Ups

So, I realized just after I finished my last post, that this blog is called UPS and downs with ASD, and although there are a lot of challenges associated with having kids on the Autism Spectrum, there are also some good things about it.  It is time for me to focus on some of those good things.

My oldest son, Allen, has a very definite view of what is right or wrong.  There have been several times when we have been watching a movie, and a character will make a decision that he knows is wrong because of peer pressure, or some other external force.  Allen almost always comments about what a stupid decision it was.  He really can't understand why someone would do something they know is wrong to save face.

One of my favorite examples of Allen standing up for what is right happened when he was in 1st grade.  I was teaching Music at the school where he attended, and one day, I was out on the playground at lunchtime, when I was approached by a teacher's aide.  The school had an autism cluster, and there were two classes of autistic children with different levels of severity.  The goal was to include these kids in the school day as much as we could.  I had all of them attend my music classes, and it was fun having them there.  They had a special place in my heart.  The teacher's aide worked in the younger autistic class, and she came to let me know that Allen had been bullying some of the autistic kids.  When she tried to talk to him, he had run away from her.  I was devastated, and quite angry!  I thought I knew my son pretty well, and I couldn't imagine him acting that way.  I walked out to where Allen was playing, and I told him that he needed to come and talk to the teacher's aide.  There were 3 boys involved in the incident, and while I was gathering up Allen, the other boys (who were a grade older than Allen) had been sharing what had happened.  When the truth finally came out, it turned out that Allen wasn't bullying the kids, he was sticking up for them.  He was pushing and shoving the older boys, and yelling at them to leave the autistic kids alone.  He told them that they didn't understand the teasing, and the older boys needed to back off.  I was really proud of him for sticking up for the kids.  He was in trouble often in school, and he had run away because he thought he was going to get in trouble, and he knew he hadn't done anything wrong.

I sure love my kids, and the good hearts that they have!