My Son

My son, Edward Ian is tall, good looking and gentle hearted. Like most Ross men of our branch he lives with intensity. He has been given a muscular conception  of right and wrong.  In fact, since Ian first hit school  he seemed  to need to be the classrooms police officer. By 4th grade I pulled officer Ian from school to learn at home.

During that year my wife and I asked our family physician to evaluate him. She  found him to be extremely intelligent and to converse in almost adult fashion.  She noted that he was different in the same way that a bill gates might've been different back in the day.

Not  long after that, we moved to my current position as pastor of a small church in upstate New York. Such a huge move was a challenge for all of us, and especially Ian. After some frustrating incidents at school the school guidance counselor recommended that we have in evaluated by a psychiatrist. We did. Two detailed sessions later  my son was described as on the autism spectrum with mild high functioning Aspergers Syndrome.

So many quirks to my son came in to focus. His aversion to all but classical music combined with his hyper sensitivity to smells all stem from Aspergers.  His intense one track of sessions with various hobbies from Thomas the Tank Engine to Star Wars to Legos to Pokémon where he would dive in so deep that maybe only two or three people in the world knew more about the subjects than he does.  It helped us understand that Ian thrives in environment that is very static, clearly spelled out, and directive as far as social interactions go.

You would think a well disciplined school would be the perfect place for Ian to thrive and gain hours. Yet you and I know schools are full of people.  Many of the people in schools were young, immature. Through the years Ian is slowly learning social skills, that's one of the drawbacks that Aspergers folks face. Yet Ian continues.