You probably know Carson is a great little guy. A talented photographer who can memorize almost anything - as long as he sees it on TV. He is so funny and quirky.



But he also has an autistic spectrum disorder. Exactly what he has and what this will look like when he's 10, 15, 25... no one knows. If you don't know Carson, I cannot really tell you what he is like. He is completely unique - I love that about him, but it makes diagnosis difficult. His OCD tendencies are pretty obvious:



It would seem cute or funny except that it has a tendency to isolate him from other children because they do not want to play with toys the way that he wants to play. It also gets me into a lot of arguments with other parents about our parenting choices. For example, he gets obsessed about sets - if something is a set, he wants all of the items in the set. So when I innocently bought him a Kinder egg in Rome and a toy from the movie "Cars" popped out, his obsessive search for the etire set began. My mother felt the best solution was to ignore his incessant requests for more eggs. Ted and I felt that for 1 or 2 Euro a day, Carson could be made happy - not buying the eggs would have made things miserable for everyone. People do not understand that these children have a disorder and ignoring that fact doesn't make it go away.



At the same time he can be very loving. Especially when it comes to Eden who has consistently been the one who understands him best. Sometimes Carson can be right there with you understanding everything and being engaging.


Sometimes he is in his own world, taking about Avatar, or Jimmy Neutron, and will not snap out of it. Sometimes he needs his solo time and won't engage with anyone.

Academically, he is struggling, but recently he seems to have decided that he wants to give school a try. He has been promised karate lessons (which he has been begging for) if he can learn to write his name on a line. I hear he is getting close.

For more information autism, take a look at Autism Speaks, or the Autism Society websites.