Where Our Minds Go

It's amazing what your brain does once you learn your child has a developmental delay, a disability, or behavior issues. I was talking to another mom whose child was not put on the autistic spectrum, but had other developmental delays. She told me she called her son's therapist panicked one day because her son lined up all the shoes in the closet in a straight line. The therapist laughed and told her to relax. There is no appropriate way to "play" with shoes, so this was not a sign of anything wrong. (many kids with Autism do not know how to appropriately play with certain toys or appropriately use everyday objects). Although autism was ruled out for her son, this mother began looking into everything her child did.

Well, it happened with me today. I took John to the bathroom at a local restaurant. He stopped upon walking in the door, stared toward the wall, and began "flapping" his left arm. He then started giggling. I began thinking "oh no, he's flapping his arms. He has never done that before. why is it starting?"... (many Autistic children engage in self stimulating behavior, including arm flapping). Then, I looked again and noticed that he was looking at the automatic paper towel dispenser. He was "waving" his arm so that it would dispense the paper towel. I can relax now! ;)

Seriously, it's amazing how many things you look at and question, "is it the autism" or how many people just assume "it's the autism" and overlook what is really going on. It's important to remember that John is a little kid, regardless of Autism.