Prologue
You know the feeling of being so bored you don’t even know what to do with yourself? That’s what I felt at that moment.
“He’s a very smart boy… he’s just slower when it comes to processing things and he gets a little distracted sometimes,” the doctor spoke carefully to my parents so they’d understand the situation and maybe even me but my attention was locked onto the word search they’d had at front that they offered to kids.
“He’s done very well with most of the tests that we ran but it was thoroughly expressed to me by Mrs. Williams that he’s just very slow to finish. In fact, the tests are only supposed to take around three hours. For him it took four… if not more.”
I couldn’t say I cared about any of this. I was just here for the crossword puzzle and the goldfish. The diagnosis didn’t matter to me because I already knew. In fact, my whole family already knew clarification was all they needed.
“He’s a bit outspoken too which isn’t an uncommon sign.”
“Yes, he made sure to tell me he didn’t like my shirt this morning,” my mother said. I could feel her side eye but I simply ignored her. She’s the one who chose an ugly shirt. If she didn’t want anything to be said then she should’ve worn a different one.
“His IQ is also in the papers but we leave it to the parents to choose whether they want to share that part or not.”
“He’s above average in writing sentences.”
“Superior in spelling.”
“Superior in math.”
“Above average in memorization.”
“Average in analysis.”
“For our timed tests… below average.”
“So overall, he could use a bit of help with social cues and managing his time with things.”
“So…?”
“Mr and Mrs. Young… your son is autistic.”
