Incredible article in the GUARDIAN Magazine at the week-end, written by a man with an autistic son.
This is a big help into me understanding Autism.
Interesting that when me and Mrs Beautiful sold up our home after 1 year of marriage,1965, to go and work with young offenders residentially - the first training course we did was about Autism. I don't remember a thing about it!
This gives me more understanding than anything I have ever read/experienced.
Here is two clips from his article - the full article link - see below.
Things get challenging. Your sleep is broken and stays that way. Kids with autism don't really do bedtime – they keep going, Duracell bunny-style, until unconsciousness sets in, often after midnight: 3am "parties" are common, where your child wakes up refreshed and jumps on the bed for an hour, laughing and crying.
After one rough night you take your kid out for a spin in the car to give your partner a rest – 45 minutes of nonstop screaming later you give up and come home.
Worst is the headbanging – against the hard floor, up to a dozen times a day.
Your kid's bruises are earning you dodgy looks at the supermarket checkout. It is suggested that you keep a self-harm diary to identify the triggers, but these seem numerous and obvious: hunger; tiredness; frustration at dead batteries in a toy; a scratched Pingu DVD; not being allowed to play with kitchen knives.
Then he had a breakthrough by translating and reading a book by Naoki Higashida
"For the first time I had answers, not just theories.
What I read helped me become a more enlightened, useful, prouder and happier dad.
Part two of the book is a story, 'I'm Right Here', about a boy called Shun who discovers he's dead and can no longer communicate.
My wife and I translated 'The Reason I Jump' clandestinely, just for our son's therapists, but when my publishers read the manuscript, they believed the book might find a much wider audience.
For me, Naoki Higashida dissolves the lazy stereotype that people with autism are androids who don't feel.
On the contrary, they feel everything, intensely.
What's missing is the ability to communicate what they feel.
Part of this is our fault - we're so busy being shocked, upset, irritated or looking the other way that we don't hear them.
Shouldn't we learn how?"
LINK to the FULL ARTICLE
