I’m the father of a 6 year old boy diagnosed with autism when he was 4. He’s considered non verbal although he has some stock phrases and sounds he uses daily.
The thing is I’m worried if I’ve made the right decisions and I’m worried about his future.
Will he ever talk more? Will he do well in mainstream school? Will he be OK?
I’d be interested in hearing your experiences especially if you started as non verbal.
Did it get easier for you? When did you start talking more?
i was diagnosed recently (i’m middle aged) and i’ve since learned that people on the spectrum get along better with other people also on the spectrum.
when i learned both of this; it reminded of me of my childhood and how other children who existed on the non-communicative portions of the spectrum gravitated towards me despite me never trying to form a relationship with them. in all of these cases the parents of the child pushed school guardians and took action themselves to keep their children away from me and the only reason i ever heard was that they were afraid that their child was going to be hurt because i could never understand what it was like to live on the spectrum.
if you want your child to have friends and you can see that he gravitates towards another child who seems neuro-typical: encourage it through that child’s parents. also: if they’re anything like my parents; they would have been insulted at the suggestion that i was on the spectrum and banned me from ever associating with your child, so don’t mention that that’s the reason why you’re doing it.
I think he wants friends but doesn’t know how to make that initial engagement. Some children thankfully gravitate towards him so he is getting some social interaction, school holidays are rhe worst for us as parents tend to avoid us.
i regret the way i behaved as a kid when i learned about the stigma attached to befriending the shortbus kids and the memories of doing it to people who are just like me are going to haunt me for the rest of my life; the people who aren’t automatically bigoted like this are gods among people.
Lol, yes, it can feel like everyone has it sometimes as you just always seem to find each other without trying.