By STEPHANIE WHITESIDE
Sheridan High School Student
Editor’s Note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade English class, taught by Abby Williams.
Low functioning autism: Most people don’t understand what this is exactly. Autism itself is a developmental disorder that causes severe social, communication, and behavioral issues.
What does it mean to be on the low side of the spectrum? Well, usually kids who lay on the downside have little to no speech and can’t care for themselves. I know this because my brother has it.
Many things make him different from me and the other kids. He spends most of his days in his room or the car. His room is full of all of his favorite toys! He loves his cars, trains, and lots of other things. Sometimes, we will spend an hour or two building tracks for his trains. He also has to wear zip-up pajamas to school every day. We put him in a teddy bear, Stitch, and many other pajamas too. He also doesn’t like to go anywhere without his tablet. He plays loud music and weird noises over and over to make himself happy. This can seem weird because usually children with autism like it calm and quiet.
When we were younger, we couldn’t go to big parks or places with a lot of people because of his anxiety. He liked to run off a lot and sometimes he would even steal from CVS across the street. Now that we live in the country, it is a lot easier to keep him away from temptations like that.
Communication is a big thing when it comes to him. When he was younger, he almost didn’t speak at all. I remember when my mom would try to teach him and my sibling sign language to help, but it didn’t last very long. Now he can form parts of sentences and phrases. Also, he goes to a special school in Lafayette that helps kids like him. Since starting there he has learned new habits that most people already know, such as brushing his teeth and cleaning up after himself (sometimes).
When it comes to children with autism, there are things that they become particularly picky about. He is very picky when it comes to food; he mainly eats chicken nuggets and tater tots. It makes it hard to keep him healthy when he won’t eat right.
He is also picky about where he sits on the couch, who changes his Pull-Ups, and who takes him to bed. My brother has to have a blanket with him almost all the time, no matter if he is in the car or playing with toys. I haven’t figured out why he needs it with him, but I’m pretty sure it’s for comfort.
He is so loving and caring when he wants to be. Whenever somebody gets hurt in my house, he gets sad. He will say “oh no” then ask for a bandage.
There are many good things about him. When he is in a good mood, he will spend time with me and my siblings. I remember one day he wanted to draw with me so we spent hours drawing logos for his movie credit wall, and when we were done, he would hang them up. There are many times I’ll be drawing and he will ask for his crayons and join me. One of his favorite activities is playing Mario Kart on his Switch. When he was younger, he would play the game for hours and most of the time it was him purposely driving off the map and laughing at the sounds the characters made.
I have a lot of fun with him; he can be sweet and kind at times. I don’t spend a lot of time with him, but when I do I make the most of it.