…raising an Autistic son (in my case 3) for me is what I call the “age gap”. I have spoken about this before but it is something I struggle with everyday.

I wish there was something like a truth mirror. By truth mirror I mean a mirror that shows a true picture of who you are. In so very many case with kids like Gavin, looks can and will be decieving. You look at Gavin and you see a 10 year old boy throwing fits and melting down when he doesn’t get his way. The problems with outward appearances is that they are always an accurate representation of who they are on the inside.

If you stuck Gavin in front of a truth mirror or looked at him through a magic lens you would see a small child not 10 year old boy. Gavin is emotionally stunted at about 2 or 3 years of age. Gavin’s intelligence far surpasses that of a 10 year old boy but inside he is only 2 or 3 years old.

The point is that when stressed or overwhelmed he will react like a toddler would. Developmentally that’s where he stuck at. I struggle with this daily because it’s really easy to forget this when he’s in the midde of a fit. It’s far to easy to see someone that is just being difficult and pitching a fit cause they didn’t get their way. The reality is far more complicated then that. Gavin is probably a bad example of this cause of everything else he has going on but the principle is the same.

You should learn your childs emotional age and it will give you insight into their world. We still have to address the behavior but you will have a better understanding of why it’s there and how to avoid it going forward.