Author Talon Jensen
Our 2nd child has Asperger’s Syndrome and at the age of 3.5 he only said a few words, never complete sentences. At that time I had just started a Master’s degree program that kept me very busy and my wife had to take care of our three children. I voiced my concerns to my mother, who was in her early eighties, struggling with diabetes and lupus.
Within a week she was living with us, focusing most of her time on conversing with my son. After four months he was speaking well above his age level and she went home.
Near the end of my Master’s degree program my son was in kindergarten and struggling to read and it was even tougher for us with my wife pregnant with our fourth child. My mother came again and did nothing but read to and with him. After about four months I saw my son reading a college-level book on mythology so we had him tested and he was reading at a college level at five years old.
My mother is gone now but I will be forever grateful for her willingness to provide personal attention to her grandson when she saw mother and dad couldn’t make enough time.
My son is now a computer science major in college, has a part time job at a tech startup and no one can even tell he was ever diagnosed with Asperger’s. Thank goodness for all the mothers and grandmothers who put others first.
