Autism

Me " so you know when you went and played and worked with the doctor at the hospital last month?"
8yr old "yes"

Me "well do you want to know what she said? She said you were so smart, so charming and a wonderful little girl."

8yr old "I all ready knew that"

Me " well she also said something else. She said that you have autism"

8 yr old "WHAT?!" she cups her cheeks grinning "I have autism?! That's crazy! I have too many disabilities. Oh well. I guess I will just have to live with it!" and off she skips.

I on the other hand with her sweetness and courage in all that she faces have developed a big case of leaky eye. I always knew she had to be on the spectrum from the time she was nine months old. That's not what has me leaking. She is just the best kid ever. She takes on whatever life hands her and moves on. Sure she has her moments and puts the school through their paces but if ever there were to be a picture of strength, determination, bravery and perseverance in the dictionary it would be her beautiful smiling face you would see.

I will say that knowing something and wanting it labelled in order to access the best resources and for folks to have a reference in how to approach her on top of my instructions and being given the label trigger conflicting emotions. On the one hand someone else saw what I saw and who has all sorts of big capital letters before and after their name. On the other hand it is one more diagnosis. In no way does it change anything about her in fact it makes me love her more and want to continue to rise to the occasion for her but no one wants their child to have more hurdles in life.

The reality I guess as I said before is she is still the same girl that she was before eleven o'clock this morning. Instead of letters behind her name for now she has a lot of big words. Impressive in their own right as she dispels any preconceived notions about what a kid who carries them should be like.

And we carry on.