More Reader Questions and About Those Fish….

We have had a great first week in Texas!  We spent time with family, unpacked boxes, went on our first road trip and Ryan even participated in a local RPM workshop with Soma Mukhopadhyay!  Ryan, Grace, and I have done very well with the transition and we are so glad to be “whole” again with Randy.

Ryan and I sat down today to answer a few more reader questions.  We are in need of more questions, so please feel free to submit them!  In addition, I wanted to clarify something about our blog.  I read to Ryan each post before I publish it.  Last week’s post, I read it to him, but left out the part about the fish not making it since it was a side note and I was asking all of you for help (more on this—keep reading).  I wanted to be sure that you all knew that Ryan “approves” the posts as this is a joint blog.  Anyway, now on to the questions!

Chantal submitted the following question:  From your posts it doesn’t appear as though you have difficulty organizing your thoughts.  This is an area that my daughter struggles in.  She can use her voice but HATES to answer questions that require more than a basic answer, and she has a meltdown anytime she has to write journal entries for school.  Any thoughts on that?

I DONT HAVE DIFFICULTY ORGANIZING MY THOUGHTS BECAUSE EACH DAY I AM ALONE WITH MY THOUGHTS.  SO ONE OF MY THOUGHTS MAKES MY AUTISM HELPFUL TO ME.  HAVING AUTISM MEANS I AM WITH MYSELF ALL THE TIME.  HELPS ME GATHER MY THOUGHTS. I AM LEFT ALONE CAPABLE OF MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD.

Melissa wrote the following question:  Can you ask Ryan if he’s looking forward to his Uncle David’s wedding? Can you also ask him if he likes to dance? 

I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THE WEDDING.  CANT WAIT TO SEE EVERYONE. NOT SURE ABOUT DANCING.  IT IS HARD FOR ME.  AUTISM MAKES ME BOULDERS FOR FEET.  Wow.  What a great metaphor!  YES TO METAPHORS.  How did you learn to use them?  I LEARNED BY LISTENING TO ALL THINGS.  EACH DAY I AM FEARING.  DONT AUTISTICS LOSE THEIR SENSE OF HEARING?  I don’t understand.  Do you think that you will lose your ability to hear all things?  YES IF AUTISM IS CURED.  So you don’t want autism to be cured?  YES TO NO CURE.

So Randy and I sat Ryan down and talked to him today about his fish, Margaret and Baena and how we tried really hard but they did not make the trip to Texas.  Ryan’s response was this:  SO SAD.  I BELIEVE IN HEAVEN SO THEY WILL BE OK BECAUSE GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF THEM.  NOT SO SAD SINCE CAPABLE OF INTERESTING NEW PETS.

Once again, Ryan demonstrates his maturity and unbelievable insight.  I certainly have more to write about regarding Ryan’s thoughts on the pool, some interactions that Ryan has had with parents of children with autism since we moved here, and more!  Stay tuned and thanks for reading!