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My breaking point was in 2007 when I really realized that Grant was seven, Garrison was
five and yet Garrison was more mature. If I said to Garrison go brush your teeth, we're
getting ready to leave, Garrison would go brush his teeth.
I could walk by three, four times and Grant would still be standing there doing the same
thing. It could be anywhere from stubbing his toe to smashing his hand in a door. The
response would always be the same, it would be a full flat laying on just kind of rolling,
your child gets hurt and the first thing you want to do is pick him up. If I even put my
finger on him it would send him further. I would find myself saying fine, fine, do what
you have to do and then walking away going, how can I help him? I don't know how to help
him. I was humiliated. I couldn't figure out why he wasn't acting the way he should
be acting and then I just had had enough. I went in to the doctor's office thinking
he was going to say ADHD and then he said, it's on the spectrum of autism and was not
prepared for that, did not know that the spectrum of autism was so big, had never ever Asperger's
before. Knew that there was something there, we couldn't put our finger on it and now
here was a name, and now we would have to dive in and see how this was going to change
life and how this would change life. When we found out that Grant was diagnosed, we
went to our two oldest children and my daughter immediately started to cry and we said to
her, you know, what is it that makes you sad, and she said I'm afraid he's going to be
alone. And that was sort of a feeling that we all had, we didn't understand it from
the beginning but on another note when Grant was reading the book, I asked him where he
was and he said and I'm at t he point where you're telling Gerd and Galby and I said,
you know, for me, a typical person I'm thinking oh wow, that's going to hurt when you hear
that you're afraid you're going to be alone and I said, well what do you think and
he goes, I think it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And he's met one Asperger
child, he's only met one, they all seem to have the sort of awkwardness that you know
but it might appear in different ways, my son, for example is very outgoing. A lot of
kids with Asperger's can't make eye contact. My son will talk this close to you and you
find yourself backing up, backing up, and they might talk excessively about a certain
subject. It's funny, a lot of kids with autism and Asperger's are obsessed with
baseball. I've got a son, you know, he is the son of a major league baseball player
who has absolutely no interest and you can't get him interested in baseball. But he can
tell you anything there is to know about sea life. He's very honest to a fault, so there
is you know there can be comedy in that. There can also be just absolutely genuine moments.
He looks at you and says you know what Mom, I love you and it's not because he thinks
that's what he's supposed to be saying. He's saying it because that's what he's
feeling right at that moment. Kids with asperger's, are often a trait they all have, and that's
compassion. He doesn't read the discomfort of other people. He's right in there. He's
right in there with them and so he teaches us to see beyond.