Autism

Abstract

It was 10:30 PM. Margery collapsed into her La-Z-Boy chair and took in a deep breath, a very deep breath, after another exhausting day. Thank God she made it through. With a little luck Keshawn would sleep through the night. Of course without a little luck he could be up for hours on end like last Thursday night when the two of them kept company until almost 2 AM. That was a bad one. She had heard four year-old Keshawn moving around in his room at midnight and found him on the floor, repetitively hitting his right leg while clutching his favorite stuffed animal with his left hand, rocking back and forth the whole time. This certainly wasn’t unusual, and Margery could have just left him there, but she didn’t want to face the next day if Keshawn didn’t get at least some sleep. Moreover, she knew that this perseverative behavior could go on for hours unless she did something. She tried reading him a story but stopped after a few minutes without having distracted him a bit. It was like she wasn’t even there, another example of their one-way relationship. When she finally picked Keshawn up and put him back into bed he threw a particularly nasty tantrum, kicking and screaming for almost a full hour. When he finally tired himself out, Margery dragged herself back to bed knowing that she would be worthless at work tomorrow.