Making the Connection
My good news for this week is about our visit with Logan and Abby, specifically Logan. I had a lot of fun with Abby, but something in specific happened with Logan.
For those who do not know, Logan and Abby are our two children with autism who live in group homes and visit us every weekend.
It was a bit of a quieter afternoon as two of our other children were out with friends. That may have toned down the stimulation and made Logan more present.
Logan is nonverbal but if you know him well enough, communication is possible. I sat down on the couch and poked him. He said something about tickling with a big grin on his face. I asked if I could tickle his belly and he responded with, “No thank you.” I asked if I could tickle his armpits (a brave offer on my part consider he is going through puberty) and he said, “Yeah.”
Then the tickling began. He laughed hard and he responded to my laughing. The laughter was not because of the tickling, because he is too fast and strong for me to get much in, it was the fun interaction that made him laugh.
Logan is often in his own world. If you met him, he would have his head down and he would be focused on wringing a sock-covered toy covered in plastic, all the while humming loudly. But today he was completely present and interacting with me. He was even communicating very effectively.
For those few moments, I actually forgot he had autism.
It was a fun time together and one that I will treasure as my good news.
If you want to learn more about autism, please check out my new autism blog.
