Pluggin Along

 ~ Clearly Muddled Blog ~

There’s so much going on all around us that it’s surprising to me that anyone gets anything done. I get distracted easily, so my life only runs smoothly when I’m able to concentrate or focus on one thing at a time. Because of Josh, I’m aware that when autism is thrown into the mix, it means that every sound, sight, feel, thought, and anxiety are all on high alert…all the time. I’m pretty sure my head would explode!

Josh gets tripped up by things that I never thought of as distracting, or confusing. Because of that, I did not easily recognize where his frustration was coming from.  When the order of things being done are changed, or just different than he thinks they should be done, he has a hard time recovering from it. When he comes into a situation with prior experience, veering away from that prior experience can cause him to “shut down”.  Knowing when it’s his turn to talk during a conversation causes a great deal of stress. Knowing when a conversation is over is equally unclear.

I communicate for a living. Having a child that doesn’t understand the nuances involved in everyday interaction is something I had to really work at identifying. I could see it. I could feel it. I just didn’t know what to call it, or why it was happening. The way he behaved was just different, not wrong. Josh didn’t see it as a problem – at all!

Isn’t that the way it goes? We’re all plugging along thinking we’re doing fine until someone tells us we need to be like everyone else! Maybe society needs to get its panties un-wadded. It always makes me feel better.

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Listen to the Podcast: Josh Has Autism #063: Tripping Me Up | http://sonyaking.com/josh-has-autism-063-tripping-me-up