When my grandson was little he was just like any normal child, fun, adventurous, cheeky and on the go. Even as a 3-4 year old he had a fascination with space and bugs in no particular order but he could tell you things that a child of that age should have no knowledge of unless they were very, very smart or coached from the get-go.
That said, at the drop of a hat Liam could also become a recluse or have a meltdown of major proportions that might take hours for him to recover from. You can imagine this left us all wondering what was happening to this child.
School started for him and my darling boy spent many hours outside the Principals office for being naughty, not being able to concentrate or wanting to go outside and climb trees. The latter we have found has been described his 'safe -haven' from all that was happening around him. Sadly the school neither had the resources nor it appears, the will to understand our boy. He was glaringly referred to as a 'problem child' who was upsetting others.
Having come from a family of 'lets get to the bottom of this', my daughter and her husband spent thousands of dollars with professionals to be given a 30-page report and a long awaited diagnoses of high functioning autism. Liam's world is different to yours and mine. Loud noise plays a factor in whether he feels comfortable or not. Problem solved with a set of headphones to wear in public spaces. The change of schools whilst unsettling at first turned a negative into a positive when he was shown a safe space for when things got too much for him. Textures such as uneven ground can lead to him feeling unsafe hence another reason why climbing trees leaves him feeling calmer and in control.
Liam is 13 now and attends College mornings only. Not many adults I'm sorry to say understand this super intelligent kid who often challenges the teachers thinking in areas that his psyche knows are wrong, or who befriends the underdog in school because he knows what it is like to be different or who sits under a desk just because he needs time out. It is a challenge we should all undertake to spend time with someone young or old with a noticable difference. We may just understand the World a little better than we think we do. I don't think I've ever felt prouder than when my grandson stood in front of his class and said 'My name is Liam Charles Cole'" and I have autism. Not enough space to tell you about his life in its entirety nor his sisters might I add who has Tourettes (another story for another day). Suffice to say there is a lot more to be done in the area of Mental Health but even more to be tackled around the understanding of it.