Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK - The Not-So-Great Escape (1/1)

In case you are wondering... Yes, my little imp (my son, not Myxy) pulled this stunt on me when he was about three. I was mortified as it was happening, but saw the humour in it shortly thereafter.

Incidentally, the woman who came to my rescue actually did work at a school for kids with autism. (Not the one my son would eventually attend, but one just across the border in New Jersey.)

As always, all comments welcomed.

Joy,
Lynn

Lynn,

As I was reading this, knowing your background I suspected as much.

Cute little piece.

I don't know. I thought it was a great escape! Mortification galore for one's mommy! As always, Lynn, another entertaining read.

Ken, I thought you would probably guess that this was very closely based on a real-life incident. And I really did have thoughts about what headline the local newspaper would use. IIRC, the headline that sprang into my mind was "College Instructor Engages in Indecent Exposure". What I had Lois calling out was verbatim what I said.

Virginia, thanks for plugging the other stories in my series. I've added the following to the start of this story:
So far, I've had stories from the POV of three of the four family members. I would love to write a story from Todd's POV, but I fear that that is beyond my ability. That's not to say that I won't keep thinking about it, but I don't think even Clark could hold his breath that long.

I've thought about what a Super-Todd might be like; the situation isn't pretty.

It's nice to know that Andy's behaviour in this one instance, at least, was in line what a neurotypical child might do -- and an older NT kid, at that. That makes for a refreshing change.

I'm glad you both enjoyed the story. Thanks for taking the time during this very busy season to read my story and leave feedback.

Joy,
Lynn

Have you read the books by Temple Grandin? She does a great job of describing how she sees things thru her autism.

Hi Meadowrose,

I have indeed. In fact, reading them was the first suggestion my son's neurologist gave me when he confirmed the diagnosis. I would highly recommend her books for anyone who is interested in learning more about autism.

Her books are quite insightful. Unfortunately, Todd is very low functioning. Based on where Todd is developmentally, and on Dr. Grandin's insights and those of others such as Donna Williams and Scott Barron-Cohen, I would probably wind up using tons of sentence fragments -- bare noun phrases -- to capture the feel of thinking in pictures (to borrow Grandin's description). I suspect it would make for rather difficult reading. The piece would need to be short, even by my standards, since I don't think many people would want to slog through such a writing style for very long.

It would also be a challenge to capture such a very different way of perceiving the world and interpreting the actions of other people. If I were to write such a story, I would do the best I could with it, but it would without doubt be the toughest thing I ever would have written, either in fiction or non-fiction.

I'd very much like to write such a story, and have been trying to come up with a plot that would be appropriate for it for some time now, but so far I have come up dry.

Thanks for the suggestion, Meadowrose.

Joy,
Lynn

Dealing with children is always a challenge. Autism is definitely a huge complication, but it isn't the only one.

Our youngest daughter is brilliant, and I can say that objectively, not just as a thrilled parent. But when she was two to three years old, she had a tendency to wander off in public places, because what she wanted to see and do was more important than what Mommy and Daddy wanted to see and do, of course.

So one day my wife bought a soft leash for her, one which strapped to her wrist with a Velcro loop. Our daughter thought this was a marvelous thing - until she realized that it restrained her. She came to this epiphany the next time she and her mother were at the mall. Our sweet little child ran to the end of her tether and began screaming "Ow! You're hurting me! You're hurting me! Wah! Ow!" at the top of her lungs.

And she didn't stop when she ran out of air. Naturally, the shopping trip was short-lived, and we had to find alternate means to keep our darling daughter out of the fountain at the mall.

I would bet real money that Todd knew what he was doing and knew that his mother was agitated and frustrated by his conduct, but that he really didn't know why. After all, she could easily see that he was just fine, he was in no danger, and she could come get him any time she wanted to. No big deal, no real reason for Mommy to be upset. The social subtext of Mommy not wanting to be naked in front of a bunch of strangers - especially strange men! - was completely lost on him. To his mind, he wasn't doing anything wrong. It was boring in that dressing room anyway.

I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Now Lois knows she has some support when she needs it. And she has some reinforcement that she's not alone. This was a sweet vignette and I'm glad you shared it with us. Thank you.

