Lynda's world of autism was a place that we had to visit to be able to interact with her. We quickly found that it was not a bad place to live; just different than the neuro-typical world that we inhabited. Things in Lynda's world had to be in perfect lines and positions that only she could successfully produce.
Before we could expect her to leave her ordered and ritualistic world we felt that we had to connect with her on her terms and we were right.
I had only briefly been introduced to children with autism in Oxford volunteering at the Lafayette County Child Development Center (LCDC) but I had an instant connection with these exceptional children. Lynda became my daughter and my teacher in applied behavior analysis.
At the beginning, we were large toy objects to be lined up and arranged. Our legs had to be crossed in the same direction. We were supposed to repeat her words or claps in a certain way. We became human toys and in that way were able to gain her trust to venture out of her comfort zone and experience a different type of world.
Now after six months, she's still not far from my thoughts. Ever. Today I needed to see her face so I looked at the pictures of Lynda when she was growing up not that it's really necessary because each one is imprinted in my soul. Still, having a picture to look at helpful. It serves as a launching pad for another excursion into my memories with Lynda. The memories are precious and are my link to my daughter now so I look at this sweet face. I allow my heart to remember every detail of her time with me as I wait to see her again.
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