The Best Kind of Different: Our Family's Journey With Asperger's Syndrome (22 page)

Our last Family Day, in 2007.

Everyone together after the Red Sox won the World Series in the fall of 2007. It had only been a few short weeks since Grant’s Asperger’s diagnosis, but I desperately wanted Grant to be there when the Red Sox won. I prepared him as well as I could, using some of the basic things I’d learned about Asperger’s from the neurologist who had diagnosed him.

Grant playing Little League with his friend Stephen, who has Down syndrome.

It’s tough playing baseball when you’re the son of a professional baseball player (you wouldn’t believe some of the things parents say in the stands), but it’s even harder for Grant, who has always struggled to enjoy the sport. Since the diagnosis, it’s become easier to focus him, but he doesn’t always stay focused. Still, that doesn’t mean other people really understand him.

Halloween 2008 taught me that it doesn’t matter how comfortable you get with your child’s Asperger’s, life will find a way to complicate things. When Grant’s Native American costume didn’t show up, he was inconsolable. Whereas another child might have been flexible, an Asperger’s child simply isn’t wired that way. Luckily, my Medfield moms were able to come through in a pinch and find a substitute.

Grant’s ninth birthday, fall 2008. His birthday always fell during the baseball playoffs, but because Curt was injured that year Grant was able to really enjoy his birthday with his dad.

For a long time Curt was looking for something he could connect with Grant on. They both found that something in Cub Scouts, which brought them together like nothing else they’d done before. This photo was taken on their first overnight with the Cub Scouts.

This photo was taken in the spring of 2009. Part of Grant’s Asperger’s is that he immerses himself in subjects that he likes, learning as much about them as possible. For a while now he’s been obsessed with sea life, and since he was young we always believed that he would grow up to be a marine biologist.

When Grant was first diagnosed, I was overwhelmed by fears, but my biggest fear was that his Asperger’s would isolate him, making it hard to keep friends. YouthCare, his Asperger’s summer camp where this photo of him (with his arms folded) was taken, erased all those worries. For the first time I felt optimistic that, with specific attention, he’d be able to learn acceptable social behaviors that would help him throughout life.

This photo of the kids and me was taken while a photographer was shooting us for the magazine
Women’s World
.

Grant’s tenth birthday.

Grant’s Christmas card photo for 2009. Animals have a powerful, soothing affect on Asperger’s kids. Having one in the photo with Grant kept him much calmer and made him much more agreeable. I wish I’d known that a couple of Christmases ago.
(Photograph by Passaretti Photography)