As a mother of a severely autistic child, I am blessed to say, this is NOT the horrible news everyone has been told that it is.. Truly, there are not enough good things to say about a family member with autism. First and foremost their honesty is far beyond the technique we mere "normal" humans exhibit, on our best day.. These guys, wow, where do I begin.. They are so honest in their character, their behavior and even their social life.. they are cautiously optimistic and enduring once they trust you.
You have someone, who will do anything to bring you joy, if you give them the same respect.. My son is severely autistic.. We THOUGHT that he could not communicate.. but we were wrong.. everything he does is communication.. just because he doesn't use his ABC's to speak.. doesn't mean he's not communicating.. as what is seen in body language, the sharing of toys, and little signs they leave around, about... what they want, what they don't want.. and so on. (like if they don't like dinner.. they go get the whole pot of it and throw it in the trash.. do you laugh or scream?) (he has learned now to just set the plate aside)..
Once we get past what "our normal" is.. we begin to see the openness declared by them in their daily processes. Like my son, sings, sings, sings.. all the time.. sings.. maybe its echolalia or maybe he's talking..hmm.
My son, I just didn't care if he hugged me or not, or called me momma, or said, "i love you", i just grabbed him and hugged him all the time.. and it "sunk" in to his mind.. LOVE.. now he is the best hugger.. in the world.. Because their senses are so overwhelmed by just simple daily activities.. their focus is different than ours.. I have found, artwork DOES help.
In Atlanta, Ga., a dr. is studying and working with the results of an MRI study, that suggested alot if not all autistics use one part of their brain all the time.. (the mathematical part).. the other side of the brain had no "light activity" during the MRI's.. so he suggested having autistic people "create".. to light up that part of the brain.. and in time.. maybe equal out what was going so strongly and taking over the other part of the brain, (You know the part that say's "stack everything you see").. so I decided, to take away the coloring books (which seemed to bore my child to death anyways).. and I handed him bottles of Crayola finger paints and a large artist paint brush.. and I asked him to paint.. on poster board.. WOW, his first paintings were.. "garbles of color" in time though he developed the concept to speak with the paints.. he started telling us what he wanted with the paints.. He would paint and say the WORD.. for instance, "Canyonlands!" (he had a magazine with Canyonlands he looked at and he really wanted to go) suddenly he was saying this word so clearly.. as I gazed into the artwork.. I realized.. YES it is Canyonlands! He now paints Legotm structures, and Mcdonaldstm signs... and characters from his favorite movies.. they appear to be abstract works of art, but definetly have the figures and colors appropriately.. I have asked a few people what they think and have been told, they see lots more in those paintings.. hm..
I handed my son a toy horse and asked him to "name him" thinking that this is "creating" and so.. he looked at that horse, and he looked at that horse and he looked at that horse... and 2 days later.. he comes to me and say's... "Neah!" (like Leah) but Neah. It occurred to me.. he may have been searching his brain, for a name he had never ever heard before.. something that tied into the figurine.. a horse.. sooo not sure if Neah is the name due to a horse neighing or b/c he searched the far reaches of his brain.. to come up with this name? But the lesson.. His mind works JUST FINE! sorta.
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