How I knew...

The downside to high funtioning autism is that it is so easy to write those who suffer from it off as lazy. Why they cannot clean up large messes, keep track of everything and still keep thier desk/room clean, may give those around them the feeling that they just dont care to work. If you listen and pay close attention, however, it is easy to tell if a person is simply lazy, or if they are overwhelmed, as my husband and son usually are.

The extreme literal nature of the autistic mind has made it so that I am very careful about how and what I say. While "pick up the living room" means something quite different that "put all the toys in the living room in your toybox", I have to choose my words carefully. When asked what comes to mind when the first is said, both my husband and son simply state that they are not stron enough to "pick up" the living room. This in itself may seem like a snide answer, but if you are there and see the sinserity in their eyes....

Most of the time, if I am not extremely explicit in my instructions, these two cannot put two and two together. Stating that it is noon and I am hungry does not imply that it is lunch time.

Figures of speech are out, as sarcasm often escapes them as well. For instance...

I once told my husband and son that our friend, who had fallen asleep on the couch, was "snoring up a storm". My son fought sleep for the next month, telling me that if he sleeps, he might snore, and if he snores, the storm will come. I learned what not to say after that episode.

While directions and word choice still give me problems at times, I have come a long way in being able to get things done by being more detailed about things. In fact, things are now going fairly smooth!

~ Kaida ~