When I was told he has Asperger’s, I found myself swallowing hard. It was one thing to be mentally prepared but quite another to hear the actual words. My husband was almost afraid that I would burst out in tears.
No, I didn’t cry of course but my heart did feel somewhat heavy because I was hoping the evaluation might turn him up as normal afterall.
But, the good news is that the psychologist is very optimistic about his potential because his main problem appears to be the lack of demonstrated empathy which means a disadvantage during social interactions. Otherwise, she thinks that he should be able to breeze through school given his level of IQ and a fairly mild temperament.
Well, I’m not too sure about that.
Because during one of the role-play sessions where he was supposed to help a baby celebrate her birthday, he did something unexpected.
It started out fine when he made a cake out of the play-doh set. He then put on the candles, helped the baby blow them out and even proceeded to cut the cake to serve the baby and all. It looked all good until he decided to throw the pile of purple “cake” at the baby’s face! My husband and I looked at each other in horror first, before bursting out and laughing like crazy.
Lack of empathy plus an inclination for looney behavior. Now, that’s definitely a bad combination for decent social interactions if you ask me.
throwing the cake sounds like a fine thing to do! not at all looney.
imp:
Comment by imp — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 @ 5:49 pm
You’ve been incredibly open and honest about your son and I salute you in your bravery to honestly share with your readers the evaluation and diagnosis. It’s great to hear the psychologist’s optimism and hopefully you being aware will help you and your husband support him through the more difficult years. Your post got me reading about Asperger’s and somewhere it said more pple are working to get society to accept Asperger’s as a difference and not a disability. So do take heart and let’s hope you get that postponement of P1!
Hsin: Well, I certainly hope so for the postponement. I wouldn’t have wanted him evaluated if not for that because having his condition confirmed only aches my heart. I try to make light of the situation but in reality, my heart is heavy. With his temperaments, it’s probably not likely going to be a huge problem. My only concern is when he gets older and intelligent enough to grasp all these, will he feel happy?
Comment by Hsin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 @ 9:45 pm
Chloe does it too.. during her play .. it’s their way of expressing themselves.. no..??
MB: It is perfectly normal…just that it was too funny when he did it during the evaluation, given that sort of environment and situation.
Comment by Mama BoK — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 @ 4:13 pm
Well, we all did the throwing birthday cake part when we were youngsters celebrating birthdays for our friends, didn’t we?
Comment by Eileen — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 @ 10:08 am