I love mysteries, and it's a good thing, because I've been handed one of the all time greatest mysteries of the universe, the mind of a son with autism. He intrigues me, frustrates me, amuses me, and drives me nuts all in the same day.
He can read phone numbers perfectly, but is always stumped when he comes to a zero. Does his mind confuse the zero with the letter O and a circle? I don't know. He knows all of his letters, but only in uppercase. He can read some sight words, but only if and when he wants to. He can be hilarious, but there are so many things I see and hear him do that he won't do at school or therapy. This is so frustrating!
I see all the time that we love and accept him exactly how he is. We adore him. But it's a fine line we have to walk between accepting his limitations and pushing him to do the things he can do, but doesn't want to try on his own. Most of his life, from about 20 months until now at the age of 5, he has been in therapy of one kind or another to push him a little farther ahead than he naturally wants to go. Has it been worth it? It depends on how you look at it. It hasn't cured him of autism. He hasn't made any huge strides in therapy. I think he learns much more at home than he does in therapy, but we have to be a team. I can't do it all at home, school can't do it all, and neither can his therapists. If we're all teaching him the same things, though, it eventually starts to stick. A little. Sometimes. :)
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