Reality

I am sorry I have not written in a while. Things here have been exceedingly busy. I am a music teacher and a performing vocalist so the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas usually is full. But, that is reality.

Lately, I have been thinking about reality, in general. Our youngest son has not exhibited any signs of Asperger's up to this point. It has been very interesting to see how he has developed, in reference to how our other 2 Aspie sons have developed. We have noticed something in particular....that the line between reality and fantasy is much easier for him to distinguish than for our other sons to distinguish. At age 11, to our surprise, our oldest Aspie son still thought that the Island of Sodor from Thomas the Tank Engine was real! He was DEVASTATED when he realized that it was not real! Yet, our youngest son already knows that Thomas the Tank Engine is meant to be for fun, not reality. Another example of this is that he will go up to our Nativity and use the figures to have abstract conversations. Our middle Aspie son used to think that the figures were real. Again, I think all of this goes back to taking things literally. When you think about it, our society can be rather confusing for anyone who is literalistic. It is like society expects our Aspie kids to speak a language of which they have never been exposed. With that consideration, I think most Aspie kids handle it pretty darn well! How would you like to be dropped in China with no interpreter and no way to learn how to communicate with those around you?

Reality can be pretty fantastical......