All of which were cool, but, unfortunately, just like in the movies, his superpowers came with a dark side.
#SUPERPOWERED LOGISTICS DIVISION MOVIE#
He also has a weird facility with knowing specific dates of random occurrences – like months later knowing the date we had watched a given YouTube video or the date some movie had been released. A couple of minutes later, a helicopter appeared on the horizon just as Christian had predicted. We also found some of his senses were heightened, like when his teacher took him outside and he told her a helicopter was coming. As a 2-year-old, he was able to complete puzzles at the level of a 7-year-old. Meanwhile, in a sense, autism became Christian’s superpower. So there it was, laid out on the table for everyone to see – we felt every parent’s nightmare had just become our reality. We were told “Christian’s brain is wired differently.” During that first visit, the doctor warned us that he may never talk he may never be able to care for himself. “Does Christian play with others?” “Does Christian eat less than five different foods?” “Does Christian walk on his toes a lot?” “Does Christian ever jump?” It’s all so obvious now, but back then we just thought he had some individual quirks. Thinking that perhaps he was having trouble adapting to his little sister supplanting his position as “baby,” we thought that he was going through a phase – until we took him to a child development specialist where he was initially diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, which is an Autism spectrum disorder, and later as fully autistic. He withdrew from his siblings and played mostly by himself – or played at the same place at the same time as his siblings, but not interactively with them (which I now know is called parallel play). I’m not saying dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets were his favorite, I’m saying if the chicken nuggets weren’t shaped like dinosaurs, he considered them inedible. His appetite, which had always been noteworthy bordering on spectacular, was basically now only dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. His command of the language, which had been quite good, deteriorated to nothing. 6!), when he was around 18 months old, he began the regression. Moments which I put in my mental "back pocket," curious as to how he would unfold in the years to come.Įven so, a few months after his little sister was born (yes! No. I do remember, however, episodes in which I was impressed with his early cognitive development. As you might imagine, that first year was a busy one and, if I’m honest, not all of my memories from those months are razor sharp. The fifth child overall and born only 20 months after his twin sisters, he already had quite a few fans at home eager for his arrival.
To learn more about Chesterfield County Special Olympics programs, visit their website.)Īs if to show his brother and sisters just how it was done, Christian was born squarely on his due date, all 10 pounds, 12 ounces of him. Learn more about autism through the Autism Society. Vaught, a demand and supply chain analyst, works in DLA Aviation’s Business Process Support Directorate’s Research, Review and Analysis Division in Richmond, Virginia. (Editor’s note: During Autism Awareness Month, Defense Logistics Agency Aviation employee Paul Vaught shared his thoughts and reflections on raising a child with autism.
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