And his fandom transcends the literary. His \u201cmonster blanket\u201d \u2014 a quilt with a mosaic of smiling creatures \u2014 is one of his few material possessions to which he has a strong attachment. He enjoys playing\u00a0Go Away Monster!<\/a>\u00a0He has monsters on his posters and on his backpack. One year for Halloween we even dressed him as Max from\u00a0Where The Wild Things Are<\/a>, a role he was seemingly born to play.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The roles that monsters and clowns play in childhood seem to have transposed in recent decades (since the advent of Elmo and Stephen King\u2019s\u00a0It<\/em>, I reckon)<\/em>. Even so, my son\u2019s affinity for former seems greater than most. He certainly shows no fear of them.<\/p>\n In fact, he is overtly frightened of little. He was so fearless about heights when younger that we wondered if he truly understood the danger that they posed, and I was reluctant to let him ascend to the top of the huge climbing structure in our local playground. One day I relented, though, and allowed him to climb to the top while I flitted about directly below, ready to break his fall should he slip. In the end it became clear that he is as attuned to the perils of heights as any other kid, and that my fear had been unnecessary.<\/p>\n He is also bereft of social fear, for want of a better phrase. He doesn\u2019t worry about fitting in, or if he has too few friends, or if he lacks the cool new status symbol. He seems unconcerned with how others view him, or how they might treat him. I don\u2019t know if he understands the concept of the future, but, if so, it does not weigh on his mind.<\/p>\n But here again my wife and I scurry around, fearing on his behalf. We arrange play dates with his classmates so that he has friends. We fret about teasing and bullying. We worry that, if someone were to hurt him, he wouldn\u2019t think (or know how) to tell someone.<\/p>\n In this respect we are no different that the parents of neurotypical children, concerned as they are with these very same things. But when it comes to the future, we have a fear that is specific to a special needs child: we don\u2019t know what will happen to him when we are gone.<\/p>\n Despite the early intervention and\u00a0intensive therapy<\/a>, it seems unlikely to me that he will ever be able to live independently, nor will he have a partner of any sort. (But, again, I\u00a0no longer make predictions<\/a>.) Where then will he live? And who will serve as his caregiver?<\/p>\n Fortunately, we are not the only parents thinking about this. It sometimes seems like the autism community is laying tracks down in front of us, just at the moment we need them. Shortly after my son was diagnosed services for children with autism expanded enormously (which isn\u2019t to say that it wasn\u2019t a struggle to find and secure them), and I was able to find a job that had recently started providing medical coverage for those treatments. We managed to get him into a newly founded special needs elementary school, which became a K-12 a few years later. Now, as we turn our attention to his long-term well-being, we learn of others who are doing likewise for their own children.\u00a0From a recent article in\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, entitled\u00a0The Architecture of Autism<\/a>:<\/p>\n The life expectancy of people with autism is more or less average. Here is another truth, then, about children with autism: they can\u2019t stay at home forever.<\/p>\n This realization \u2014 as obvious as it is worrying \u2014 has recently stirred the beginnings of a response from researchers, architects and, not least, parents. In 2009, a pair of academics, Kim Steele and Sherry Ahrentzen, collaborated on \u201cAdvancing Full Spectrum Housing,\u201d a comprehensive design guideline for housing adults with autism\u2026.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Knowing that there are others out there who struggle with these issues, and who are working to build an infrastructure to address them, brings me great comfort. But I am not without some sleepless nights.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Putting a costume on my son and taking him Trick or Treating is a bit risky, but he usually takes it in stride.\u00a0This year we got him a simple bat costume, and to our surprise he was amenable to putting it on. (We had to compromise on the hat with ears, though: he would wear it, but we couldn\u2019t tie the strings below his chin.)<\/p>\n When the door to the first home opened I prompted him with \u201cwhat do you say?\u201d, and he replied with a hearty \u201cthank you!\u201d He was handed a Milky Way, which he promptly unwrapped and ate, returning the wrapper to the bowl of the homeowner.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/5b34c6ed587717e88b7578917afe2d67\/tumblr_inline_mvlqv67mxV1rohpb2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/275ef1127b2cc42cfb2a69bdcef659c6\/tumblr_inline_mvltnxK9N01rohpb2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/a2e36084f38f7073b9bdee7551814cd8\/tumblr_inline_mvlqu7gKBQ1rohpb2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"