Life on the Spectrum: Literally Speaking

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Literally Speaking

For those of you acquainted with Asperger's Syndrome, you'll remember that these persons tend to be quite literal.

Big Guy actually is quite good at grasping certain abstract concepts as they relate to literature, but in real life this skill isn't quite as developed.

Here's an excellent example. Earlier this week, I had the minivan. Something unexpected came up, and Big Guy had to transport Little Guy in his car. I had the regular car seat with me, but we have a spare booster car seat to use for emergencies. I told Big Guy over the phone to use this booster for Little Guy.

Everything went fine - or so I thought. Imagine my surprise when I went out to Big Guy's car later that day and found THIS in the backseat:

That's right; Little Guy's booster seat for eating.

This definitely would provide no protection in the case of an accident.

I guess I said the word "booster" without specifying which booster seat to use, just assuming that Big Guy would grab the appropriate one as he was using it in the car.
I just feel lucky that the boys weren't involved in an accident.

And next time, even if I feel the situation is glaringly obvious, I'll make sure to be 100% specific when giving directions to this Aspie son of mine!

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Our family consists of myself, my husband of 22 years, and 4 wonderful children. "Big Guy" is our oldest and was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome four years ago. He attends college, majoring in English. "Little Guy" just started kindergarten and is also diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. We also have 2 "neurotypical" children. "Sis" is our only daughter and just began her second year of college. Her sweet willingness to help certainly is a big boost to her mother's sanity! "Middle Guy" rounds out the group; he just started high school and is quite busy with various activities. We try living each day to the fullest, never knowing what tomorrow (or even the next moment) might bring!

An online source states "Asperger's syndrome (also called Asperger's syndrome, Asperger's disorder, Asperger's or AS) is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and people with AS therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction and restricted, stereotyped patterns of behavior and interests. AS differs from other ASDs by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development."

On a more personal level, this is what a person with autism had to offer about their own experience with this lifelong developmental disability:
Reality to an autistic person is a confusing mass of events, people, places, sounds and sights. There seem to be no clear boundaries, order or meaning to anything. A large part of my life is spent just trying to work out the pattern behind everything.

A source much closer to home brings this perspective......"It's like everyone one else is playing a game that you'd really like to join, only you don't know the rules. When you ask someone to explain the rules, it's as if they are speaking in Japanese; you have no idea what they're talking about. You are left stuck behind a fence, watching as the game of life goes on without you."