So I'm sitting here with my heart full of gratitude for my son and the little challenges that he goes through every day. Most folks aren't even aware of what they are .. including me.
As most of you know my son has a form of Autism called Asperger's Syndrome. Asperger's (or AS) is basically a high functioning form of Autism. Imagine a huge umbrella and it's name is Autism and everything under that umbrella is an Autism Spectrum Disorder. There are many different degrees of Autism. Also many individually with an ASD have other social or emotional obstacles as well. For example Jonathon also has Acute Anxiety Disorder and Sensory Integration Disorder. It's all so very complex and different for everyone that there are still so many unanswered questions. Even professionals in the field of Autism disagree. When we were seeing specialists and doctors for my son we got different answers about autism from all of them.
Because Jonathon is so high functioning others expect him to be "normal". In fact unless you know someone with Asperger's or work in the field of Autism you wouldn't guess he has AS at all. In a way that's a blessing and it's a curse as well.
I'm worried for the teen years when peers can be so cruel. It's hard enough when you have great social skills... imagine if you didn't. Even at the age of seven he has a hard time making friends his own age. We've had friends over and they end up yelling at him to sit down and stop running around and making noises. I had the"privilege" of overhearing kids from church say that "he's not my friend". At the age of seven these kids already judge others. How sad is that?
I'm not sure why I'm sharing all this right now.. I'm usually not personally with my blog.. but It's my blog right? I guess it's because sometimes I get a glimpse of Jonathon's future and tonight I did with this movie. His future will be wonderful but also challenging. I guess that's the definition of life for anyone regardless if they have Asperger's or not.
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