Austin’s Story

I first began this journey over ten years ago when I found and read the book Late Talking Children, by Dr. Thomas Sowell (and I will forever be grateful to Dr. Sowell).  Austin was I think nearly three years old.  At that point, he had a couple of words, but was mostly silent.  He was extremely behind language-wise.  In addition to that, he was – well, he wasn’t anything like his peers – to put it mildly!

He preferred to be alone, and he would literally spend hours of his time lining up things like cars, crayons, even shoes!  He would make elaborate geographical designs in the living room using common household objects.  He would not look at people – if someone came up to him to give him a friendly hello when we were out and about, he would stare up at the ceiling.  He never answered questions – did not even try.  He was an odd little fellow.

We knew he was super smart, he was taking things apart and putting them  back together at an early age;  he was building advanced level K’NEX creations when he was 3 and 4.  And, as a parent – you just “know.”  He wasn’t like other kids – didn’t name off his colors or numbers – but we knew, there was a crazy smart brain going on in there – and we were right.

When he first began really “speaking” – it was all echolalia.  “How was school today, Austin?” — his response:  “school today.”  He did that with every question or comment. This lasted a good year! There was no “back and forth conversation” – and ohhhh how envious I was of parents who had that with their kids….

He was almost five years old before he began to haltingly try to participate in “back and forth” conversation.  His efforts were incredibly awkward, and it was a lesson in patience for everyone – most of all for him.

After a disastrous first semester in kindergarten (a separate story – suffice it to say he was not prepared verbally for that world), we pulled him to homeschool him, which I did for 4 years.  He bloomed, he blossomed, he grew – it was amazing to watch my little boy grow into a very talkative and insatiably curious young man!

He went back to public school in 5th grade – and he scored in the top percentile in everything on all the standardized tests they threw at him – the school staff were very amazed, but we weren’t.

He is now 13 years old and will start 8^th grade in the fall.  He makes nearly straight A’s, plays in the band, and is very confident and secure in himself.  He still prefers to be alone, and he did have one best friend who moved away recently — but he is content and doesn’t seem to “need” the company of peers.  That much never did change.  He won an award this year for being one of a handful of students in his grade to demonstrate “exceptional leadership qualities”.  He was so proud – and you should have seen his dad and me – we were beside ourselves!

Austin, like many other LT’s – has an exceptionally dry sense of humor, a maturity about life way beyond his peers, and an insightful view into the world that I rarely even witness in adults….

He talks a lot – but sometimes still takes awhile to answer or understand a question.  He needs a bit of lag time to “process” verbal information; he is also quite literal.  He is well mannered, enormously thoughtful and kindhearted, and a total joy to be around.

Ten years ago I worried I would never have a “real” conversation with my son; now sometimes I have to take a deep breath in patience, because he loves to talk about anything and everything under the sun!

by Anne M.