In Love With An Older Man 28

May 1997

"This is Rebecca and Jonathan Greenberg. They'll be starting kindergarten in the fall," Cindy told the receptionist at the elementary school.

"Hi," said Rebecca, as Jonathan peeked shyly from behind his mother's legs.

"Hello there!" The receptionist smiled as she took both children's hands. "Come with me and you'll meet a nice lady who will do lots of fun things with you."

Cindy followed as the receptionist led the children into another room and told them to wait. A few minutes later a nurse appeared. She checked the children's weights and heights and tested their muscle strength, coordination, dexterity, and ability to do various physical tasks. Then she left and another woman appeared and introduced herself as Dr. Sims, the school's psychologist. She conducted intelligence tests on the children and told Cindy that she would let her know if anything was amiss.

"How did the kindergarten registration go?" Gary asked that evening.

"It took kind of a long time. There were a lot of tests," Cindy told him.

"What kinds of tests?"

"Jumping, skipping, things like that - and intelligence tests as well."

"How did those go?"

"Fine, as far as I know. Dr. Sims said she would let me know if anything was wrong."

Cindy herself felt that things had gone quite well and was genuinely surprised when Dr. Sims called her a few days later and said that she wanted to go over Jonathan's test scores with her.

"Is he not ready for kindergarten?" Cindy asked, her heart sinking.

"Oh, yes, he's definitely eligible to start in the fall," Dr. Sims quickly assured her. "It's just that some of his test scores were a bit unusual and I wanted to discuss the results with you."

Cindy was filled with trepidation as she quickly drove back to the elementary school. What was wrong with Jonathan? Whatever is was, could anything be done about it?

Fortunately, Dr. Sims got right to the point. "The IQ test is made up of two portions, the verbal portion and the non-verbal portion," she began. "Most children score equally well in both areas, but occasionally a child scores much higher in the verbal portion than in the non-verbal. As it turns out, Jonathan is one of those children. I'm recommending that he see a psychiatrist for further testing."

The psychiatrist, Dr. Wheeler, spent several hours putting Jonathan through more intensive testing and then spent a long time asking Cindy questions about her son's development.

"After reviewing all Jonathan's test results and considering the issues I've discussed with you, I've come to the conclusion that Jonathan has Asperger's syndrome," Dr. Wheeler told Cindy.

Cindy felt as if all the air had just been knocked out of her. Not only was something wrong, but it was serious enough to be considered a syndrome!

"I've never heard of that! What does it mean?"

"Asperger's syndrome is also known as high-functioning autism," Dr. Wheeler explained. "Children with Asperger's syndrome have normal or even above-normal IQ scores, but they tend to have both physical and emotional challenges. You stated that Jonathan has always tended to be clumsy and uncoordinated, that he hurts himself a lot and is accident prone. That's very typical of a child with Asperger's syndrome. You've also stated, and I've seen for myself, that Jonathan has poor social skills, that he's very shy and doesn't often make eye contact, which is also typical of a child with Asperger's syndrome."

"Are you saying that Jonathan's autistic?" Cindy felt numb all over, as if she had just been given devastating news.

"I'm saying that he has a condition that's on the autism spectrum," Dr. Wheeler gently corrected her. "Jonathan is actually very fortunate, as Asperger's syndrome has only been a diagnosable condition since 1994. In years past, children who had it were often misdiagnosed and given inappropriate treatment, or no treatment at all. They grew up to be lonely, unhappy adults who were unable to adjust to the world. Many have been in and out of psychiatric care for almost their entire lives and are still unable to function successfully."

"So is that most likely what will eventually become of Jonathan?"

"Oh, no, no." Dr. Wheeler laughed. "Thanks to early intervention, children with Asperger's syndrome can now live happy, successful lives."

Dr. Wheeler gave Cindy some literature about Asperger's syndrome to share with Gary before she left. She felt very anxious and confused as she drove home. She'd heard of autism before, of course, but never of Asperger's syndrome. It frightened and overwhelmed her to think that Jonathan had a serious disorder, that he wasn't completely normal and never would be.

"So, how did it go with the psychiatrist?" asked Gary when he got home. "Nothing seriously wrong, I hope."

"Oh, Gary." Suddenly the dam broke and Cindy was weeping hysterically. Alarmed, Gary went to her and held her.