Autism and Emotion

I was once told by a well meaning lady that it must be tough to have children that I cannot connect with emotionally. I was really taken off guard as that is not my experience.

More conversation revealed that her only encounter with autism was a young neighbour who seemed completely unemotional and lost in his own world. This is another example of, "If you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism."

I am sure that there are people with autism who have difficulty expressing emotion. My children are not like that. My children love to hug and kiss. They show affection in other ways, such as sitting with us or putting an arm on our arms and so on. My son has even verbally (even though he is considered nonverbal) told me he loves me.

Our son has issues with running away. At one school, one of the kids in his class got hurt. Logan intended to use this as a distraction to escape the school (he was successful). However, before he took off, he went to his fellow student to make sure she was okay. He cared.

When people are upset, both of our children empathize with this by demonstrating their own sadness. Our daughter loves nothing more than hearing other people laugh with joy. She gets right in there and laughs with them.

Sure, some people with autism demonstrate emotion differently than some people who are neuro-typical. But please do not assume that all people with autism are unemotional.