Car Crash

One of our neighbours crashed through our front fence on Monday night. He wrote off his car and did major damage to our fence and gate but luckily he was OK. Amazingly he didn't even get a scratch!!

He somehow managed to knock one of the posts clear out of the ground.

And here's an artistic view of that post from Will the next day!

Will was asleep at the time but the noise of the crash (like an explosion) woke him and then the car horn was stuck on and it drove him crazy. Just an example of his sensory issues where noise causes him physical pain.

Soothing Patterns

Will loves patterns, like this one he created on his iPad.

Why blog?

I’ve been making diary notes and jotting down thoughts over the past two years on what it’s like dealing with autism in my family and have plans to eventually write a book, just for the personal satisfaction mainly and maybe preserving “family history” in some small way.

In September I decided that starting a blog would be a good outlet for some of these thoughts, regardless of whether anybody else actually reads it.

In the past month, since my first post, I’ve discovered numerous autism and asperger blogs, many of which are fascinating. It’s been a revelation to find all these other people with similar experiences to myself. Reading the words, a lot of the posts could easily be describing me. Amazing that there are so many shared experiences and that there are so many people who have been diagnosed later in life.

Growing up, I remember “fitting in” until I was 12, 13 or so then always felt my divergent interests, and the fact that the thoughts and feelings in my aspergian mind couldn’t connect to my friends any more, put me at odds with those friends. I never wanted to be a “sheep” though and have always been defiant in sticking to those interests and not following trends.

While everyone else was listening to Abba, I was listening to The Clash. While everyone else was getting drunk, I was at the cinema watching a movie. While everyone else was watching mindless action or frat-boy movies, I was discovering Casablanca, A Clockwork Orange and other more intelligent fare. While everyone else was driving fast cars I was a passenger, observing, taking notes and writing it all down.

I’ve always been interested in writing and wrote a tenpin bowling column (of all things) for my local newspaper for a decade (1990s) as well as an online version, before blogs were blogs really. I also wrote lots of fiction and had some sci-fi short stories published in my early twenties.

It’s also been rewarding reading about other people dealing with autistic children. For a while after Will’s diagnosis it was tough to deal with and felt very isolating. It seemed we were the only ones fighting the good fight to help our child. Gradually Will has met other autistic children through an Outreach program and Kelly has become good friends with some of the other mothers.

I didn’t intend on such a big gap between posts but a couple of days after my first post, a fox came onto our property and killed 16 of our chooks (Australian slang for chickens) in the middle of the day. That was devastating to Will, my wife Kelly and me.

Artistic Autistic

Will hated art in his first years at school. His teachers knew that Kelly was artistic and put so much pressure on Will that he cracked and refused to do anything in art class.

He's since found his feet somewhat and a couple of years ago won the Stewards' Award at our local show.

This year he's done some nice work including collages, etchings and canvases plus some computer-generated images.

It's great to see him blossoming although he still needs quite a bit of encouragement to keep his mind on the job. He battles through the process to get the end result.

 

Created with Complexification's Substrate program and modified with the Aviary photo editor

Life as I know it

Autism.

Small word. Big meaning.

Yes, change is constant and inevitable ... but my life really changed in August 2010 when my son Will was diagnosed with autism. He had turned 9 two months earlier.

My wife and I had always thought Will was just quirky. He enjoyed being by himself at times, was obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine, he didn't like going to noisy children's birthday parties at McDonalds or Hungry Jacks, he didn't have a lot of the social skills other kids his age had (saying "hello" didn't mean much to him), he made up his own words for certain things in his life, he hated being in group photographs and so on.

We'd checked all the available information on "autism" when Will was two years old and three years old but were told by our GP and paediatrician that Will definitely wasn't autistic. So for the next six years or so ... which aligned with two years of pre-school, then kindergarten, year one, year two and into year three we tried to help Will "fit in". Those early school years were absolute hell ... for Will and for us as his parents.

Will was diagnosed at ASPECT in Sydney and eventually was given an aide at school but that unfortunately didn't work out as we'd hoped and when Will was mid-way through year four he commenced distance education, which he's been doing for a year now.

Like a lot of parents in the same situation, after the diagnosis we did a lot of reading, scoured websites, watched a myriad of documentaries and attended seminars including that of Australian autism-expert Tony Attwood. Autism is most likely genetic and the finger is pointed usually at the father, especially "older" fathers. I was 41 when Will was born. So I was assessed and classified with aspergers. At age 50!

That's my background and the reason for starting this blog. Aspie with an autistic son. This will be about life as I know it.