Parenthood TV show featuring Aspergers

The new TV show Parenthood has a young boy in it with Aspergers. It's been very interesting watching the show and the similarities the family with the Asperger's child have to our own family. Like when the little boy wants to wear his pirate costume to school. Dallas has a Star Wars costume he wears pretty much all the time and when he's not wearing it he's asking to wear it. He also likes to wear the same pjs every night, although he's learned that he has to make do sometimes with others. (And he's gotten MUCH better about that.) I can't tell you how many times we have gone to the store with him in his costume. I was encouraged when the behavioral therapist on the show told the dad to go to his world instead of making him come to yours. And later in the show they show the dad running around the back yard dressed as a pirate too. It was so touching to me! I only wish the behavioral therapist we saw was a good as this one. Ours was horrible and after a few sessions we stopped going.

And the moment when they get the news that their son has Aspergers Syndrome brought tears to my eyes remembering the day when we were in the Neurologist office to have Dallas evaluated (because of his toe walking and my feeling like he has Sensory Processing Disorder) and being blindsided with a diagnosis of Aspergers, which I knew nothing about. I remember Dr Kojic telling us the same kind of things they were told in the tv show, about all the positive things about Aspergers and the amazing people thought to have it: Bill Gates, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, Albert Einsten, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Beethoven. I left not sure how I was supposed to feel. What does this mean? And then the scene with them meeting with the other couple who has a son with Aspergers and them talking about OT, PT, ST, ABA, Behavioral Therapy. It's the whirlwind path we are on.

Another scene from last weeks episode that touched close to home was the scene where he was asking the teacher to make the bubbles in the huge fish tank stop. And then the next thing you see is the fact that he has gone over and pushed the tank and it broke everywhere. I could totally see Dallas doing this if a sound was hurting his ears. He has learned to cope with some sounds, like the blender, by putting his hands over his ears.

I look forward to watching this show and what else they show regarding Aspergers. Will they show him telling people to stop looking at him? Will they show him having conversations with people and the one sidedness of it? Will they show the meltdowns? Will they show the repetitive questions over and over and over again? The writers son has Aspergers so I believe it will be a pretty accurate depiction of a life with an Aspergers child. Finally some parenting I can relate to!!!