Choosing Life, Not Death,
Have you ever dreamed of flying? I think that this idea has been in the minds of human beings since 2000 years B.C. when people gazed at the sky and the stars and wanted to fly up like a bird. Freedom from gravity. Desire for the God in the heavens. Whatever the reason for this beautiful idea, being able to fly has been one of the many desires that humans have had for millennia.
I Want to Fly
Peter Pan was written by J. M. Barrie
This idea came to life in the story of Peter Pan, written by J. M. Barrie. It is about a free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up. The popularity of Peter Pan began on broadway 60 years ago and has been filmed into movies at least five separate times. I loved the version called “Hook” played by Robin Williams, although many critics have condemned it because it didn’t stay true to the original story.
From the very first time that Kate watched “Peter Pan”, she has been obsessed with flying. She must have watched this movie at least 10 times, if not 30 times. Why? Well first of all she has Autism. One of the symptoms of Autism is that this disorder makes a person “perseverate” which means doing the same thing over and over again and over again.
Perseveration can take many forms, such as rocking back and forth, repetitive motions with objects, or extreme interest in certain activities, like watching the same movie many times. Do you know someone with Autism or Asperger’s? It is one of the most common conditions plaguing our children and is growing at epidemic rates.
Getting back to flying, one beautiful day in spring I opened many windows in the house to get a nice breeze flowing. Katie was 10 years old and she was playing in her bedroom while I was in the kitchen. For whatever reason, (probably the Holy Spirit) I went upstairs to see what Kate was doing. Much to my shock, she was at the screen
on her window trying to open it so that she could fly out to Neverland! How horrified I was. Of course the first thing I did was close the window and bring her downstairs so that I could keep a close eye on her.
I intervened in the nick of time. This was not the first time she tried to climb out the window, but I’ll save that story for later. We had a conversation about the difference of “pretending” and reality. This is a very difficult concept for people with Down syndrome because 1. they are childlike and
2. in most cases they can only think concretely, not abstractly. I’ll bet that some of you readers who have family members with Down syndrome know exactly what I mean.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder that involves decreased social skills and various communication problems.
Symptoms of ASD normally occur during the first three years of life. Cause of ASD has yet not been found by the researchers. They believe several factors can be involved in causing ASD in a child. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates one out of every sixty-eight children within the United States is autistic. However, autism is more common in boys than in girls, affecting one out of every forty-two boys, and one out of every one hundred eighty-nine girls.
Restricted and repetitive behaviors
Restricted and repetitive behaviors vary greatly across the autism spectrum. They can include:
Repetitive body movements (e.g. rocking, flapping, spinning, running back and forth)
Repetitive motions with objects (e.g. spinning wheels, shaking sticks, flipping levers)
Staring at lights or spinning objects
Ritualistic behaviors (e.g. lining up objects, repeatedly touching objects in a set order)
Narrow or extreme interests in specific topics
Need for unvarying routine/resistance to change (e.g. same daily schedule, meal menu, clothes, route to school)