A smile without a grimmace
My 11 year old son is autistic. I don't know if I have included this fact thus far. Part of autism is just not getting it. Social clues and peer pressure are not really understood if at all even comprehended. Today he was working on trotting and was at a trot for over 20 minutes. I can tell ya first hand it can be hard work especially if your body is still regaining it's range of motion. Horse riding will put your body into 95% of it's range of motion. I'm not saying in one lesson but it does happen. So my kiddo is up on the horse at a trot and looks like he was looking to get out of it and the teacher and I started joking with him. For the first time in years he smiled. I don't mean the autistic grimace that shows up in most of the pictures. I mean a genuine, true smile. I guess to push it I would say a normal kid smile. He was exuding pride trotting with one hand on his hip, sitting up with great posture and the horse just went faster for him. I had proud happy tears that I hid behind my sunglasses.
For those of you who have 'normal' kids there is a lot that you'll never understand. Things like when they tell their first lie. Autistic kids aren't supposed to have the rationale to tell a lie. The day he told his first lie I wanted to choke him for lieing to me but on the other hand I was told autistic kids are honest because their brain doesn't work well enough to conjure up one. For years we wondered what this kid was thinking, feeling. When he began to talk and put together sentences we were floored. He had colic till he was five and potty trained at 6 when he was in kindergarten. Lots of sensory dysfunction.
Horse riding has been the missing link to all the therapies we have in place. My child did not ask for autism just as I did not ask for ADHD, dyslexia and light sensitivity problems. I understand first hand what he is going through when he can't quite put the words together. So in a world that often doesn't make sense it has been my goal to bridge the gap and help bring him around.
SJ
For those of you who have 'normal' kids there is a lot that you'll never understand. Things like when they tell their first lie. Autistic kids aren't supposed to have the rationale to tell a lie. The day he told his first lie I wanted to choke him for lieing to me but on the other hand I was told autistic kids are honest because their brain doesn't work well enough to conjure up one. For years we wondered what this kid was thinking, feeling. When he began to talk and put together sentences we were floored. He had colic till he was five and potty trained at 6 when he was in kindergarten. Lots of sensory dysfunction.
Horse riding has been the missing link to all the therapies we have in place. My child did not ask for autism just as I did not ask for ADHD, dyslexia and light sensitivity problems. I understand first hand what he is going through when he can't quite put the words together. So in a world that often doesn't make sense it has been my goal to bridge the gap and help bring him around.
SJ
posted by SJ at Dienstag, August 02, 2005
<< Home