My son is 8. In some ways his autism isn’t as bad as most, he loves to be touched. He loves hugs and finds them very comforting. He has bonded really well with his Dad, something alot of autistics miss out on. He has a great visual memory, his understanding is really increasing.

However, partly due to his encephalic cyst, his ability to speak is severely limited. I think I’d be glad if he could just get to the stage of echolalia, or pronoun reversal. He has never used a pronoun, mostly he says nouns, with a few verbs. He can read and spell a couple of hundred words already.

I am blessed to be able to homeschool him, all of his ‘classmates’ love and understand him.

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Jim Sinclair is not alone in feeling “mom and dad didn’t love me,” but that’s not a problem about autism “rights.” It may be real, it may be imagined, but it’s not a “rights” question. What legislation would you pass to accommodate his problem? Pass a law that parents must love their autistic children? What remedy would you give him?

If I were the parent of the child who was “voted off” the kindergarten class, I’d be raising holy you know what. That was beyond insensitive. There was a real opportunity to teach the other little kids to be kind and loving, and what did the teacher do? You can frame a remedy for that. But how do you frame a remedy for Jim Sinclair’s view.

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My son is borderline. What does that mean? He doesn’t quite “get” the social interaction thing as quickly as others. We have only now (at four) moved on past major pronoun reversal FOR EVERYTHING and the typical tantrums over botched routine have subsided. He still has inappropriate responses to things (socially) but we are blessed that it isn’t as bad as it could be. He loves “crushing” his mommy (hugging) and it a happy boy.

But, to deny the problem causes confusion to so many parents struggling to make sense of a heartbreaking situation as is. What, are they now not to try dietary changes and holistic treatments in hope? Should they never hope?

About normal: without digressing into the realm of semantics, the “word” is functional and should be. Although we should be clear about defining and avoid misinterpretations. I think words like “typical” are helpful, but, I do fear that (like someone posted above) liberals too often dismiss normative behavior in order to condone sin.

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I will pray for you and your son. Your story touches my heart. There is nothing so painful as a child who has struggles which you describe in your post. GOD bless you all.

How old is your little boy? I don’t mean to ask questions you don’t want to answer, please ignore my questions if you feel you don’t want to answer. I am a very private person, who rarely gives out personal information, so I understand if you feel the same way.

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Autism is different from other medical disorders, in that it does profoundly affect personality and emotions. However, my son does face alot of struggles because of his autism. He still struggles just to say one word.

So I do pray for him to be healed, just as I do that he’ll also be healed of his epilepsy and encephalic cyst. However, I hug him frequently every day and tell him that he’s my boy and I love him. I hope if he ever gets to the stage that he can understand that I pray for him to be healed, that it’s because I only want to see him free of some of his hardships; and that no matter what I love him completely just as he is.

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Normal implies that there is a certain norm, a “way things are supposed to be.”

There is no “way things are supposed to be” as far as personality or temperment (excluding the results of the Fall, of course), so I’ll go with Spinoza and say “normal” should not be applied to human beings.

“Typical” is perhaps better, since it implies a relation to the majority. “Usual” would also work.

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That’s quite an indictment to lay on one’s parents. He’s telling parents that they don’t love their children and they want them to CEASE TO BE! I don’t agree with him. I think these are the words of someone who hasn’t come to terms with being different.

I don’t agree with him either when it comes to his interpretation of the sentiments of the parents of autistic children, and perhaps this unnuanced thinking is a consequence of his autism. But when he talks about how certain ways of speaking make him feel, he’s not wrong. He knows what he feels.

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You wrote: “The problem is that we tend to think of normal as good or superior and abnormal as bad or inferior.” I tend to think of “normal” as “average.” It’s middle of the road. Just look at the continuum or the bell curve, however you want to describe it.

Just read his last sentence: “This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.””

That’s quite an indictment to lay on one’s parents. He’s telling parents that they don’t love their children and they want them to CEASE TO BE! I don’t agree with him. I think these are the words of someone who hasn’t come to terms with being different. For a parent’s perspective, reread Post No. 1.

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