For some kids, "OK" is hard work

Two blog posts today hit home for me, and made me stop and think about kids on the autism spectrum and how adults sometimes perceive their quirks.

At Woulda Coulda Shoulda, Mir describes how her son reacts after a wonderful but non-typical weekend. "Maybe you don’t see it, but he’s working so hard to stay 'okay' while his slightly miswired brain is trying to tell him that this is HARD and WEIRD and DIFFERENT," Mir writes. "It’s not that he doesn’t love it, on many levels. It’s not that he didn’t have a blast, because he totally did. It’s just that it’s hard work for him."

At Squidalicious, Shannon details what goes on behind the scenes when you see her out and about with her son, and points out how many of his sucesses are hard to see. "My behavior probably appeared very odd and controlling -- a helicopter mom hand-feeding her chubby son -- yep, that family's got some food issues," she writes. "But there was actually a lot of work, progress, and practicing going on, for those who knew what to look for."

The bottom line? Shannon sums it up nicely: "Perhaps instead of thinking, 'Why is that kid behaving so strangely,' you could ask yourself, 'I wonder just how hard that kid is working.'"


Click through to read Mir's and Shannon's posts.