TALK to someone

As someone without autism I can tell you that when something goes wrong and the chips are down, the FIRST thing I do is TALK to someone.  It hasn’t always worked out for the best because I didn’t know who WAS the “right” person.  Actually, I don’t know if I believe it has to be the right or wrong person.  But I DO think people believe it for you.

You see, not every decision is a conscious decision.  There are ones that you can make easily.  I think I read that when Barack Obama became President in the United States, he had the SAME clothes made for every single day.  The reason that was given was because he knew there were hundreds of massive decisions that would or could or needed to be done quickly.  And he didn’t want getting dressed to be part of the delay for instant appraisal.

And quite frankly, there are days I DON’T want to decide what to wear.  I have had so many little decisions I just CAN’T make that choice without assistance.  So my carer brings me 2 or 3 sets of clothes to narrow the choice down a bit for me.  But I think bigger issues for me are more important.  Generally dealing with Johnathan and the things he doesn’t understand – like why his classmates don’t enjoy assembly?!

These things, and others like them are what I try and focus on to help him.  I can’t explain it thoroughly, but he has a lot of anxiety and other issues to contend with so needs support in the things we can see or he (or someone else at the situation) tells me .  

Autistic (and other) children have so many needs that we need to be aware of.  I wonder if we could really open our hearts to SEE the need that is stronger than it.  

TREASURE

We can help others when we have their goodness at heart and want the best for them and LISTEN to what they really need, even when they get it wrong.