Inner World Series

Whenever tackling a large and detailed topic, you inevitably leave something out.  I talked a lot about the bad and the ugly, but not the good.

Jackson is a very wonderful child.  He is not always withdrawn as previously describe.  He has an odd dynamic in that he becomes very responsive and involved if the activity is high energy. He loves to play chase and hide and seek.  Mostly just the hiding part though.  He will be very animated and happy during these games.  Overall he is a pretty happy kid.  He is also extremely affectionate.  Much more so than I think other children his age are.

With his behavioral issues, it is only quieter play that requires more concentration, that he disconnects from everyone else.  Even during these times, it seems that he hears us if we are talking to him and is aware of what is going on, he just does not choose to respond.  Making eye contact is one of the biggest issues.  He will talk to us, but not look at us.  He does hear what we say in response though.  I’m not sure if he is too aware of his environment and can’t shut off all the data streams coming in to be able focus on people.  He has figured out through different play how to shut everything out, but that truly means just about everything.

So as difficult a time as we are having, things could be much worse.  We are blessed with a happy child that is loved dearly by his family, and is able to return that love as well.  He is not completely closed off to us, we will just have to work harder to pull out the wonderful child that we know is at times hiding inside.