Luke Jackson

[percival]

This is motivated by a comment that themorningstarr left on awelkin's LJ.
Luke Jackson is one of seven kids, four boys and three girls. Luke has Asperger's Syndrome. He's a prolific author ( here's a list ). His brothers have AD/HD, full blown autism, and dyspraxia.

Here's a review of a TV profile of him and his family, and here is a profile of the Jacksons.

Luke says in his book that he wouldn't want to swap his AS for being normal. Perhaps Nate would agree, Kellie? And maybe Liam would agree, Shelle? And Little Nutter might eventually agree as well, Imogen? As a matter of fact, what do you think about such a statement, Helen?

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12 more days

Comments

[voxmaille.livejournal.com]

For all the struggles that I've had, I wouldn't trade my mind for anyone else's.

[themorningstarr.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of him, actually. I'll have to see if our library has any of those books. I lent my book on Aspergers to the diagnostician at Nate's school.

The other day my heart broke for him. He'd been showing off his muscles for my mom and I, and we of course Ooed and Ahed. So, then the next day he wanted to show his friends his muscles, looking for acceptance, and their response was, "So?" So, Nate's feelings were hurt, needless to say.

But this morning when the bus came to pick them up, I heard one of the boys in the back yell out, "Hi, Nate!" So, perhaps he's not completely devoid of friends at school.

I think that perhaps once he's older and has a better handle on things, he'll appreciate his being unique a bit more. But right now, he's trying to make friends and the other kids think he's weird, and he can tell they think that.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think Liam is quite happy the way he is. I think the only thing he'd like to be easier is the speech thing.

However, it does hurt us as parents to watch them struggle, even though we wouldn't change a thing about them for our sake alone. And we sometimes wish they had an easier time of it, because we don't want our children to go through hard times, though they come to us all.

[perceval.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a tough life. He will survive, but until then, your heart will break quite a few times. My mother has some stories to tell ...

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

I'd have to say that I agree with this assessment. I don't think Lisa (my sister) would want to swap either.

Very interesting links, thank you.

[dandelionsummer.livejournal.com]

We saw the programme when it was on TV and were just awed by their amazing mother. How on earth she copes with such a large family as a single mum is beyond me, let alone with four of her children having varying degrees on the ASD spectrum.

Their family is one total inspiration.

We're hoping that once we've cracked the language thing, it shouldn't be so bad at this end. He's a gorgeous and very loving kid, and we'd not change him for anything!

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

Yes, my son has a language delay as well, and he is also very sweet and kind.

It is as if God decided to make up for the language barrier by giving him extra love to share. ;-)

|Urm

[helenllama.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't change who I was for the world.
So yeah I agree with Luke.

[zanzara.livejournal.com]

Just a quick perusal of your entries, and you seem to be an absolutely fascinating person!

Aspergers/Autism and all developmental disorders are of interest to me, and I look forward to reading the rest of this post later when I have a bit more time.

I'm a clinical psychologist in private practice.