Before I back my ears and dive into today's post, I have a confession. I've been withholding posts. Saving them because of the April A-Z blogging challenge. I figured I should stockpile some of them because I've never blogged every day before. In fact, was pretty sure that I couldn't come up with something interesting every day for a week, much less 6 days a week for 4 weeks.
My youngest child, T, is 6. And we've known for a while that he was 'different' from his older brother and sister. For some reason when we lived in Carolina no one wanted to be upfront and tell us what exactly it was, even though we asked point blank on many occasions starting when he was 3. Now that we are in Idaho within two weeks of being in his new Kindergarten class his teacher asked if they could re-evaluate him for is IEP (individual education plan) for next year to determine what services he can get. Wanting the best for him always and in all ways we consented. They have been very forthright and suggested to us something that we've long suspected about our little T. He has Aspergers Syndrome which is a type of high-functioning Autism.
Here is a link to the Mayo Clinic's page about Asperger's Syndrome if you are interested. In my recent research I've found its one of my favorite pages for explaining it in 'lay terms'.
There is no need to feel bad for me or wonder if I'm okay with it. That 'label' doesn't change him one iota. He is still the perfect, amazing wonderful boy that he was before his uniqueness had a name. Now I can research it and develop the parenting skills necessary to help him feel safe and secure and be happy and successful. He is amazingly good on the computer and with math, like way above his grade level, but he isn't particularly social and likes to wear shirts without collars and elastic waist pants. I have a theory that on some level we all have little trade offs in our personalities to one degree or another.
I go through all this to tell you that we were discussing with his older sister J (who will be 11 next month). The conversation went like this...
Mom&Dad: We all know that your little brother T is 'different'. Right?
J: Right....
M&D: Well, that 'difference' has a name.
J: Okay....
M&D: It's called Aspbergers.
*J nearly falls off the bed laughing*
All she heard was 'Ass Burgers'.
