Damned lies and Statistics

In American, or more particularly in California, we are encouraged to nurture our inner child, to hold onto that innocence, especially if we wish to maintain our mental health. And who doesn’t want to do that?

As adults, we try and remember that even the most wizened and cynical of us, can
learn from children. But does that still hold true if those children are autistic? Probably not. Not going to glean a lot of insight from those little chappies, and they are mainly chaps, depending upon which set of statistics you care to favour.

Personally, I like the one that suggests that as many as 1 in 166 children are diagnosed with autism. I love statistics because you can prove anything with them by careful manipulation. I thought that I was the only person locally, or even nationally with two autistic boys, but now that they’re both at the same school, I find that other families with two. [Ref 1]


What does that mean? Well, it means that together, we three families, have six children, autistic ones, of a similar age, in one school. If there are thirty children in a class, that means that each class will have an autistic child. And why would that matter? It means that your child will be in close proximity with mine. In fact, because my boys are only 17 months apart, they could be in the same class together.

They separate twins, but the same doesn’t apply to siblings, I’ve checked. That means that your child might sit next to mine, perhaps one either side. In fact those other autistic children, the two that are the right age, might end up in the same class too. My two and four more, because it’s largely a matter of chance. Wouldn’t that be super! Your child with four or six little autistic kids, all pals together in the same class. It would be even better if the class had only 20 children, although it would mess up my statistics a bit.

Your child would be a great role model for my children. Mine could copy yours, then they’d learn how to behave properly, just like yours do. Children learn more from their peers than their parents by the time they’re in school, a sort of transfer of allegiance if you will. But that’s fabulous for me, because you’ve taught your children a great set of moral values, things that mine might not understand, like non-discrimination and inclusion. You know, like the Barney song: 'we include everyone!' I bet your kids can sing every word perfectly. Doesn't that warm your heart?

Don’t worry, I lied when I said that our children would meet. My children are in the special ed class, separate, protected and nurtured, because it would be ghastly if they were all in together. They might be bullied. Wouldn't that be dreadful? Mine of course, not yours.

Fancy a play date? Pick up the phone and give me a tinkle.

[Ref 1] and don't forget 'George and Sam,' by Charlotte Moore, but they're on a different continent so we won't count them. Then there's Luke Jackson and his siblings {Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome} but they're on the same tiny little island, so we'll ignore them too.