Spectrum of Normal

  “A person has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!” - Proverbs 15:23 (New American Standard Bible) In September 2023 I was assessed by a neuropsychologist. The goal (as far as I was concerned), was to secure a professional referral for vocational rehabilitation. I wanted to hone some skills in situational awareness (accurately interpreting nonverbal communication and being more generally observant to what was happening around me). These skills are essential in a kindergarten classroom, and it seemed I needed some specialized, focused training in this area. Little did I know that I would be diagnosed with autism in the weeks that followed. As the introduction interview progressed, I asked the specialist a question: how would assessments give her accurate, real-time data about things that challenge me? I wished she could secretly install a camera in my classroom  and catch me in the act, so to speak, instead of “fabricating the scenario”.by conducting an ...

“ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” - Ecclesiastes 3:11 “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” - Genesis 1:26 When I was diagnosed as an adult with autism in September 2023, my neuropsychologist noted that I am primarily challenged by processing speed. I lack automaticity and intuition in my responses to new information. There is a bit of “lag time” between my hearing or seeing something and my formulating the appropriate response. Following are just a few examples of how processing speed challenges me. In a conversation , I tend to track what someone has JUST said, so I am always mentally scrambling to appropriately connect all the information I hear. I might nod and say I heard you, but two minutes later I might ask you to repeat what you just said. This might convey that I was just not paying enough attention the first time,...

  “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous -how well I know it.” ~ Psalm 139:14 NLT I sat across from the neuropsychologist on September 29, 2023, trying to wrap my head around what I had just heard. “You have autism. On the spectrum you probably fall in the range of moderate function, simply based on how much your challenges affect you.”  I knew there were some specific ways I was noticeably not on par with my peers. I knew I was socially awkward. I knew I always felt like a square peg in a round hole, so to speak - like I did not quite fit everyone else’s normal; but… autism?????   The “diagnosis” was not referring to a disease that had suddenly developed. It referred to innate, lifelong challenges that presented themselves because certain parts of my brain are circuited differently. It wasn’t an “accident.” It was not “brain damage.” My brain simply mapped out information differently as I developed. It was nobody’s “fault.” It was ...