Monday, January 7, 2008

Lucky

Lucky is how we felt from the time he was born. Our first child was healthy, happy, and very independent for a baby. He would amuse himself for a couple of hours, needing no attention at all except when he ate or needed a diaper change. He was so beautiful that, when he was eight, we had an agent come to us inside a grocery store and ask to represent him as a model.

Of course, that was not going to happen. He couldn't stand being touched by strangers, or having a constantly changing routine. His language skills were well below age level. When he got upset, he would bang things repeatedly. It was autism, exactly, certainly not Aspberger's nor Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. It's Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, in the autism spectrum.

Still, we never had to buy him a bicycle helmet to keep him from damaging his head. He was a little sensitive to loud noises and to smells, but not overly so. We had a fairly normal life. We were lucky, compared to many.

Today he plays the trumpet in the high school concert band. He washes dishes on occasion, rakes the yard, and plays Yu-Gi-Oh! with his brother and his brothers friends. Of course, he has no friends of his own, and doesn't seem to particularly want any. He's quite content with Word Searches and SoDoKu (he needs some help with the three-star puzzles). He wants to have his own apartment when he grows up (although I think a group home is more likely). In many ways he's more reliable and helpful than many of the kids I grew up with. We still feel lucky to have him, every day (well, almost every day).

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't mean to post this here. But I'm a fan of the Jazz as well!!! I'm from Wisconsin, but the Jazz are just a fun team to watch.
See you guys recently picked up Korver too. How's he been doing?

Anonymous said...

Sorry One Brow.
I posted that Utah Jazz jazz before I actually read the post. I intended on reading it (and I did) after the post. I read the portion of the Utah Jazz and just got alittle excited. You can delete that post if you'd like to. I feel like an insensative jerk for putting a post about the Jazz and a thread about your child.

When I was in college I had the pleasure of working with many children that had an array of autistic symptoms.
I remember as a college student getting frustrated with the PDD-NOS (prevasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified)category.
These were real children we were working with.... and it would just bug me at times to see such a potluck label get placed on a child. I worked on some higher functioning children all the way to one child that would just sit in the middle of his bedroom and shake strings he would pull out from the shag carpet on the floor (stimming).

I really hope I'm not offending you with this. Please don't take it that way!!!
But I'm going to keep you and your family in my prayers.
You are a very nice and considerate person to talk with and the this post about your child touched me greatly.
I don't know your child anymore than what you have posted about him, but I would consider him my friend.

God bless!!

One Brow said...

Hey, no worries. I was thinking about doins a Jazz post this weekend. Thanks you for your kind comments.

Anonymous said...

Did they beat the Suns last night?

One Brow said...

Yes, the Suns were missing Nash, Marion, and Hill; the Jazz only had Kirilenko and Millsap out. Vicotry by 22 points (led by 28 after three, I went to bed).

You ever been to JazzFanz.com? There's physics professor from Wisconsin who posts there, under the name "colton".

Anonymous said...

Wow, interesting similarity between your son and my Asperger's daughter (13 yrs. old). The sensitivity to loud noises and smells. I know it's a common trait in the autism spectrum. Sounds like he's doing very well. Some days it's hard to reconcile the fact that you love your kid so much and still be so darn frustrated by him/her.
(Just dropped by to check out your blog. Catch you on the SAB!)
Rochelle

One Brow said...

Rochelle,

Thanks for stopping by.

It seems that the frustrating part applies equally well to my non-PDD-NOS 14-year-old, as well.