With the experience of the last visit to his mum behind us I felt we could risk going to visit at Christmas. The telephone conversations they were having sounded like relatively relaxed affairs and he seemed very much his old self. The added value of taking him to see his mum was that I had quality time with my brother and his family. Also my son was able to spend time with his cousin.  I realise now how important their relationship was and is. I have read various articles about how autistic children show a rapid growth in cognitive ability when an animal, usually a dog or a horse, or a certain type of person,  is introduced into their life,  somehow something is stirred in them a spark lights a flame which continues to burn and burns  most brightly when they are in the company of this being. I don't pretend to know why this happens but I do have a theory.

 Since all autistic children have heightened senses then it would follow that they would also have an ability to communicate on a deeper level without words. That is to say they can read the vibe or aura of a person or animal and are able to tell almost immediately if they will be happy in the company of the animal or human. I mean we all sense atmosphere when we go to a restaurant or a theater or maybe a party, we can all of us sense if there is a good or bad feeling in the air. Autistic children to me are able to separate the wheat  from the chaff in the mere blink of an eye. Of course woe betide you if they don't feel good or comfortable or safe in your company.If my son does take a dislike to some one it is not necessarily for ever he can be won round but his fight or flight instinct is certainly on full alert when some one new comes into his life.

When he was a baby of about 11 months a friends dog stuck their head into my sons carry cot and barked very loudly.  It shocked my son and took him a while to settle. Ever since then he has had a problem with dogs,  panics when he see's them,  chastises me for not warning him that a dog is walking in our direction. I made the big mistake of trying to explain to him why he felt like this when he saw dogs,  thinking,  if he was to reason it out he might start to feel less afraid off course the complete opposite happened. He changed the story from being barked at,  to being bitten when he was a baby. I embellished his experience if you like and he reveled in it. By trying to make things better I had made things worse. It may of helped him understand why he was afraid of dogs but it went no way in helping him get over the fear. The reason gave him a get out clause it meant he could be afraid with impunity.

Eventually with the help of a friend, who had a fairly placid dog,  we were able to desensitise him,  he was able to go for walks and stroke him,  generally get relaxed around a dog in close quarters. It did not go all the way to rid him of his fear,  but it certainly helped a great deal. Now my son can talk to himself and calm himself down when he see's a dog approaching . But he is still much more influenced by humans ...