Category Archives: From the Home Front

The Last Bottle

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“Do you mind checking the dosage on this one? I think I put too many in the boy’s cup this morning, so I told him to take only one. I think we need to put the extra one back in the bottle”

So said my wife when I came down for breakfast, as she handed me a medicine cup.

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This is how we dole out the kids’ medication. Each kid gets his or her own cup with the proper medicines at the proper dosages. Normally, this is my job every morning and evening—a job that involves taking every pill bottle out of our “apothecary box,” reading each bottle to verify who gets what and how many of each, and placing the appropriate medicines in each kid’s cup. It also involves getting out the Gatorade for the one kid who can’t handle the taste of his medicine with water, and getting out the milk for the other kid who can’t handle Gatorade or water. In the morning it also involves bringing two of the boys their medicine in bed so that it can begin working in them before they join the rest of us. Depending on how awake I am, this can take between five and ten minutes.

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Well, this morning I was late coming downstairs, so Katie took over the job. Only our doctor had just changed the dosage on one of the prescriptions, and she couldn’t remember what it had changed to. Hence the extra pill.

So I sat down at the table and began my usual ritual of sorting through the apothecary box to find the right bottle so I could put the extra pill away. A few minutes later, this is what the kitchen table looked like. (For those of you not patient enough—or not anal enough—to count, that’s eighteen bottles there.)

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Why eighteen? Because, in keeping with the laws of the universe, it was the last bottle in the box. It’s always the last bottle in the box. Just once, I’d like it to be the first bottle. Or the fifth. Or the eleventh. Hell, I’d be happy if it was the seventeenth. But no, it’s always the eighteenth. <sigh>

 

Conventional Wisdom

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Random participants at the 2016 Katsucon Convention.

So my 15-year-old girl had a lot of fun this Saturday. Her dream came true when we pulled up to the Gaylord Hotel outside of Washington, DC, for her first anime convention. She had been preparing for this for months, figuring out who she should dress as and then fretting over every little detail of her cosplay costume.

Of course, she didn’t go alone. Dutiful dad that I am, I joined her. I had checked out the group’s website, and found the dress code, which included such rules as “At least one inch of fabric over the nipples” and “All play weaponry must be concealed when you are outside the convention center.” I also saw that there were a number of panel discussions, ranging from “How to Sew Your Own Plush” to the late-night, age-restricted “Introduction to Japanese Bondage Techniques”—complete with demonstrations. Well, okay, then!

Anyway, from the moment we entered the convention hall, we were surrounded by people of all ages, shapes, sizes, colors, and gender configurations. Almost all of them were dressed as their favorite character from anime or sci-fi or fantasy or just about anything else. There were Pokémon, elves, storm troopers, satyrs, Halo soldiers, flying monkeys, creepers, and Splatoon squids. And many, many others. More than 15,000 of them. I was one of the few who hadn’t dressed up—just jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt. I guess I could have said I was going as Awkward Suburban Dad, but I would have needed some identifying totem, like a DirecTV remote or a Black & Decker power tool to make the costume believable.

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My girl, the Splatoon Inkling.

I didn’t know what my girl would want to do there for six whole hours. None of the panel discussions interested her, and the exhibit hall wasn’t all that big. But it turns out I didn’t have to worry. She knew exactly what she wanted to do. Apart from a half-hour in the exhibit hall, we spent most of the time wandering around the convention center and the hotel’s public spaces. She was so very excited to see everyone’s costumes, and she took pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Her wandering wasn’t calculated, but it didn’t matter. We went here, then there, then back here, then over there, then back again. All the while, she kept cooing about how happy she was to be there.

Work the Crowd.

Then she got an idea, which she picked up from observing some veteran cosplayers. She found a spot in an open area in the busy hotel lobby and just stood there waiting for people to come and take her picture. It was quite a sight: she in her very simple, decidedly amateur, costume, flanked by a portly Japanese princess on one side and a svelte, leather-clad female vampire on the other.

I stood about 25 feet away so that I could keep a watchful eye on her but give her some freedom. Over the next hour, hundreds of people walked past, most of whom didn’t pay her any attention. A few people stopped to take her picture, and a couple of folks talked with her for a bit—including one young man from France whose friendliness prompted me to hover more closely. But overall, I was happy. “This is so good!” I thought. “My little girl is getting out there; she’s spreading her wings, taking risks, and enjoying it.”

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Not too close to my daughter, Frenchie!

