I know you're in there Winning our war against autism

Excerpt from Chapter Four Ryan was the toddler from hell! Normal activities of daily life were now confrontations. Doing simple things such as putting on shoes or a coat were more than difficult for Ryan and completely frustrating for me. Ryan confused me. There were many incidents and behaviors to indicate that my son was struggling developmentally, but I spent most of my time trying to justify his behavior. I pretended his extreme intelligence caused these immense challenges to our family's daily life. Any connection between Ryan having a meltdown over brushing his teeth and Ryan having superior intelligence was questionable. But that's how I coped. Making that connection comforted me and reduced my concerns about him. Dressing Ryan was always a struggle of wills. He always wanted to play and eat before ever considering getting dressed. I compromised back then and let him eat immediately after he opened his eyes. However, on the days when the needs of other family members meant he needed to get dressed before playing and eating, a battle ensued. "Mr. Touchy Feely" only agreed to clothing that felt soft and hated anything with buttons. Wearing jeans was out of the question, and every tag needed to be cut out of every shirt. Ryan needed to do things in the same order--always his order--and the way that he decided they should be done. When I put on Ryan's coat, he wouldn't go outside unless it was zipped all the way to the top. He had to wear a hood and never wore a hat. To protect his hands from frostbite, I had to fight him each and every time to make sure he wore mittens during our cold Minnesota winters. There were so many weird things about our daily life with Ryan. But doing things differently was already the norm for us. We didn't notice the absurdity of all the things we did almost subconsciously to prevent Ryan from having another over-the-top tantrum. Excerpted from I Know You're in There: Winning Our War Against Autism by Marcia Hinds All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.