My Grandson's Autism, a Family's Gift

Great Post - Donnie.  Don't be surprised to find out your gradson may be highly intelligent.  Funny how God works.  My daughter show up on the Autism Scale as well, however she wasnt diagnosed until age 17.  We went thru all those years battling the little quirks, obseession, priods of non-talk combined with others of incessant chattering.  But - when she was diagnosed while finally being able to get her tested for learning disabilities (which i was sure she had but could not get the school to test or even consider) the sidenotes indicated she was hghly functining and a genius, among the top 5% in the world.  The doctor told us that a high IQ is often found in children with some form of autism and/or learning disabilities like dyslexia etc.  By not knowing anything was different "by label" she was taught to  perform, act, comply socially as necessary just like everyone else, and yet retain her little quirks, strengths and abilities.  We fought on her side against school officials that demanded she "show her work" when doing a math problem.  She would look at the problem (much advance problems) and say or write down the answer, but would not (could not) detail the steps to get there (due to the combination of high IQ and the "learning disabilities" that we were unaware of), because in her brain they happened so fast as if all at once - there was no thought process per say, she just knew it - and was right 99.9% of the time.  Although she was accused of just being spoiled and stubborn, we believed her when she said she did not how she knew the answer - she just did.  I thank God every day for guiding us in the right direction during those times.  She is highly creative and talented, finding her passion for art, color etc only during her last couple of years of high school.  When she is creating on canvas, or with a pencil or even just coloring, the world makes sense to her.  Her talent grounds and centers her.  She is now an art major in college and planning to go on to get a second degree in fashion design and merchandising.  In many cases, the person with autism or learning disabilities, seemingly acts out or retreats behaviorly, but in fact, they may be bored or uninterested because quite simply we are beneath them intellectually, but they have no way to convey the problem.  Often autistic children are spoken to as if they are developmentally slow, when the opposite may well be true.  Looking back, it was always easier to get her to interact verbally with an adult, than to play with young children her own age.  Your grandson no doubt has some quite remarkable talents hidden in there - focusing on allowing him to find those talents and therefore his outlet for expression will be an incredible journey filled with utter wonder and amazement.  Embrace and Enjoy every single minute you can!

Donnie:

Great post.

On an off topic, you mentioned Nepoleon Hills book, " Think and Grow Rich".  If you liked that book, you should read the original book Think and Grow Rich was reduced from - its Nepoleon Hill " Law of Success".  You have to order it on-line since no book store carries it, but it is well worth the purchase of under $25.  Once you receive it, you will immediatly notice that its a much larger book and is packed with loads of great and still relevent teachings.  I'm still so amazed how reading a book written by N.H. is still in many ways, so relevent as if written today.

Sorry to get off topic.

As a fellow realtor and also Donnie's wife, I can honestly say he is as good of a man as he sounds, and our family is lucky to have him.