From there, we moved to a different location, where she stood for another 90 minutes. Only this time, she didn’t just stand there. She began waving her gun in front of her, occasionally “shooting” at some of the passersby. She looked like a slo-mo version of those people who stand on the street corner twirling an advertising sign. And that worked a lot better. Not only did she get many more requests for pictures, but she also got other characters to interact with her—the Halo soldiers, for instance, shot back at her.

So my girl had a good day. So good, in fact, that she’s already planning her outfit for a similar gathering in August. I think Katie’s going to take that one, though. Once a year is enough for me!

Taking It in Stride.

So what did I think of the whole thing? It was eye-opening. I spent my Saturday surrounded by people with a passion for a subject that was almost completely foreign to me. It took a little getting used to—seeing grown men and women dressed up so exotically and play-acting as cartoon characters.

Looking around at all the elaborate, ultrageeky costumes, I was brought back to my earlier years, when I would have dismissed this whole thing as just a bunch of maladjusted, self-indulgent nerds lost in a synthetic fantasy world. “Get a life!” I would have said under my breath. And I most certainly would not have allowed my children to get involved in such arcane doings. But then I went ahead and had actual, real life kids. Kids with autism. Kids with different brains and different neurologies than mine. And as a result I have learned to take a load of supposed weirdness in stride. So no, it wasn’t all that odd for me. In fact, after the initial adjustment, it felt completely normal.

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“Don’t mind us. We’re just sitting on the floor of this hotel lobby being fabulous.”

One of Us.

One brief scene from the day cemented this for me, and it’s an image that I suspect will stay with me for a long, long time. During our wanderings, I caught sight of one fellow who looked like he was in his early twenties. He stood out in part because he wasn’t dressed up as anything—just jeans and a tee shirt. He was on the up escalator, and he was holding a plush Pokémon. All the way up the escalator, he was nuzzling the thing, smiling broadly at it, and talking excitedly to it. He flapped his hands occasionally and bounced happily on the balls of his feet. He looked so happy, I couldn’t help but smile.

That’s when it hit me. This was not some poor unfortunate soul to be pitied. This was a happy, adjusted man enjoying a day out on the town. He looked healthy and well fed. He had clothes on his back and shoes on his feet. His hair was mussed up but not unkempt. He was in the midst of a huge crowd navigating a virtual rabbit warren of meeting rooms, lobby spaces, and exhibit halls, but he showed no signs of anxiety or disorientation. He was having the time of his life. I realized I was looking at him not as “one of those,” whatever “those” might mean. He wasn’t an “other.” He wasn’t even part of a different tribe. We were both part of the same tribe. But it wasn’t that he had joined my tribe and become “one of us.” Somehow, over the years of watching and learning from my kids, I had joined his tribe.

I was one of his.

The Story That Never Was

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This is a story about a story that never became a story. Got that? A story. About a story. That never became a story.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about an incident that happened in our house over the holidays. But because it was a story about a couple of the older kids, I didn’t hit the Publish button right away. My older kids are on Facebook now. They have virtual friends. They’re connected to some of their cousins. And the story I was telling could be interpreted in more than one way. I saw it as an illustration of some of the challenges that teenagers on the spectrum face—along with a hopeful, encouraging conclusion about how my kids are working through these challenges. But other people might focus only on the challenges and the difficulties, and they might get the wrong impression about my kids.

See, I know a thing or two about ASD. I get it in ways that many other people don’t. Sure, my story might help people understand autism a little better, but at what cost? The way my kids’ friends perceive them? The way my kids perceive themselves? Was I putting them out there in the wrong way? It didn’t seem so to me, but I wasn’t sure.

So I did something I had been thinking of doing for a few months. I told them that I occasionally post stories about being an ASD dad on social media. Then I e-mailed my story to them and asked if they’d be okay with my posting it.

They were and they weren’t.

One of them had an easygoing response. “Whatever raises awareness, Dad, I’m okay with. I know you’d never make me look bad. I don’t even have to read your story. Go ahead and publish it if you think it will help.”

The other one was not okay. “I don’t want people to think I’m a nervous, insecure, insane, freak!” That’s all I needed.

And so the story never became a story.

Careful . . .

It seems we’ve entered a new era. When I started this blog back in 2012, it was easy to tell stories because the kids were young and unconnected. Now I have to be more selective. But that’s okay. I’m sure there will be plenty of stories to tell that don’t run the risk of putting them in a bad light. Stories like this one about my boy’s success at singing in the chorus. Or this one about my daughter correcting one of her teachers. Or this one about the Catholic psychologist who wrote some really messed-up stuff about ASD and who I convinced to issue an apology.

