'NORMAL' SHOULDN'T BE THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE REALM

[Guest guest]

http://www.autism-help.org/story-normal-autism.htm

'NORMAL' SHOULDN'T BE THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE REALM

By Nessel

The Kansas City Star

Sun, Feb. 11, 2007

As the mother of a child on the autism spectrum, I'm becoming

increasingly dismayed by the notion that children like my son are

somehow deficient and need to be " cured. " I realize I'm stepping into

a minefield here. A diagnosis of Autism or one of its related

disorders can be a wrenching event for a family, particularly if the

child is so severely affected that he or she is deemed unlikely to

ever speak, laugh or connect with another person in any meaningful

way.

But for many of us with less-severely affected children,

the " tragedy " of Autism simply isn't. In our current culture of

pathology, children who 50 years ago would have just been considered

a bit odd, or loners, now have a diagnosis, a therapy team, endless

rounds of assessments, a mound of county and school district

education plan paperwork and, all too often, a pile of prescription

medications.

Certainly, children on the autism spectrum have different needs than

typical children. And, for profoundly affected children, those needs

may involve fairly intensive treatment.But where is the line between

helping a child connect with the outside world and shattering his

inner world? Try asking an autistic adult. With a growing presence on

Internet forums devoted to Autism, they're not hard to find.

But if you're a member of the cure-at-any-cost crowd, brace yourself.

In essays ranging from the quietly eloquent to the explosively

outraged, autistic teens and adults are speaking out against the

prevailing attitude that their personality and behavioral traits

constitute a disease that needs to be cured. And they're right.

Here's what's " wrong " with my child: He plays alone and can become

quite anxious around other children. He reverses his pronouns,

calling himself " you " and other people " me. " He'll chatter to himself

all day, but he can't initiate or maintain a conversation with

another person. His speech is mostly echolalic - he simply repeats

what he's heard. He's a bit clumsy. He has very little capacity for

imagination or " pretend " play. He'll sometimes take himself for a

spin - around and around and around. He develops intense fascinations

with ordinary objects, including, unfortunately, fire alarms. He

lines up toys and household objects. A lot.

That's pretty much it. Oh - and he knew his entire alphabet at 18

months, was beginning to read by his second birthday, could write

soon thereafter and absolutely loves spelling.

In our aforementioned culture of pathology, even this is a problem.

And, of course, it has a label: hyperlexia- the opposite of dyslexia.

Only in this case, the opposite of a disability isn't an ability.

It's a common " symptom " of - here's another label - Pervasive

Developmental Disorder/Not Otherwise Specified. That's his official

diagnosis. If it sounds a bit alarmist and vague, that's because it

is.

He's always been an unusually happy and giggly child, only managing

about one tantrum every six months. He gets along quite well with

adults and loves being tickled. At three, he's beginning to get

interested in math - having long ago grown bored with simply counting

things, he wants to learn addition and subtraction. I'm sure there's

a label for that, too, along with a course of treatment and a long

list of therapy programs recommended by people with a financial stake

in those programs, but I'm not looking it up. And please don't e-mail

me with information about it. I'm not interested.

Will I be more interested, though, when he gets old enough to feel

the pain of being on the losing end of playground politics? What

about adolescence, a time that is emotionally rocky under even the

best of circumstances? How will he cope? I have no idea what lies

ahead. And if he were " normal " ? I'd have no idea then, either.

But somehow, I doubt that I will regret giving him a childhood that

involves more play time than " program " time.If you think my concerns

don't apply to you or to anyone you know, you might want to think

again. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

revised upward its estimate of the prevalence of Autism to 1 in 150

American children.

If that were accurate, my neighborhood statistically would be home to

more than 600 children, since, including my son, there are at least

four autism-spectrum kids within three blocks of my house. The school

district I live in, Blue Valley, is said to have a rate of Autism

Spectrum Disorders that's twice the national average. And if the

demographic trend of later-in-life childbearing continues (Autism has

been strongly linked to the age of the parents - particularly the

father - at the time of conception), more and more parents will face

decisions about how best to raise their autistic children.For my

part, I'm done listening to people who think I should try to hammer

my square-peg child into the round hole of " normal. " Normal is simply

not in his future.

No, this does not mean I'm pulling him out of the wonderful special-

education preschool where devoted and amazingly patient teachers and

therapists, along with " peer models " his age, are giving him

opportunities that I could never give him at home. And it doesn't

mean I'm not getting a little additional therapy for him to help him

learn how to converse.

After all, someday I want to be able to sit down with him and talk

about why I love him just they way he is.

[Guest guest]

>

> http://www.autism-help.org/story-normal-autism.htm

>

> 'NORMAL' SHOULDN'T BE THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE REALM

>

> By Nessel

> The Kansas City Star

> Sun, Feb. 11, 2007

>

well you don't read that everyday! But it sure is nice to see. Maybe

the tide is turing and despite well meaning doctors and media that

believe it is ok not to love or support your child, parents are forging

their own corse of loving and parenting their child with extra gifts.

Mimi has also been called an ideaist that would have been better off a

hippie