I’m not very organized. I’ve never seen the need to conform to the way everyone else does things. So, when I found out that Josh has autism, it was a fast and furious lesson in being consistent, regimented, and patient. Three things I had only heard of up until that point! A huge change for the person voted most likely to forget her baby in the grocery store.
Josh was 7 years old when I first heard about autism. He’s 29 now, and he was in third grade when he got diagnosed. Back then, there was not a lot of information given about what a person with autism needed, and I didn’t know why he did the things he did. I thought he was just living it his way, and I was cool with that.
As he got older the difficulties he dealt with began to be more and more apparent, but the things he struggled with didn’t make sense. It seemed like there were a series of unconnected and uncooperative behaviors that happened all the time, and though I couldn’t see how, I knew that those behaviors were a pattern.
Therapists, psychiatrists, pediatricians and learning support teachers all came and went, and during Josh’s growing up years I never heard the term Executive Functioning. Could it be that my non-conforming la-la land status interfered with my retention of that information? Yes, but this is not about me!
When I discovered the following term, everything all the sudden made sense. Executive Functioning describes the skills used to stay organized, maintain self-control, to stay on task, to retain information long enough to use it effectively, to be flexible, for sustained attention, and all things necessary for planning our lives. See, I KNEW it was a pattern! Those two words have been my map to understanding.
I still refuse to conform. Now I get why Josh won’t either.
Listen to the Podcast: JHA031: Executive Functioning | http://www.sonyaking.com/jha031-executive-functioning
I'd love to hear what you have to say...Please leave a reply