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Thinking Outside the Box

© Juli B

There are very few things in my life that I'm certain about. I'm certain about the love of a great man and the love for our two children. I'm certain about the importance of having the constant support of family and friends. I'm certain that I will never appreciate seafood and/or mushrooms.

And I'm certain about Asperger's Syndrome.

Asperger's Syndrome can best be described as a neurobiological disorder at the high end of the autistic spectrum that is defined by a severe shortage of social skills, lack of eye contact, attention issues, clumsy motor coordination and often a peculiarly intense over focus on particular interests.

Two years ago this past April, my son Andy was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) at the tender age of 7. It actually wasn't a terrible shock as we had been trying to get to the root of his problems for a few years before that.

Myself, like most everybody else I'd encountered, had never heard of such an infliction and I didn't have a clue as to what to expect. So I did the first thing that came naturally.

I turned to the Internet.

For the next 2 years I became an information junkie. I was a sponge and I couldn't process the information fast enough. Some might even go so far as to say it was my own little obsession. In my eternal quest for answers, I discovered things about my eccectric son. And most importantly, I discovered things about myself.

It took me awhile, but I finally came to the conclusion that I don't have to have all the answers. I soon came to realize that it was "OK" to feel a little overwhelmed at times. Feelings of sheer frustration were not as taboo as previously believed as well. It wasn't long before I even started finding the joy and amusement in some of his previous annoyances. Basically, I learned that living life one moment at a time was more important than dwelling on the big picture when it comes to aspies.

Once I got over the fact that AS wasn't going to go away; there wasn't any kind of quick fix for those inflicted; and my theater-obsessed aspie would probably always be just that...a theater-obsessed aspie, things went much smoother.

No longer was I in search of answers to the never-ending "Why?" questions. Suddenly it changed to "Why not?"

Why not have an extremely caring and intelligent child who marches to the beat of his own drum?

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