The Anderson Family: One Family’s Perspective on Autism

Listen as I interview a family on how their lives have been changed for the better because of two sons with autism. Lessons, advice, tips and love shared. The Anderson Family: One Family’s Perspective on AutismAnderson family BioJustin (old) according to the kids. Husband to Tamara for 22 and a half years, and father to four amazing children. Jordan, age 21. College student majoring in Elementary Education. One of my typical kids. Nathan, age 20. Mostly non-verbal kiddo on the autism spectrum. We talk about Nathan on our podcast, but he doesn’t comment (mostly because he would just echo back whatever we said). Jacob, age 16. Jacob is an amazing kid that has high-functioning autism. He just learned to drive last year and is attending high school. Noelle, age 14. Noelle is our only girl and she is an amazing “second mother” to the group of boys. She is also in high school and is my other “typical” child. What was it like to grow up with two brothers on the autism spectrum?Jordan: It was a learning experience. They didn’t grow up doing “normal” activities. He noticed that he couldn’t interact the same with his brothers as other brothers that he saw. He dreamed of playing catch with his brother or wrestling with his brother, but Nathan didn’t want to do those kinds of social interactions. When Jacob came along he was able to finally grow into doing some of these things as he got older. Jordan explains that he had to learn to interact with Nathan differently. He learned how to show him that he loved him without a reaction. One interesting thing is that Jordan has always been extremely social and he wanted to tackle and interact with Nathan (who didn’t always appreciate that). I often felt when they were little like I was always playing referee. But looking back I realize that was probably the best thing for Nathan, because he had someone constantly inviting him to interact in the “real” world instead of always staying in “autism’s world.” Jordan is not intimidated by children with special needs, and he believes this is one of the blessings of growing up with brothers on the autism spectrum. As he is studying Elementary Education, Jordan looks at each child differently and he knows, he “can work with them.” He concludes he has a baseline because he has two amazing brothers with autism. He feels he has been guided to this major so that he can help children with all different kinds of needs. What is it like to have autism? What goes on inside your mind, and what makes you different from other kids?Jacob: The problem is learning to relate the “autism world” to the real world. “I don’t know what the normal world is like. All my life I’ve been living just being me.” Jacob is now fully integrated into regular high school. He didn’t always used to be able to handle this, but has grown to this point. One thing that is important to explain is that there is this real draw or pull to click over to the autism world in his mind or what we call “Imaginations” in our home. ImaginationsWhen I asked Jacob what he is thinking about when he does his “Imaginations” he answered that it is kind of a wild card. He explains that he can’t just think of one thing because that would be boring. So, he thinks of lots of things, but he can’t always control where his mind wanders. Sometimes he thinks of recent video games he has played, and creating off-stories in his mind. He also likes to imagine what would happen after the end of a book he has just read or the story before the book begins. Basically prequels, sequels and stuff like that. That is one of the cool things about having Jacob in our home is that he often thinks outside the box. When he was little he crafted these amazingly creative Super Jacob-man comic books that were so fun to read. He made the illustrations for them and everything. Jordan remembers having Jacob read him those comic books and helping him create the characters and then just watching the story come alive....