Wednesday, September 7, 2011

No, he's not shy. He just doesn't talk.

I'm not really worried that Garrett doesn't say much.  I'm more worried about his general communication. We're working on getting him to point at things he wants and make eye contact when he wants something.

I guess this is too much for some people. We were at a store the other day and I was holding Garrett. He didn't want to wave at the cashier and wanted to be put down to run around. I said he doesn't talk much.  Her response was "oh, does he not talk because he's shy?" At this point I trying not to laugh because my kid is so far from shy it's hilarious. "No" I said "He doesn't talk much because he's Autistic and has delayed speech."

She got very quiet at that point. I wasn't snarky in my answer but I guess people aren't expecting to hear that. He's Autistic, so what? Does that make him less adorable? Does it make him less amazing? Not at all. I wonder why people ask if they don't want to hear the answer. If it bothered me I wouldn't have said anything  but it isn't something I think we should be ashamed of.

Some people say "oh, I know someone with Autism" while others get very uncomfortable. The truth is that for us we don't feel a need to keep it a secret. I find it more annoying for some stranger to try and force a "hi" out of Garrett when he isn't interested in them. 

Garrett is getting a ton of help and has been making huge strides. I swear I cried last month when he pointed at a banana he wanted to eat. He puts his toys away and even has a few words. Last week he started to do the hand movements for the itsy bitsy spider. 

He's our little guy and we love him to pieces.
 And he sure can rock out on those drums!

1 comment:

Lynne Crawford said...

I think you're right, she likely wasn't expecting that answer. And in response, perhaps she wasn't sure what she could say without either offending you, or making herself look like a butt (or both). 

Congrats on his accomplishments!