April is Autism Awareness Month so I wanted to write a post reflecting that. Most of your probably don't know, but Noah has Asperger's Syndrome and probably ADHD. He is undiagnosed, but if you know Noah, and you read the symptoms, you can't disagree!
Autism is not a behaviorial issue, it's not a cop-out for lazy parenting, and it's not cureable. Autism is a neurological disease, and nobody really knows how someone is affected. It's probably a mixture of environment, nutrition, and genetics.
Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is on the high functioning spectrum of Autism. Noah's main issues are that he doesn't understand social boundaries (if he isn't done wrestling, he doesn't understand why someone else would be), he can't read facial or body clues, he doesn't understand sarcasm unless you explain it, and he doesn't understand cause and effect (if I hit someone with this board they'll get hurt). All he knows is that he doesn't mean to hurt that person, so he or she shouldn't get hurt. He often says it was an accident; the getting hurt was the accident, not the hitting.
Because of these he's often seen as a bully, he seemingly has no empathy or understanding of other people's pain, and he seems callous and mean. The truth is he doesn't understand other peoples' emotions and feelings. It doesn't make sense to him so he disregards them.
Please read these links and get knowldegeable about Autism and AS! Maybe someone in your family has it, maybe someone you know has it. Be aware so you can be a help and not a discouragement!
WebMD
AS or HFA WebMD
Mayo Clinic
AS Symptoms Mayo Clinic
2 comments:
I didn't really know much about that! thanks for that information.
Do you know what is interesting... every place we have lived in the past 10 years we have either had close friends or people we regularly come into contact with a child diagnosed with AS, more severe forms of autism or downs syndrome. I have seen firsthand how callous the world can be and I want you to know that we pray for you daily. For strength and patience (trust me I run short of that on a regular basis myself) and to thank God for your loving spirit!
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