Of autism and my son Ahmad Danial: The beginning~an unpleasant surprise...

I have started writing or jotting down all these even when Danial was 3 years old, before the advent of blogs or what not...I was not a diary writer but the need to write all these down came to my mind when i found that there were instances when i desperately wanted to talk about Danial's progress or development but sadly, noone was around. It was especially frustrating when you try to talk openly about your son when noone is, sort of, genuinely interested. Why weren't they interested, you ask me? Well, i guess, having a 'special' child was a scary idea one could imagine or they were too scared to give comments; afraid if they would wrongly said things and would unintentionally hurt me. But actually, I was totally open about the whole thing. Hmm, giving them the benefit of the doubt, i would say they just wouldn't want to take the risk.

Born Ahmad Danial bin Ahmad Kushairi.
Birth weight : 3.17kg
Head circumference: 33 cm
Length : 51 cm
Birth date : 25 January 2003

Time of birth : 10:58 am

Danial was born normal in every way. It was me who was not. I instantly developed hypertension practically right after delivering Danial. Because of my condition, i was advised by doctors not to sleep with baby Danial at night. Consequently, Danial was, most of his first 18 months, being cared for by our, than, maid Siti. Danial was the only child i didn't sleep with,much due to my hypertension. Waking up in the middle of a deep sleep more than twice in a night would instantly cause headaches the next day.

Danial was a well-behaved toddler. My arwah father-in-law always referred to Danial as "baik cucu atok...diam aje..". As far as i could remember, there was nothing unusual about Danial. He crawled, he stood up, he made his first steps...all at the right time. Danial's speech delay was not noticed immediately since i always ruled out that boys are generally late in speech compared to girls. Until one day, when i brought Nuwairah to see our pedeatrician, Dr Amdan. I pointed out to Dr Amdan the fact that Danial was still not talking yet...Danial was than 2 years 4 months old."Dia suka main tayar kereta mainan tak?" Dr Amdan questioned me. "A ah, Danial ni satu prangai tau dr, suka trbalikkan vehicle toys dia and pusingkan tayar tu. And pas tu, dia suka sangat line up kan ape ape la, books ke, toys dia ke...orang lain tak leh kacau tau, ngamoknye macam kite rotan die...hahahaha" I gave a lengthy answer with a laugh."owh really..that is one of the many many symptoms of autism..." explained Dr Amdan still observing Danial from his seat. I looked straight into Dr Amdan's eyes in disbelieve. I was stunned. I was shocked. I gradually moved my eyes to Danial, observing my son in shock and disbelieve, trying to grasp what i ve just heard...to accept the unpleasant surprise....My son, my only and youngest son, Ahmad Danial had autism.