Part of me will miss telling some of the harder stories—not because I want to embarrass my kids, of course. I’ll miss it because there’s this perception about ASD out there that it mostly affects little kids, and that’s just not true. There are plenty of stories about young children, who are so damned cute and whose parents are just beginning to come to grips with a new diagnosis.

But there’s another whole population of ASD folks out there. They’re older, and it’s not so cute when they do some of the quirky things that autistic kids do. When someone is five, he’s precocious; when he’s 15, he’s rude. She’s given much more leeway when she’s three because she’s expected to “outgrow” her autism; when she’s doing the same thing at 13, she’s stubborn, willful, or disturbed. Of course, none of this is accurate, but it’s how they are perceived.

So I’ll be more careful. I’ll look for the stories that emphasize how awesome my kids are. Or how far the autism community has come in gaining acceptance—and how much further it has to go. Or how much Katie and I are learning and growing as we raise our kids. Or God knows what else. Because our kids are still autistic. They will be even when they become adults. And the world needs to see that this very broad autism spectrum runs not just from low- to high-functioning, but from infancy to old age as well.

Now, would you believe me if I told you that my story-not-a-story was the best thing I had ever written? No? Well, you’ll never know, will you?

 

 

Pressing the Reset Button

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Reset Button

I learned (again) a lesson I never tire of learning. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t mind, because it’s a lesson I keep having to learn!

We had the pleasure of hosting a friend and roommate of mine from college for dinner. A Franciscan priest, he was recently assigned to a parish in nearby Baltimore. It was a lovely evening, even if it wasn’t a long one. He was up here in Frederick to fill in at  Mass in a local parish.

It was a delightful evening. I hadn’t seen this fellow in about five years, and we picked up again as if it was just yesterday. While we caught up, the kids came and went, some showing more of their autistic “quirks” more than others, and my friend flowed with whatever was going on. Even when one of my kids, full of social awkwardness, hovered nearby, scowling, for nearly ten minutes before coming forward for a formal introduction.

After he left, I felt so much more calm and content than I had all day. A couple of very strong melt downs sapped me in the morning, and I had to go into the office to file a boat load of insurance claims, many of which I wasn’t even sure would be covered. I kept feeling the tension rising all afternoon. But after spending just two hours with my friend, it just melted away. I felt like I had hit the Reset button.

A Big World Out There.

So here’s the lesson I keep on learning: I don’t have to get swept up in this autism parenting gig. I don’t have to resign myself to feeling that everything is closing in around me. There are other people to spend time with. There are other things to do. There’s a whole big world out there.

Of course, I need to keep a balance so that I’m caring for my kids properly, but I also need to come up for air every now and then and get a little break. Work is hard—often 50 hours a week. Kids have needs that can’t be ignored. Therapy sessions continue unabated at a pace of about five a week (I split them with Katie). Tantrums, melt downs, and communication miscues are a normal part of our everyday life. The list goes on and on and on, and there’s no sign of any major changes in the air.

It can be an isolating life, also. I can get so worn out that I can start thinking I don’t have the energy to relate to anyone else. I can feel so isolated because not too many people get what I’m talking about—and what else do I have to talk about except for this? Of course, none of this is really true, but it can start to feel this way. So if I don’t step out of the vortex every now and then, I won’t be of much use to my kids or my job, much less to my wife.

I wrote about this a few years ago and again just a few months back, and the same truths apply today. I don’t live near Disney World any more, so I don’t have a ready-made “happy place” to escape to. But I still need to escape. I just have to get more creative and more flexible to make sure it happens. I’ve got to find ways to unwind. I’ve got to find ways to get out of the house, even, if only to enjoy the benefit that a change of environment gives. It’s not like the place will collapse without me. I’ve got to give myself permission to step out every now and then. Everyone will still be there when I get back. And I’ll come back much better equipped to help them.

Hey, Look! We’re on the Internet!

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No, seriously. Christopher Ulmer, a young special-ed teacher from Florida, came and interviewed us for a project he’s working on called Special Books by Special Kids. He’s been traveling the East Coast recording  his encounters with special-needs families along the way.

Here’s a link to the video. Just about all of the kids show up—all except our youngest, who was too wrapped up in video games to be bothered with an interview. Enjoy!