Words from My Autistic Son

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A couple months ago, my family was eating at a nice restaurant. After we got inside and ordered our dinner, it was raining quite steadily. As we set there at our table, a small break in the clouds allowed rays of sunlight to cascade down amongst the rain. My 8-year old autistic son said to us, "The Sun is up dancing with the rain."

Although my other son didn't seem to notice those words that much, my wife and I did. Those words sounded so beautiful. I have thought about that statement a lot since that rainy day. My autistic son is afraid of rain and it can send him into a frightful state. But he saw a ray of light that overpowered his scary rain, and it brought him comfort and hope.

I think those words are something we can live by---especially those of us who have autism. Life can offer us some scary moments and challenges. But in those darkest valleys we should look beyond the struggles and seek out those rays of sunshine.

Last edited by glider18 on 25 Oct 2009, 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That sounded very abstract he said so that was a good thing because aspie kids are known to be concrete.

Yes, it was abstract Spokane_Girl---I think that may be what struck us as so special about those words from him. He takes almost everything you say so literally. Figurative language isn't something he seems to understand. So he surprised us with that statement. Thank you for commenting.

Those were very expressive words that your son said.

It kind of makes you wish you could have been able to see what he was able to see at that moment.

But as far as your message goes, it is important to perhaps modify our perception to see something hopeful when you are surrounded by despair. Thank you.

I think it's wonderful.

It's really wonderful. I'm not so sure that really AS mind is concrete. I had many "abstract" thought when I was a child, simply my mind was so different that I was unable to understand the abstract way of others and others think I said non-sense.
By now I've understand how to make my statement understandable by others (sometimes) but the images in my brain cannot be passed to others without making them "concrete" my sense of analogy and abstract thinking is simply different, It could be possible also for other AS child.

NT-1 : Real -> Abstract A
NT-2 : Real -> Abstract A
...
NT-100 : Real -> Abstract A

AS-1 : Real -> Abstract B
AS-2 : Real -> Abstract C
AS-3 : Real -> Abstract D
...

That will likely make AS-people more confident to only talk about "Real".

By the way, an NT-8-years-old usually can't go so further with metaphore.

M_p_furo---I do wish I could have seen the way he saw that. My guess would be that he saw the glitters of sunlight interacting with the raindrops. But, he didn't act scared at this point. And even rain can terrify him. So I wonder---did the Sun's rays offer him hope that the rain would end? Yes, I would love to know how he saw that.

CockneyRebel---I agree, I think it's wonderful too. I always appreciate your posts on the WP. Many months ago you had an avatar with you holding a double decker bus miniature, and I asked you if it was a Corgi because it looked like the one I have. As a child I was fascinated by British automobiles and double decker busses and began collecting some Corgi models. My son has dug out those old Corgi's from my parents' basement and plays with them.

Nightsun---I agree that the autistic mind can be abstract. I too have abstract thoughts. My challenge lies in trying to figure out the abstract thoughts of others---such as in movies, books, conversations, etc. Thank you for your analysis of the abstract thinking.

thats one thing about me that doesnt fit the steryotype i can be vague a lot of the time. the thing is itmakes perfect sense to me but to others it sounds very vague

That's a good point Ravenclawgurl---there really is no specific mold that we can fit into. I always remember the words I heard at an autism talk, "You've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." We are truly a spectrum. And the stereotypes are just that---stereotypes.

That is beautiful......