Kids Say the Darndest Things plus Seizures

"I wish I had autism and [Kiddo] did not. Then I would be able to play with you all the time instead of once a week."

"I wish I had autism... I could yell and laugh instead of talking."

I hear a lot of "I wish I had autism" statements like this from Kiddo's sister and the family's middle child, R. She is five, and is still learning to understand the full meaning of her brother's condition. Much of the time, however, this worldview is positive, because she sees her brother as a happy person (which he is) and doesn't constantly pity him. She also doesn't put up with him pulling her hair or head-butting her (unlike her older brother and mother, who usually allow Kiddo to be aggressive towards them), and has most of the same expectations of him as she does of her NT siblings.

Like most young kids, she tends to see only the good things in his life, not the challenges. When she says things like "I wish I had autism because...", I remind her that her brother does get sad or upset sometimes, especially when he is unable to tell people what he wants or needs, and that in many ways he won't have the same control over his life as an adult as she will. When talking to her about autism, I try to convey the message that autism isn't necessarily bad, but it also isn't a free ticket to easy street either. She is a very bright five-year-old, however, and I'm sure when she gets older she will have a very well-developed sense of her brother, his autism, and what that means for him, herself and the larger community.

Yesterday, Kiddo's youngest brother, who is around 18 months, had a febrile seizure. There was a note on the family's door when I went to pick him up vaguely explaining that they were at the hospital and Kiddo was at his grandmother's house. When I went to get him and asked what happened, his grandma explained the baby had what appeared to be a grand mal seizure.

Let me make one thing infinitely clear about my beliefs regarding autism: in no way shape or form do I believe vaccines are the cause. However, when his grandmother told me this, the first thing I thought of were all the stories from the anti-vax community with the general framework of "my kid was fine, got their mmr shot, got a fever, had a seizure, and the next day they were autistic." I could hardly believe I thought of this when she told me, especially because I knew about febrile seizures, which are very common in infants. I saw the baby when he got home, and of course he's fine, so I just felt like an ass for the rest of the afternoon.