PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Seeing Autism Through
My Child’s Eyes
By Jana TAMS
It was the fall of 2016. Our dew covered lawn provided safe harbor for a few of the
bubbles that had landed rather gently.
B
eginning to realize my son’s condition, I
watched as he stopped popping the bub-
bles, and gently squatted alongside to gaze
within the sparkling spheres. At about 16
months, he lost his ability to speak. At 18
months, one of the only words he could
say was “bubbles.” I used bubbles daily as
a tool to teach body awareness. If a child is walking,
looking up, and tracking a moving item, their body
awareness increases with practice. But this day, he
no longer wanted to pop them. He just stared.
32 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 68
Like the curious cat, I dove right in to his point of
view. I simply squatted right beside him. I wanted
to see what had ceased one of his favorite activities.
It was beautiful. It was colorful. It was a new per-
spective. He had discovered details most would
never notice. This was the final puzzle piece. I had
noticed his arm flapping, the obvious regression in
language, how he didn’t respond to his name, and
many other symptoms of autism spectrum disorder
(ASD), but this is when I started to understand him.