Hi everyone. Welcome to the first posting of our new blog. My wife Shannon and I, decided to create this blog, so we can share our experience in dealing with autism. Our son Jacob was diagnosed with Aspergers roughly 2 years ago. I myself have been diagnosed as being intellectually gifted, yet I do exhibit some of the same characteristics as my son. The same in fact, that led to his ASD diagnosis. My wife Shannon, graduated from Mohawk College as an early childhood educator or ECE. Hopefully, by creating this blog, we will help others in their dealings with ASD.
When Jacob first began JK he started having difficulty right away. Frequent outbursts, withdrawal from the curriculum and even fleeing the classroom were the daily norm. We at that time had no idea what the problem was. We both graduated high school, my wife college, so we never thought Jacob would have issues at school. Before you new it, my son's teacher said something about aspergers. My wife and I at first thought that was impossible. There was no history of autism in either of our families and I never noticed anything overly strange while at home. My wife then said that Jacob did show some signs, but not all, so we thought it must be something else. Jacob was too socially active to have aspergers we thought. If we went somewhere out in public, he would say hi and introduce himself to everyone! No matter who the person was or what they looked like, he would always say hello.
As time progressed over JK, Jacob's behaviour intensified. If the teacher spoke sternly to anyone, Jacob would erupt and yell back. Then he might run to the coat area, or into the hallway of the school. He even made it home one time after he darted out of the classroom. Luckily by that time, Jacob had been assigned an EA or educational assistant, who gave chase. But we only live 3 blocks from his school, so Jacob had no problem remembering the route home. We didn't know what to do, so through our family doctor, we enlisted the help of a paediatrician. While waiting for his appointment, Jacob had dealt with multiple EAs and almost everyone in the school knew who he was. Shannon and I were shocked when even big kids would say "Hi Jacob." That's how social he was. He would even resort to yelling at strangers. If he saw a mom disciplining their child for not looking before crossing the street, he would scream "IT'S NOT NICE TO YELL!" at the parent. We were shocked, but unsure what was going on with our son.
In our next posting we'll discuss more of Jacob's traits, and my realisation that I might have more answers that we originally thought.
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