The Middles

"M&M's turned 75!", my son tells the cashier at Walgreen's. He doesn't know her, but with contagious excitement, she smiles and says, "Oh, really! Wow!". He see's this as an invitation to pepper her for knowledge of M&M's, which she is not an encyclopedia on the subject. Yes, most young children do this to random strangers, but my son is 19, and 6'2". He begins the morning knocking on each neighbor's door to show them his silver metal he and his team earned yesterday at state games for softball. My son is a unique color on the autism rainbow. Because of this, he doesn't fit into any basic 2 categories, low and high, as one athlete on the high category explained to me. Low, it is understood, are treated with "kid gloves", taken care of, helped, forgiven for behavior, accepted. High is acting more their biological age, independent, expected to understand their actions, control themselves, can integrate with typicals, and be accepted. Then there are the middles. They are expected to act their age, even if it's mentally 12 years younger then their biological age. They tell jokes they don't understand, and if they aren't accepted, may continue telling it until it's annoying to everyone around them. They latch onto a subject and don't let it go until they are done, or given a new subject. When they don't get what they want, they get upset. They don't understand why it can't happen the way they made it up in their mind. They interrupt because if they don't get their idea's out, their mind, and body, will explode. It's not fair. Black and white. Good and bad. Up or down. To them their is no middle. But they live the middle.