I’ve mentioned her many times here but I seldom blog about my oldest daughter Elizabeth, even though as a rule our days revolve more around her than any other aspect of our lives. She is autistic, and not the kind you see on TV where the autistic person is of a high functioning kind like Asberger’s syndrome, and manages to be an “America’s Next Top Model” candidate or write novels or otherwise basically function in society. Elizabeth is the rocking back and forth, hand flapping, repeat everything six times Rain Man sort of Autistic kid. I shouldn’t say “kid” anymore… she’ll be 18 in January. Of course in a way she’ll always be a kid, and she’ll likely always be with us.
There are lot’s of challenges with having an autistic child. Most are daily things like dealing with problematic sleep patterns, destructive OCD issues, extreme swings in mood or temper, having little or no response to you or anyone else or just trying to keep your cool when it all gets to be too much. Those things seem tough at the time but it’s the bigger issues that can really get to you… like is my child happy? Am I doing the right things to give her the best life she can have? How can I know what she is really feeling? Autistic kids have trouble internalizing and externalizing emotions. Elizabeth doesn’t often respond to anything outside her ordinary routine. We seldom find anything we can do for her that she will genuinely respond to… something she will peek out of her shell for. When we do, it is as magical for The Lovely Anna and I as it is for Elizabeth.
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