This was Raiyan at our big family gathering of about 500 plus people at ICC in late 2006 and I remember getting so angry at him for causing such a mayhem because the colour pens he had so carefully "constructed" into a long tower kept breaking off (well naturally, they're not meant to be used as legos!). Plus he was running around the place so it was even more inevitable that his pen tower will fall! Oh and the screams... the gathering was held at the main conference room which is huge and has a high ceiling so you can imagine how magnified the volume of his screams was EVERY TIME his pen tower broke off. Afterit broke, he would put it together again and the vicious cycle goes on. It happened around 10 times before I lost my patience and decided to cut our presence short and left for home as the whole room was just staring at us and wondering why this boy kept losing his temper every 60 seconds..
This was probably when I got the most upset with Raiyan ever, because I just felt so humiliated from all the unwanted attention he drew. I just couldn't help thinking of what a "weirdo" my son was and equally felt so frustrated not knowing why something simple as his tower of pens falling over would get him so insanely upset. Well now I know that lining up things etc is an autistic trait, I can't help feeling guilty for the way I behaved. Now I know he just couldn't help himself. So since I've known, I let him indulge in his lining up things and having them break off pattern as much as he can.
2 comments:
Hello!
I am an older sister to a 14-year-old autistic boy. I was still too young to understand when my brother was first diagnosed with Autism at the age of 9, but my parents always gave hints on how to handle my brother during his tantrums.
Right now, even though he is already 14 years old, he is still at the stage where he is not used to changes, i.e in clothes and food. His obsession since the past years are play doughs and flags. He likes to draw flags on the MS Paint Programme eversince I taught him how to use it. With play doughs, he would normally sculpt cat-like "creatures" and street lamps and line them up.
We still don't have the courage to take him out, even to family functions, due to his weird habit of attracting attentions by pulling people to face him.
One of his good points is that he is very well-disciplined. Everything has to be where it has to be, and he is also very helpful. Especially in cleaning and carrying things, since he is quite strong for his age. Well, that's my brother.
Thanks for reading. Byebye. :)
Hi Maj!
Thanks so much for what you shared. It is so endearing and touching to hear about what other autistic kids are like since their actions are familiar but at the same time different jua, cause they're such unique individuals. Does ur brother go to SMARTER or a normal school? And how is his speech? It's so nice to hear about him being helpful around the house.. He really sounds soo sweet.
Thanks for your support. :D Take care
Post a Comment