Autism-World

I came up with a story to explain our son’s autism to his sister. ??My hope is that by sharing this story it could help another family. ??First, I need to explain Jonathan’s condition. ??Jonathan has been diagnosed with “Severe Autism, Developmental Delay, and Mental Retardation caused by complications due to anesthesia administered during surgery.” ??The doctors called this “encephalopathy,” and they have said that there is no cure and the brain damage is permanent and irreversible.” ??However, they were wrong!! ??Jonathan was born a very happy, content, social baby. ??He was extremely intelligent-his doctors thought that he would have a near genius IQ someday. ??Before his surgery (that he had when he was a little over one-years-old), he could talk some, walk, made perfect eye-contact, smiled almost constantly, played imaginary games, danced to music, etc. ??He even played jokes on people-he loved to make people laugh. ??For example, he would put a pair of underwear on his head and dance around. ??He helped me do laundry and tried to open the door with a key. ??The list goes on. ??Everyone commented how social and happy he was- his doctors were so impressed with him. ??Then, as soon he was coming out of anesthesia, he woke up screaming a high-pitched sound that I had never heard before and his eyes were actually vibrating! ??He had to be sedated again to take him home. ??From that time on, Jonathan stopped sleeping normally (he could go for up to 48 hours on only two hours of sleep), started only walking on his tippy-toes, lost all eye-contact, lost his smile and glow in his beautiful blue eyes, “ismed” constantly, had terrible tantrums, lost ablitiy to talk, and the list goes on as all of you well know. ??So, you can see that Jonathan was clearly not born with autism. ??I needed to explain all this so my story to Hannah would make more sense to everyone, but you could change parts of the short story to help explain autism to your children.
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“Catepillars and Butterflies are Both Beautiful!”
Jonathan was born a happy catepillar, who loved to play in the warm sunshine. ??One day sleepy medicine, given during surgery, made the happy catepillar go into a cocoon. ??Inside the cocoon, the beautiful catepillar tried to understand what was happening in the world outside his cocoon. ??However, everything sounded muffled and loud and nothing made sense anymore. ??Everyone still loved the beautiful catepillar just the same as before he went into his cocoon, and they all wanted him to come out and play with them again. ??Atlas, the sweet catepillar was stuck tight in the cocoon. ??Then, one day, mommy discovered the Son-Rise program to help the little catepillar be able to peek out of the cocoon. ??She changed her way of thinking about the cocoon and adopted the “three E’s,” and joined in with “isms.” ??This allowed the beautiful catepillar to poke his head out of his cocoon and start to smile, communicate, and see the world outside his cocoon again. ??One day, the catepillar will emerge from his cocoon as a beautiful butterfly. ??Now, we don’t know if he will be able to fly high in the summer breezes or only low along the swaying green grass. ??We don’t know what color or ??shape he will be. ??Maybe he will have a wing that is smaller than the other so that flying will still be a struggle. ??But, the beautiful butterfly will fly and he will be happy! ??And everyone loved the beautiful butterfly just the same as they loved the beautiful catepillar. ??But, they were overjoyed that the catepillar came out of his cocoon so that they could play with him again. ??You see, the butterfly and the catepillar are equally beautiful and unique! ??Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. ??Everyone is beautiful in their own way, and everyone has a message and purpose to share with others. ??My prayer is that everyone will treat the catepillars with the same love, dignity, and respect as they treat the butterflies! ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
Dedicated to my beautiful catepillar who is beginning to poke his head out of his cocoon. ??Mommy will always love and be proud of you-no matter what!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 11:33 am and is filed under Autism Stories.