Growing Up With Asperger’s and Autism

April is Autism and Asperger's Syndrome Awareness Month. There are plenty of books about what to do if a loved one is diagnosed on the Autism spectrum, but I am going to focus in this post about the personal experiences of those effected.

John Elder Robison is the elder brother of Augusten Burroughs, of Running With Scissors fame. As a child, Robison desperately wanted to connect with other people, but he had a panoply of unfortunate behaviors (blurting non sequiturs, avoiding eye contact, coming up with pet names for his brother like Varmit) that made it hard to make and keep friends. His facility with things mechanical got him jobs where oddness was tolerated, even celebrated, such as designing stunt guitars for KISS and electronic toys for Milton Bradley. It wasn't until Robison was 40 with a child of his own on the autism spectrum that he was diagnosed with Asperger's. Cubby (Robison's pet name for his son) had slightly different symptoms, but also struggled in school and had all-consuming fixations. As Cubby entered adolescence he focused on chemistry, which Robison encouraged as there are lots of good jobs for chemists and it beat Pokemon. Unfortunately, Cubby liked the chemistry that most often went boom, which attracted the attention of a grandstanding district attorney. While Cubby was always extremely careful safety and property damage-wise and only interested in the experiments on a chemical level, he was dragged into court so that politicians facing re-election could make an example of him. Don't worry, it ends okay. Robison's autobiography is called Look Me in the Eye and the memoir that covers his life with his son is titled Raising Cubby.

Thomas Fields-Meyer's youngest son Ezra was strange: despite a phenomenal memory, he was non-communicative and didn't engage like other kids. He was diagnosed early with autism. Instead of trying to force him into a "normal" mode of behavior, his parents and friends let Ezra connect with the world in his own way. While Ezra had trouble with social interactions (tact, anyone?), his unique abilities stemming from his condition allowed him to engage others in surprising and deep ways. This warm, tender, and frequently funny book follows Fields-Meyers' son as he raises his parents from his diagnosis to his bar mitzvah. Referring to his parents' approach to child-rearing, the memoir is called Following Ezra.

Temple Grandin is probably the most famous person with autism. In Thinking in Pictures, Grandin writes about autism from both scientific and personal experience. She takes you through the way an autistic person experiences the world (not all of them think in pictures, by the way) and how that informs their behavior. Grandin has tips on how to raise high-functioning children with autism, based on her own parents' own successful efforts. Also, Grandin spends time on how she got to be a very successful designer of livestock-handling facilities. Hint: it is sometimes advantageous to be socially oblivious. A fascinating book by an overachiever on the spectrum.