A Day in the Life of a Family of a Child with Autism

What Anxiety Looks Like When You Have an Autistic Child

Picture yourself in a stressful moment: a work deadline too close for comfort, a recent spat with your partner, or just a painful memory. How well did you hide it? Could you hide it at all? How did it manifest itself to your friends, family, or the or the

general public? Sweaty palms, raised heart rate,

flushed cheeks?

I’ve heard people say that they

thrive on stress; well, stress seems to thrive in our Mikey, and it’s expressed in a most peculiar way: he laughs. No doubt you are scratching your heads

as to how a reaction normally associated with stress relief is the bizarre manifestation of deep-seated

turmoil, but that is what we live with every day.

When it hits there is no warning, but boy do you hear it! You might have just walked into a store, a church service or a relative’s house, when suddenly

your kid is the star of his own show, but not in the proud parent way. When he’s not laughing, eating, pacing, or demanding an item from his extremely

short list of must-have daily foods and beverages, we get a very admirable Mummy impression (Mmmmmmmahhhhh) for at least 30 minutes per night. This is usually accompanied by a good two-hour drumming session. Not actual drums of course, but he keeps a mean rhythm on our hardwood floors with either a metal napkin holder,

or his new fave—the potato masher. Continue reading this story from our magazine.