When we examine 100 random teenagers, we would find that while they all look different, their
minds work in very similar ways.
1 to 2 however, have minds that are atypical in a particular way.
They could be diagnosed with autism.
This happens to boys four times as much, perhaps because diagnosing them is easier.
Children - and adults - who are on the autism spectrum experience the world differently
because they were born with various degrees of neurodivergent traits.
Most autistic children have more refined senses and share a deep desire to bring logic into
their surroundings.
Some seek repetitive behaviors that follow specific patterns and many appear to be asocial
and avoid eye contact.
Autism is not a disease and therefore can not be cured.
Since all our brains are different and there is an endless range of nuances in their architecture,
autism is defined as a spectrum.
On one side of the spectrum is the mildest form of autism, in the past often also referred
to as Aspergers.
These children are highly intelligent, and have extreme abilities and strong interest
in specific areas.
In the middle are those with average intelligence and some problems learning new things.
On the far end of the spectrum are children with severe learning disabilities.
Children on the spectrum may require various degrees of support in their daily lives.
Timo, a young boy, can help us understand how living with a neurodivergent mind can
be.
His mum noticed early on that her boy would avoid eye contact and that he would often
become upset if she hugged him.
He never returned smiles and engaging him in play with friends often ended in a tantrum.
His mother suspected something to be wrong, when Timo still wasn’t speaking more than
two or three words at a time even after turning four years old.
She sought help and Timo was diagnosed with a mild form of autism spectrum disorder, or
ASD for short .
Timo has an atypical perception.
When reading books or watching movies, Timo’s brain picks up and organizes the information
differently.
While his neurotypical peers categorise things and form schemas - for example, they identify
everything with four legs that barks as a dog.
For Timo, each type of dog is unique and categorised in Timo’s mind individually.
His attention to detail and difficulty when generalizing, makes Timo more objective in
his perception of the world and less prone to a framing bias.
However, it also makes all sorts of new experiences incredibly complex, which is why he loves
to follow a rigid daily routine to limit his sensory input.
Timo is highly sensitive.
His brain amplifies whatever input it receives — he hears everything and has a heightened
sense of touch.
However, this superpower makes situations where many people speak simultaneously very
challenging — Timo hears everyone but understands nothing.
The sensitivity to touch makes eating an intense experience.
If a texture or flavour is too much to handle, Timo won’t eat it.
Also walking barefoot on wet grass or playing in dirt overwhelms his brain.
He has a fascination with logic.
Timo naturally looks for patterns that bring logic into this world.
Sometimes he would also try to bring order into his own behavior and ways of moving his
body.
When he experiences structured patterns breaking, he gets upset.
It freaks him out when someone counts to 8 but doesn’t continue to 10.
Doctors call it an obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD, which is a different diagnosis but
often goes along with autism.
Timo experiences social disconnection.
He has trouble connecting with others, because social settings overwhelm his sensitivity
and desire for order.
Because human emotions are incredibly complex and don’t follow a set of predictable patterns,
Timo often finds himself misreading situations and upsetting people around him.
As a consequence, he avoids people and rarely makes eye contact.
Which doesn’t matter that much to him, since most of the things other people talk about,
are illogical, irrelevant and boring anyways.
For 4 years, his mother had him be treated by a therapist who would show him images of
faces to help him learn to identify feelings.
By doing this he got better at identifying facial expressions and their corresponding
emotions.
However, personally he is still not very interested in reading faces or establishing new social
contacts.
He has two friends who share the same interests and couldn’t wish for more.
Since Timo’s autism is not an illness we can treat, but rather a different way of him
experiencing the world, the question remains whether we should try to change him through
therapy or accept him for who he is.
So what do you think?
Should we treat children with autism with therapy or celebrate them for who they are?
Or perhaps do both?
Maybe it’s not their atypical minds, but our stereotypical way of looking at them that
needs correction?
To get a 3-dimensional glimpse of how an autistic girl experiences her own surprise birthday
party, or to download this video without background music, check the descriptions below or visit
sproutsschools.com