Autism and related special learning needs

 

Having been born in a time when autism was hardly known to the general populus and only slightly better in medical circles, I was already in my late fifties when I got finally diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder that's pretty much, but not quite, like Aspergers Syndrome. This gingerly worded diagnosis suits me fine, because I prefer my doctors not to take themselves and their opinions deadly serious. Too many people in my family have been mutilated and even killed, after a diagnosis that the doctor was "absolutely sure" of turned out to be wrong.

 

But, whether diagnosed or not, I have been autistic all my life - so I am aware that some educational aids, specifically tuned to the learning process of autistic people, would have made my school years somewhat more pleasurable and much more effective. No, I'm not complaining. Eventually I became a fully self-taught man, being able to "out-intellect" just about everybody around me, but it could all have been so much easier. That's why I am so happy with all the educational tools that are available now for autistic children and others with related special learning needs. Many decades after Asperger and Kanner blew the whistle, educators and authorities have finally perceived the sound. Good oh!