Hi Terry,

Oh my. It's good to know that really embarrassing things like that happen even with kids who aren't on the spectrum.

I like your spin on Todd's thought process, but I fear you are probably giving him too much credit for having such a well-developed theory of mind and so much empathy.

Take my son, for example, who is, after all, the model for Todd in this story. If I just display appropriate levels of anger at one of his misdeeds, he will often simply laugh and have a twinkle in his eye. He seems to think my raised voice and scowls are a game; he doesn't appear to realize I am angry -- instead, he only seems to think that Mom is making funny sounds and even funnier faces. To say that that is both aggravating and heart-breaking for me is a huge understatement.

So, Terry, were I a gambling person and were we to have a way to determine who was right, I would take you up on that wager.

Thanks for commenting on the story.

Joy,
Lynn

Nice story, Lynn. I was expecting the child to be naked, not the mom. Mothering Todd sure is forcing Lois to change in ways that are very challenging for her. For one thing, she has to admit that she needs help, and for another, she has to trust the goodwill of complete strangers. And I can't even imagine what Lois and Clark will do if Todd develops powers. I'd imagine they have Bernie working on a way to prevent that if it's possible. That's an entirely new ethical dilemma.

For the record, I love one-shots; they're all I have time to read these days. Thanks for posting this one.

Lynn, I won't actually take that bet. I was remembering some of my own childhood experiences as an Aspberger's kid. I can recall numerous instances where my rather impatient mother would get flustered by what I thought was play, and I'd end up getting yelled at without any idea what I'd done wrong, just that Mom was mad at me. I certainly sympathize with your frustration at your child, who thinks Mommy looks and sounds funny when she's really angry at what he's done.

Someone - I have unfortunately forgotten who - uses or did use a sig which stated that her superpower was that she was raising an autistic child. Another one I've seen is that if you've seen one autistic child, you've seen one autistic child. The message is that every child is different.

And that's true.

Many years ago, I took our two sons to a baseball game at The Ballpark In Arlington (it has some commercial name now) to see the Rangers play a Friday night game, along with about forth-five thousand other fans. The Rangers got clobbered. When we left, I expressly told both boys to follow me and stay close behind me. I repeated these instructions more than once. Both boys nodded and repeated those instructions back to me.

The result? The younger son (about eleven at the time) turned his own way and got lost. I looked around to see half the number of boys I expected to see, so I told the older one to remain beside the sidewalk where he was and hold onto a marker of some kind while I looked for his brother.

I found him. And in the course of walking to the place where I'd left the older boy, the younger one turned and went his own way again. If I hadn't been waiting for that move I'd still be searching for him. I had to grip his hand to keep him with me.

And he's not autistic. We had him tested. He had some indications of being ADD, but nothing else.

So, even allegedly "normal" kids will send their parents up and over the wall at times.

I hope that you stay patient with your son. It's very hard, I know, but one day it will all seem worth it. I can't tell you when, of course, but I'm positive that the day will come.

Parenting definitely does that to one, and doubly so parenting a child with special needs. I often say, only half-jokingly, that my Ph.D. was nowhere near as educational as my M.O.M..

Now that's the truth. And it has plenty of real-world counterparts. Not the super-powers part, of course, but the question of when it is appropriate to give an individual with a disability medicine that they themselves don't directly need in order to improve their life indirectly, or to keep them or others safe.

And they're all I have time to write these days. (Good thing they are the type of story that comes easiest to me.)

And thanks so much for leaving feedback.

Terry, I'm sensing a theme here with your children and wandering. Seriously, though, it must have been scary to look back and see yourself shy one child. Out of curiosity, did you ever find out why your son strayed? Had he spied something that drew his attention?

The person with the sig was Chief Pam. It said, "I'm raising a child with autism. What's your superpower?" I loved that saying so much that I bought a tee shirt with it. I often wear the shirt when I take my son into public places where I think he might act up. I figure it's a positive way of cluing onlookers in on the reasons for his atypical behaviour.

One other saying I absolutely love -- the title of one of Patsy Clarimont's books -- Normal is just a setting on your dryer.

I do try, but it sure isn't easy, and I fear I don't always succeed.

From your keyboard to God's monitor.

Joy,
Lynn