April is Autism Awareness month

As many of you know, my son Joel has autism. I'd like to take the month of April and help explain a little more about my son, how he communicates, how autism affects us daily, and what we can do to help him.

Inherent intelligence:

It has never been my style as a parent (or a person really) to stay at home all day. I am the type of person that craves interaction and connections with people. So we do not shy away at all from taking Joel out to do run-of-the-mill daily things, like going to the grocery store or the mall to buy new shoes. These outings don't always go smoothly though-- Joel is constantly distracted by things like water grates in the street or the tread on a car's tires. He gets excited or over stimulated, flaps his arms, squeals, screams, and sometimes tries to find other ways to express how he's feeling. As you can imagine, a lot of times when normal social behavior is expected (church, the post office, the library), these behaviors are often seen as him misbehaving or being naughty. It breaks my heart to see people give him dirty looks or tell me that he needs more discipline at home. These behaviors are the only forms of communication I get with Joel-- his speech is coming along well but spontaneous speech still isn't his strong suit. But just because he can't tell me how he's feeling doesn't mean he's stupid or dumb. He's a smart kid-- he knows all his letters and an read several words. He loves music. He loves sports. I look in Joel's eyes and can see his little mind just working on something. He has intelligence, he wants to be loved.

Some friends of mine have shared this video from youtube. I think it's worth watching to see how different a simple thing like walking down the street can be for someone like Joel.