Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Autism explained by 10-year-old Noah Xavier

Guest Writer: Noah Xavier Smits, age 10, Asperger's Syndrome

What is Autism?
by Noah X. Smits

There is a certain combination of characteristics that make up a puzzle, with each autism trait a piece to it. Everybody is missing pieces to this puzzle. This puzzle is autism, and people diagnosed with autism have more pieces than "normal" people. But "normal" people still have some.

The word "autistic" is actually a ranking. This is given to the people who have many pieces to the puzzle. "Normal" people have very few pieces.

The puzzle is a part of your DNA. It works to characterize you. The number of pieces you have is partly what makes you you.

Autism is really publicly known as a disease you get that makes you stupid. It is really what makes up each puzzle piece. Everyone has autism in different amounts.

Nobody has all the puzzle pieces -- if they did, they would be a baseline for autism. Each puzzle piece is one characteristic of autism.

You get to decide if autism is an advantage or a disadvantage. You pick if it's good or bad.

Never mock an autistic person -- remember, you are autistic too. Everyone is.

Autism is such a large category that it includes many different people, from geniuses to people with trouble speaking, from flight attendants to football players, from me to you.

The word "autistic" shouldn't exist because we are all autistic. We're not all the same, but we still have some pieces to the same puzzle:

The puzzle of autism.

1 comment:

  1. Wonderfully written Noah!!!! Rene`....I came accross your blog, and It was so inspirational to me. Noah, do you know how many other kids are out there like you and your brother?? I bet you woulde be a great friend to my 10 year old son Donovan. He sounds a lot like you....and noise is very disturbing to him too. I took him to a fireworks show last summer, and we had to leave almost immediately, it was just unbearable for him. I have been trying to Network with other parents of lil Asperger's Angels :)

    You keep on doing great Noah, sounds like you have a mom who thinks your awesome, and loves you very much. :) Rene`...I would love to have an opportunity to share some things about my son, and possibly get some feedback about things you have encountered over the years. My son was just diagnosed in August, and for years I had Dr. after Dr. tell me he was ADHD, when all those medicines they had him try made him so violent by just taking one pill. I am so thankful that I finally found the right Dr. for him, one that is treating him properly, and he's doing great. Very, Very smart like your Noah...his IQ is 124, although I believe higher, because he had a hard time answering the questions while he was being evaluated by the people he did not feel comfortable around. He typically doesn't like kids his own age, has very few friends in school, he actually says he has none.(He wanted me to say...lol) I will most definitely say that following the RIGHT course of treatment has extremely helped him in the past few months. He does take quite a bit of medication, whiich I have a hard time accepting, but he truly feels like a normal boy when he takes it. I have always thought of him as having an old soul, because of his routines and expectations of things being a certain way. Please feel free to email me anytime yepitsmee0216@aol.com

    Best Of Luck...I commend you and your sons for your bravehearts and mighty perserverance. :)

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