13 Comments

  1. oshrivastava
    May 25, 2015 @ 10:51 am

    Reblogged this on oshriradhekrishnabole.

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  2. juliemgreen
    May 25, 2015 @ 11:03 am

    My Jackson is so much like your Jack… I have been trying to teach him about ‘social filter’ i.e. saying, “I’m surprised to see you” instead of “What are you doing here?” but I fear I would need to list every possible situation and circumstance he may encounter in life (which is of course impossible). I agree that his core is kindness, and I can only hope that people will look past the odd outburst or rude remark.

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  3. Ann Kilter
    May 25, 2015 @ 2:35 pm

    I noticed that my son now says “it is my understanding that….” before stating his opinion. Don’t know when he picked that up. Maybe someone at work suggested it. It does take some of the edge off of his statements. Though I imagine that “it’s my understanding you’re on a diet” wouldn’t go over so well.

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  4. Kim Landis Black
    May 25, 2015 @ 4:20 pm

    I have news for you, all those rules in your manual apply to those without autism too! They are things that just make a good person. I have told those same things to my now adult children over and over. My favorite thing to tell my kids was that they had a voice and needed to use it. That was especially important to my son. He was very backward and still at 19 has his moments. But he overcame that obstacle to do great things at such a young age. He told his teachers in kindergarten that they were doing things wrong. He didn’t get in trouble, because he was right and the teachers knew him because they had his sister in class two years earlier. I see more “normal”(I hate that word) in jack than you would believe. The tantrums and quirks are just things that you see that make you uncomfortable, you may be surprised at how many people don’t care about those things or don’t notice them. I know our family would love to have jack as a friend, especially if he is bringing cake lol

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  5. NickyB.
    May 25, 2015 @ 5:52 pm

    So true!!!

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  6. Cate Pane: The Clear Parent
    May 25, 2015 @ 7:22 pm

    Excellent post. It made me cry. Thank you for sharing your words.

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  7. quyenle2015
    May 25, 2015 @ 7:40 pm

    It made me crying over when you said Jack uses his voice not autism’s voice. I have my twin sons who is autism and other is more functioning but both are on spectrum. We do not compare which is better or worse because they are so intelligent and very cute boys in their ages. You have five kids, that takes a lot of you. I have four, and a twin whom take more me. They give me more patience more love to love them more because they are the one. Thanks for sharing and reading.

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  8. Elisa
    May 26, 2015 @ 11:24 am

    So insightful and accurate. You’ve given me some great ideas to use in helping my son understand himself in relation to this world. Thank you!

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  9. Missy
    May 27, 2015 @ 9:43 pm

    Oh yes. Use mommy’s manual. Can we ALL just use mommy’s manual? So good, friend.

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  10. autismmommytherapist
    May 28, 2015 @ 1:26 pm

    Lovely. It’s as if you picked my brain and wrote all my hope for my Zach. Thanks for this!

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  11. Deb
    May 29, 2015 @ 8:01 am

    I have a little Jack in me. When I take an autism spectrum test I score quite high and even as an adult I often don’t understand social situations. I am learning and getting better at navigating the world but it’s taken me 52 years so far. Jack will learn, he has a wonderful teacher.

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  12. Jeff
    May 29, 2015 @ 5:12 pm

    I would always read to my Jack and tell him a story to get him to sleep. One story I made up for him was of the ‘Bossy Boy’ who always had to have things his way and ‘just right’. The moral of the story was that this would drive others away so that the bossy boy had to bend to other ways of doing things. Love him

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  13. Christine
    June 4, 2015 @ 4:36 pm

    This is spot on to the difficulties my son Jackson faces. Thank you for a well written, heartfelt and accurate article!

    Reply

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