This is what raising an autistic child is like. It is 1130 PM. You are driving home from a day with relatives. You are in downtown Kansas City at the I-35/I-70 mixmaster. Traffic is heavy. Traffic is fast. There are cars ahead of you, behind you, and to your side, all going 65 MPH. In this part of the road, there are no shoulders, and no exits. You are locked in on the road, concentrating like crazy and thankful you had that cup of coffee before getting to KC. Then you hear a click, and a thunk and the sound of road noise. What has happened? Your son in the back seat has undone his seatbelt, unlocked the car door, and opened it. You scream JACKSON!!!!! at the top of your lungs, because thats all you can do...you cant hit the brakes without causing a pileup and there is no shoulder to pull off to. Your older son, asleep in the front seat, wakes up with a start, looks back, sees what has happened, then grabs the door handle and holds the door shut so that his little brother cant jump or fall out of the car. Finally you get to an exit and pull off. You park, get out of the car, go to the back passenger door and then give Jackson the biggest scolding of his life. He seems to understand...hes holding his hands over his ears which is the universal Jackson symbol for I know I am in trouble. You get back on the road. You drive home and make it to Lawrence safely. You put your kid to bed, tell your older son what a great job he did saving his brothers life, and then you have a glass of wine and say a prayer of thanks to whatever Force just spared your sons life. That is what it is like to parent an autistic child.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 15:39:16 +0000
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