Line 'em up

I have had the pleasure of spending a few hours this week with my little Tokoroth, I adore him! I am biased, of course, because he is my flesh and blood. There are days when he reacts positively normally and there are days when he really, really doesn't!



Currently he spends a lot of his waking moments finding containers of liquids either in the bathroom, or the kitchen, and lining them up. It doesn't matter how many times you pick them up and put them back he just keeps getting them back out and lining them up again. And again.

I'm not really much help, I just help him get them really straight and make sure they are organised into types as well as straight lines.

I can't imagine where he gets it from.

Reaction

When it was first proposed that the Tokoroth might have an autistic spectrum disorer I was asked whether I felt disappointed.

"Yes," I said, "I was hoping for Tourettes." :D

The Genetic Link

This post should be subtitled: "He caught it from me?"


I was reviewing the video (DVD) that accompanies the OU course when I was struck by the story of a young boy who is identified as being on the spectrum. At the same time the doctors observed that his grandfather was a bit 'odd' and he (the grandfather) was subsequently diagnosed with Aspergers at age 55.

As I listened to the grandfather speak about his childhood, his social seclusion and the film highlighted the frequent genetic (hereditary) link with autism I was already on the phone to my Mum.

"Mum, you remember how the doctors couldn't explain my rocking when I was a child and how you could take me anywhere when I was a toddler because I just played under a table quietly with a single toy for hours? And you remember how I grew up a bit of a loner who couldn't leave the house without following a very specific pattern? And you remember how I'd pretty much read every Enid Blyton book from every library in our town by the age of 10?"

Yes, it would appear that I may also be undergoing some tests alongside The Tokoroth. I'm pretty sure I'm normal but not everyone else agrees! :D

Audiology & Speech Therapy

On Monday The Tokoroth had an appointment with the Audiology and speech therapy unit. I wasn't at this so I am waiting for his Mum to join in here or send me a report.

SK124

Quite by chance I recently embarked upon an Open University (OU) science degree. The second module, which I am just starting is SK124: Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorders.


I will use this website as place where I write about what I learn as an aid to study but also as a way to understand him and the process of diagnosis.

Diagnosing...

Like a lot of parents we first noticed that the Tokoroth was a bit different a little after he was two. The usual things that concern parents: lack of eye contact, strange vocabulary and just generally not developing at the standard pace.

We're pretty chilled about these things and thought he might be a slow developer or just the last of the bunch (he's the youngest of three). Tokoroth's mum certainly thought so I but I wasn't so sure.

At first I thought he was autistic but he didn't really tick any of the boxes and it wasn't until much later that I encountered the term 'Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)'.

That was, for me, when the penny dropped and the journey began.