Quite a bit has been made on sports news and networks about this video:
************************************************** ***********************
http://www.nbc12.com/story/32936845/...who-has-autism
************************************************** *************
As many of you know, my 15 year old also has autism spectrum disorder, and many of the things shared by this mother are common to those of us who parent someone on the spectrum. My son doesn't have the physical manifestations like this young man has, with the twitching and flapping hands, but he does have outbursts of animal noises and such, so I know the pain of seeing an empty lunch table and a peer-less birthday party.
I would first like to commend Mr. Rudolph and say what an amazing thing he did for this young man. He and his family deserve every bit of praise for his actions, and his parents for raising him right. It's rare today to see such selflessness, especially from young college kids who play sports on a national stage.
But it got me thinking... I made a few comments on social media that I'd like to share so that they don't get lost in the shuffle, and so others can comment and share their experiences and thoughts on this story.
- I know he was excited. I just wonder if the other students learned a lesson from his kindness. And as one who has seen his son eat alone and have no one from class at birthday parties, I can say it made me smile reading the story, but the reality still is what it is. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm hoping that it doesn't return to normal for the little fella.
- I am a father of an autistic son too. My son was like this boy, without the hand motions... lonely birthday parties, sitting alone on the bus, never playing with the neighbor kids, etc. Stories like this are necessary for people to understand what we and our children go through EVERY DAY. Hopefully the kids at that school learned something valuable about people with autism and they learn some long term compassion. Hopefully, he wasn't by himself the next day...
Autism isn't some contagious disease. It's just something they have that is a challenge - which we all have some sort of challenge... Each of us should be encouraging our children to be cognizant of their surroundings and look for things like this to try to make them better. It took a national news story for people to applaud Travis Rudolph, but honestly, how many looked at the other side of the story with anything more than pity?
Anyway... thoughts??
************************************************** ***********************
http://www.nbc12.com/story/32936845/...who-has-autism
************************************************** *************
As many of you know, my 15 year old also has autism spectrum disorder, and many of the things shared by this mother are common to those of us who parent someone on the spectrum. My son doesn't have the physical manifestations like this young man has, with the twitching and flapping hands, but he does have outbursts of animal noises and such, so I know the pain of seeing an empty lunch table and a peer-less birthday party.
I would first like to commend Mr. Rudolph and say what an amazing thing he did for this young man. He and his family deserve every bit of praise for his actions, and his parents for raising him right. It's rare today to see such selflessness, especially from young college kids who play sports on a national stage.
But it got me thinking... I made a few comments on social media that I'd like to share so that they don't get lost in the shuffle, and so others can comment and share their experiences and thoughts on this story.
- I know he was excited. I just wonder if the other students learned a lesson from his kindness. And as one who has seen his son eat alone and have no one from class at birthday parties, I can say it made me smile reading the story, but the reality still is what it is. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm hoping that it doesn't return to normal for the little fella.
- I am a father of an autistic son too. My son was like this boy, without the hand motions... lonely birthday parties, sitting alone on the bus, never playing with the neighbor kids, etc. Stories like this are necessary for people to understand what we and our children go through EVERY DAY. Hopefully the kids at that school learned something valuable about people with autism and they learn some long term compassion. Hopefully, he wasn't by himself the next day...
Autism isn't some contagious disease. It's just something they have that is a challenge - which we all have some sort of challenge... Each of us should be encouraging our children to be cognizant of their surroundings and look for things like this to try to make them better. It took a national news story for people to applaud Travis Rudolph, but honestly, how many looked at the other side of the story with anything more than pity?
Anyway... thoughts??
Comment