chalice26's Diaryland Diary

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Autism cocktail

Luis and I are a recipe for Autism. We thought we were soulmates...oops. The fact that we had a daughter with autism makes us way more likely to produce another child with autism, since boys are four times more likely to get autism than girls.
Apparently, if you were a quirky child and they were a quirky child, it's not a good idea to have children together, because some things that are just strange (or quirky) in a neurotypical person can translate to autism in the children.
When I was little I used to say something and then I would whisper the last word in the sentence. Like: I went to the store (store). Only Phillip ever caught me doing it, and I knew it was wierd, so I tried not to get caught, but apparently this is called "echoing." It's not typical. I also remember when everyone else started becoming pre-teens and teens, I still wanted to play football in the yard with my brothers. I always felt strange that everyone else seemed to change naturally at the same time, except me. People used to say I was "too serious" and I always liked to spend time by myself and could entertain myself for hours (which my mom has implied was selfish). I definitely never felt comfortable in social situations, and I loved animals in a way that I never felt love for people. See? If I'm not autistic (maybe I might have asperger's...I'm thinking about getting a diagnosis), then all of these atypical behaviors are just part of my personality. In my daughter, they're all aspects of her disability.
Luis was dyslexic. He was also always discribed as being "in his own world" and he wouldn't follow conversations, because his mind would wander. That is another example of things that make up a unique individual, but in the children, make up an autism disorder.
Good to know.

9:09 a.m. - 2008-09-18
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