Anyways. Today was an interesting one.While I was home today with my sick boy who spent the night puking, running a fever and whining/crying. I get a knock at my door. I almost didn't open it because I looked like a total scrub. I am talking yoga pants, a tank top (with NO bra) hair in a pony, that I later found out was a frizzy mess, and smelling that sweet smell of stale vomit. I peek through my peep hole and see that it is my neighbor. So I open the door.
I peek my head out and she just gets right to the point. She said " HI, how old is your son"? I replied "almost 3" "Does he talk yet?" "No, he has a severe speech delay" " Oh, are you getting him help?" "Yes, We have birth to 3, he goes to an amazing preschool and will be starting school in the school system just after his birthday" " So, He is 3 and doesn't talk? That explains it!" "No, he has very few unprompted words, Why do you hear him screeching?" "Yes, I used to be a teacher, so I knew something was up, do they know what's wrong with him?" "He has Autism"
You get the point. She asked more questions about when he was diagnosed, how we knew, and if he "was always like that". I answered politely, just wanting to crawl in to a hole. Finally when that was over, I walk back in to my house and tear up.
Don't these people know there is more to my son than Autism? Can't they see how AMAZINGLY smart he is? Why can't they know that he can count and identify numbers up to 20 and knows and identifies all of his ABC's upper and lower case? Why can't they know that once he learns something it is with him FOR LIFE. He is like a freaking elephant and never forgets ( that can make for tricky parenting, by the way) Why can't they know that he figured out our fridge lock in 4 days when we were making a point to hid it from him?
It sucks that they can't know my child, It sucks that they judge him and us because they hear him screaming. I know, I know... I am just having a really hard time right now because, unless we are talking to family about Andrew, they (b-3, SSI, School) are only concerned with his deficits. It is really heart breaking to have to go over and over what your child is lacking all.the.freaking.time. I know that her heart was probably in the right place and HEY! At least she didn't call CPS on us thinking that we were beating him or something, But it is just harder as he gets older and everything is becoming more and more obvious to more people on the 'out side'. Life will go on and Andrew is lucky to have parents who are taking the steps to make sure he has a bright future. It is just overwhelming.
Anyways. I am going to leave you all with something positive! A picture of my beautiful boy :)
