Have you ever noticed how experts constantly refer to Autism as a ‘learning disability’? I contemplate this term as I watch my nine-year-old son Braydon, effortlessly scale my counter tops to filch the salt and vinegar chips I hid in top shelf. In fact, Braydon’s problem solving skills exceed that of his ‘neurotypical’ sister.
What would I change in my son’s treatment if I considered my son to have a communication disability rather then a learning disability? Is this just a title or is it maybe a new perspective?
I am not an expert but here is what I do know. Individuals who are visually or hearing impaired are considered to have a communication disability.
There are so many reasons why the sensory processing centers in the brains of certain individuals do not receive the input messages from their eyes or ears (or both like Helen Keller). Autism looks much the same to me. The sound of my voice competes with all the other sensory information that Braydon is so sensitive to.
The ticking of the clock, the air is too warm or too cold, his seat is too hard or too soft, the bathroom door is about to open and he is going to run away to close it. These things make up only a fraction of the information coming at my son at all the same intensity! Braydon’s moderate-severe Autism means that unlike those of us that experts consider ‘neurotypical’, he has no way to filter this information except to create an ‘output’ to counter it. Experts call this behavior ‘stimming’. I realize this all sounds confusing, but my point is that High Functioning Autism, like Blindness or Deafness comes down to being a sensory processing issue rather then an inability to learn as the term ‘learning disability’ seems to suggest.
Perhaps this is the reason why a Certified Autism Service Dog has proven to be such an asset to our quality of life? Service Dogs for the blind and hearing impaired are fairly common. Is a service dog for a person with Autism a truly enormous stretch? Trust me, it is a natural progression.
If perforated dots on a piece of paper can give a child who is born without the sense of sight an opportunity to read a book, or a computer can give Carly Fleichman, a girl with asphyxia and Autism the opportunity to find her voice, in theory my son could be able to learn the skills he is going to need to become a contributing member to his community. Just look at all the things Dr. Temple Grandin was able to accomplish!
My goals suddenly look much different. Instead of trying to convince my son to learn, perhaps I need only to teach him how to communicate. For the Silo, Jenny Tansley.
Supplemental- From the Silo Summer 2010 Temple Grandin article https://www.thesilo.ca/temple-grandin-a-silo-movie-review-issue2/