Autism Parenting Magazine Issue 68(Member's Dashboard) | Page 32

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.