A Lesson from My Autistic Son
Perspective is Everything
I knew my son was different before his first birthday.
Though he hit all the milestones, Ewan scooted on the floor instead of crawled, and never was a disagreeable child. Toys were flown through the air as if they were all airplanes, and the wheels of toy cars, in particular, were of great interest. He never babbled and seemed impervious of the bottom half of his face — like his chin, jaw, and tongue didn’t exist.
The doctors told us he had oral dyspraxia, and that it could be a barrier to him learning to speak.
https://exceptionalindividuals.com/about-us/blog/what-is-verbal-dyspraxia/
As a new parent, learning that you might never hear your child speak is the icing on the cake when dealing with the stress of an autism diagnosis. To keep from being overwhelmed, I broke the issue down into smaller parts I could handle. My intense study of him began with a fervor. I’m an observant person myself, and I made note of things that brought him joy or upset him, such as objects that moved with no discernible patterns — like other children, or dogs. I made efforts to help him avoid these stressful situations.
