Issues and autism

Today I was very impressed with Johnathan.  He had a small cut on the base of the nail on his middle left finger.  It was a bit sore but it was, as usual, the blood that was the main issue.

He wanted a plaster on it (which was fair enough) and I went to sort it out, marvelling at the reaction to his slight injury.  He was a little bit confused with NOT putting his finger back under the water when he next saw a tiny bit of blood coming again.  But once we got over that, everything was ok and I managed to get the plaster out and on his finger.

Now in the past when there has been blood he has struggled with the concept and got very upset.  It didn’t help that he got quite a few nosebleeds in his younger years and they really upset him.  

When I accidentally put my ipad in the basin of water that had been left in his bedroom, he was very calm and told me I needed to promise to be calm, too because he needed to tell me something.  

His reaction to anything liquid falling was to freeze and panic that he was “all covered” - generally meaning a drop or two of whatever it was.  

I will admit, it did seem as though he was improving in this regard and tonight’s sore finger was another proof of this fact.  He didn’t cry or get upset, or anything.  He told us what was happening and that it needed a plaster.

So I am delighted to see he continues to cope much better than he did before with these small issues.