BY age 2 it was clear that the boy had a sensibility all his own, affectionate and distant at the same time, often more focused on patterns and objects than the people around him.
He was neither naturally social like his mother, nor an early and gifted reader like his father. Quirky, curious, exuberant, he would leap up and dance across the floor after solving a problem or winning a game, duck walking like an N.F.L. receiver posing for a highlight film.
Yet after Phil and Susan Schwarz received a diagnosis for their son, Jeremy, of high functioning autism, they began to think carefully about their own behaviors and histories.
Mr. Schwarz, a software developer in Framingham, Mass., found in his son’s diagnosis a new language to understand his own life. His sensitivities when growing up to loud noises and bright light, his own diffidence through school, his parents’ and grandparents’ special intellectual skills ”” all echoed through his and Jeremy’s behavior, like some ancient rhythm.
His son’s diagnosis, Mr. Schwarz said, “provided a frame in which a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated aspects of my own life growing up fit together for the first time.”
One does wonder whether it is appropriate to “medicalize” symptoms that are by no means uncommon, when it is clear that folks not so characterized have gone on to lead normal lives. Would the parents really have been better off if they had been diagnosed as having “autism” or “Aspergers” and hauled off for “special ed”.
Frankly, I think a majority of kids would be better off being considered “shy” or even “nerdish” than “Autistic”. There is a real push to reclassify “shyness” as a disease entity that will improve the finances of the local school system.
Shari
So the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree….what’s the news?
In our family, what could have been easily diagnosed and medicated as ADD turned out to be food allergies causing behavioral problems. (Thank you Doris Rapp’s book “Is this your child?”!)
Cutting out chocolate/sugary snacks and many dairy products curbed the problem nicely.
It was always an interesting experience to see teachers and neighbors who ‘knew better than we did’ ignore our instructions and give our son chocolate or cake at a party and within minutes have him bouncing off the walls with seemingly no control at all. After one experience, there was usually not a second.
And yes, my wife’s family has the same problems with certain foods, but they also refuse to admit it’s a problem. Which is why we are not around them all that much. 😉