NT parents, would you cure your child?

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i voted sometimes just cause it wouldnt let me view results w/o voting... im not a parent

My 3-year-old's autism diagnosis is all rolled up in a larger syndrome that also includes epilepsy, skin abnormalities, and "cognitive disabilities".

I'd cure the epilepsy in a flash! I don't see any benefit to it, and it's making us all miserable.

At this point, I also think I'd gladly cure the entire syndrome. I don't know of any advantages I can definitely attribute to it. But then, I also don't know what we'd lose. Is my daughter's affectionate nature and sunny personality part of her "disorder"? How about her boundless energy and powerful physique? How about the amazing beautiful laugh?

I dunno.

I think that it is a mistake to assume that by "curing" a child of Aspergers/Autism you would lose their personality. Many NTs have tons of personality. Just because someone is NT does not mean that he/she can't be quirky, have an unusual way of looking at the world, have strong interests, have a good sense of values, etc. I would be thrilled if my son did not have to cope with the sensory issues, the inability to truly understand the context behind social interaction (and therefore get himself into a lot of trouble), the regular and explosive melt-downs... I am certain that without the "syndrom" my son would still have his quirky personality, he would still be a loving and caring person, he would still be highly intelligent (I really feel that he is held back by his difficulties, not helped ahead as some AS people seem to feel), and would still be the wonderful, truly unique boy that he is. He just would have a slightly easier time of things... I guess that's the NT perspective on things. While I will always love my son as he is and understand that a "cure" isn't possible, I would be thrilled if he were not stuck living life with the many burdens he struggles with.

Now Sophia falls alot, this hurts her. Now Sophia makes me carry her alot, she is getting too big for me to do this it is getting physicailly impossible for me.
Right now Sophia hits her brother alot, she scratches him alot, she hurts him alot.
Right now Sophia has no sense of danger, she tried to take her pizza out of the oven while it was cooking.
Right now Sophia is begining to have seizures.
Right now she is refusing to wear clothes & pissing at will all through our home.
Right now Sophia is covered with excema which bothers her.
Right now cutting Sophia's nails, brushing her waist lenght hair & brushing her teeth are activities that cause a giant screaming tantrum which I have to restrain her for.

Right now Sophia is hyperlexic which is nice.
Maybe when Sophia can communicate with me what the positives of being on the spectrum are I'll change my mind but right now this is really, really hard for all of us. So I'm voting cure.

I asked my mom this once. She hesitated but then said she would because she knows how hard my childhood was because of it. I told her I'm glad there wasn't one because I'd hate to lose it. AS has alot of benifits, and makes me who I am. I'm smart, honest, creative, tolerant, don't give into peer pressure, plus the main downside of socializing only seems to occur when talking with NTs. I personally hope if I have a child he or she has aspergers too.

In fact I want to know the opposite. Would you cure a NT? Someone should make a poll for that

I voted sometimes because there are times when I see how much my son struggles or what he misses out on and it breaks my NT heart. BUT, he is who he is and I love him whole-heartedly. I am afraid of how much he will struggle in his life because of things he is unaware of.

When he was younger, I used to be afraid that his temper would cause him to get into fights. Now that he is in an alternative school that is addressing his needs, he is maturing and his anger issues have faded. I am still afraid he won't have a career or a profession (something I admit is important to ME because I have one and so does my husband) or that he won't be able to hold down even a simple job and support himself.

Last week, I took a carload of NT 11 year old boys for a ride. The discussion topics were things that my Aspie son had never talked about and my heart broke again for him.

Maybe it's because I am NT and have NT children that the discrepancy and the unfairness hit me - my son isn't going to the prom, he isn't in AP classes even though his IQ is higher than 99% of the general population, he doesn't have a girlfriend even though he is (by objective standards) a very good-looking young man. I worry about how he will live, he doesn't want to go away to college.

But overall, I adore him and would not want to change who he is - I just wish he would be more motivated.

no

Yes, I would want him "cured" of his difficulties with social skills, he is very aware of the fact that he doesn't have any friends and it makes him very unhappy. I would also want him "cured" of the stimming behaviour, which is extremely marked and of his habit of saying "I can't do it", when he definitely can do it, even if not perfectly or when he hasn't even tried.

I love your response equinn and agree 100%

i said no. he is an amazing little guy he sounds like a mini man. " those are lovely"
you can always work on the social stuff...
although i am just beginning my joourney with this and don't know how bad it will be yet as he is only 4. i still wouldn't change him. he was made the was he is for a reason, I shall wait and see what it is with great anticipation.

well i'm 27 (adult with aspergers) and ptsd, anxiety and depression, Well I went though 25+ yrs of my life and would i want a cure? NO. I have accomplished and still have stuff to accomplish. The cool thing about Aspergers (autism) is that it gives your child desire to learn and decide on his own what he wants too do with life. I have learned a lot more then any other person (programming) and computer knowledge then a lot of others. Would I want to eliminate the learning of HTML, PHP, Javascript, and of course the custom toolbar creation and windows operating system knowledge of my computer, NO. Would I want to Eliminate the desire to learn basic c++ and Game design that i'm slowely learning on my own? NO. Would I want to eliminate all the tricks in SEO (search Engine optimization) and blogging NO. Would I want to get rid of my interest in poetry and writing, NO! I have learned more then the normal people could even imagine to learn in there lifetime.

And I guess you can say i was lucky too have very mild autism where i really didnt have any severe symptoms of those with autism. Besides the Anxiety attacks and sleep Apnea and once in a while seizures. I'm happy for who I am. Now if we knew what Autism/Aspergers was 25+ yrs ago then I would of prepared better (not a cure though) and actually would of tried to reduce the panic attacks/ sleep apnea and seizures from happening in the past.

Yes we would definitely. At the moment we are having a lot of problems again with our son at school due to AS. Every day is a challenge for him in so many ways. His obsessions can be endearing though. He will talk endlessly about machines, and not notice that people are bored to tears. I think it's great that he has got something he enjoys THAT much!