Sometimes it seems like Alex’s most obvious characteristic — or maybe it’s autism’s most obvious characteristic — is lack of focus. When he was just three or so, a neighbor watched him careen around her apartment examining things and wandering around without stopping. “My, he’s BUSY!” she observed. At the time I thought it was positive: he’s doing things, I thought, thinking about things, looking at things.
But he’s 11 now, and when the rest of us are sitting around watching a movie or eating dinner, Alex is still busy. Still wandering. Standing up in front of the TV blocking our …read more

Alex doesn’t seem interested in riding a bike, but lately he’s been eyeing his brother’s scooter. We went to the park last week — Ned and the other kids had scooters, and I didn’t want Alex to feel left out, so I grabbed our new pogo stick (a gift from Grandpa) and handed it to him. Not only did he carry it to the park the whole way (often he starts out holding something and then flags and tries to get me to carry it) but once there he practiced over and over again, trying to stand on it and …read more