ears.

He threw up every time someone tried to get to him to eat a food he considers ‘gross’.  Sometimes he would throw up just sitting near the ‘gross’ food. This started in day care and continued until about two years ago.

He has a phenomenal memory.  He would talk about a holiday we went on just before he turned two in detail until after he was 4.

In order for him to go to sleep we would have to lie down with him for at least 2 hours every night.

Playing imaginative games as preschooler /early school age child meant he told you what character you were and exactly what your character had to say and when.

At 6, Boy Child could apparently talk to animals in their language.   This lasted around a year. 

He was never going to reach a certain age as he was going to turn into a half dinosaur half boy on the eve of his birthday.

He likes to collect things.  I once discovered he had collected a drawer of rubbish.

He was a junior black belt in Tae Kwon Do before he turned 8.

Boy child is very creative and artistic.  He likes to invent characters.  One set of these characters appeared in every piece of work for English for a year.

He is now 11.5, he has friends who he walks to school with and plays with.  He is very into music, is in the school band and does Funk.  He doesn't understand why some boys are looking at girls and saying they are ‘hot’.  Apparently that is gross and wrong.

He is the kid that other mothers talk about.  They say things like “wow, isn’t he good looking and polite.” “You better lock him up, all the girls will want him.” He is unimpressed by all the attention.

He still doesn’t sleep well but he lets me hug him now without pulling away and that is worth cherishing.

Thanks to Jen at Jemikaan and Katrina from Little Tassie Terrors from whom I borrowed this idea ,  Madmother who posted great pictures of Boy 1 and Kakka who is Menopausal Mumma  and who posted a nice positive post.

I hope this post brought a little  Autism Awareness into your life today despite being very late.