Autism and Thanksgiving
As I write this we are preparing for this year’s thanksgiving festivities. This year, however, promises to be a bit of a blow to his routine. For the last ten years or so, we have enjoyed visits from his grandparents for the entire week. I would take most of the week off, and we would enjoy visiting, eating, drinking, and going to restaurants. This year is a new experience with autism and Thanksgiving.What leads me to believe that he will be at least slightly thrown off, are the questions coming up this year now that he can identify the fact that this year is different.
By this time his grandparents (called Oma and Opa) would have been here. By this time I would have already taken off work. He is happy to be off school and at home, but he knows that something is amiss.
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| Autism and Thanksgiving |
Update: Maturity does have a positive effect on his dealings with changes. Thanksgiving came and went, and we informed him repeatedly that we would be seeing Oma and Opa on Christmas and that “This year is different”.
He now understands that when we say “Today is different” or “This year is different” he is in for a change to what he is used to, and better be ready to deal with it. I promised to take him to the restaurant on the following weekend, and we ended up making a father/son day out of it.
Autism Author Mark Ferdinand
Mark Ferdinand is a Texas author living on Padre Island with his wife, daughter and son. Fishing the surf, hunting, gardening, carving, auto and home repair occupy his spare time. He has written on the topic of autism spectrum disorder from a father's perspective in parenting articles and in other non-fiction venues.Having limited typical communication skills, his son introduced Mark to new ways of interpreting his needs and aspirations. As his son grew older Mark became fascinated by the story potential within these amazing children. This prompted the creation of a dynamic adventure story focusing on a character with autism.
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