A Boy, A Girl, and Autism

My 18 year old son, who is on the autistic spectrum, has a girlfriend.  This brings me great joy but and tons of trepidation.  They’ve been going together for a while and he’s happy.  She too has special needs, but is not autistic.  I don’t know about you, but it’s been my experience that a lot of kids on the spectrum don’t have the patience for other kids on the spectrum.  The behaviors that label them as autistic are the exact behaviors that the kids have difficulty handling themselves.

Like I said, my son is happy right now, but I have to wonder just how healthy the relationship is.  When my son finds something he’s interested in, he hyper-focuses and obsesses.   Ask him about snakes, insects, fighter jets, or helicopters and he’ll provide you with a detailed dissertation the likes of which will cross your eyes.  Needless to say, when he says things like “my girlfriend is the only thing that’s important to me”, I know he means it, and I worry.

I practice the healing arts and have seen profound improvement in children’s behavior simply by giving them Reiki.  I’ve spoken before specifically about Reiki and how much it’s helped improved my son’s quality of life and the quality of life for other kids on the spectrum.  I have to admit, that this situation had me at a complete loss.  How could I use Reiki to help bring balance to my son’s view of this the relationship?   The answer was in the question.   The key element of Reiki is that it helps create balance in the body, mind, and spirit.  However, we live in a practical world and I knew that a few additional Reiki sessions weren’t going to “solve the problem”.

What I realized was that I could give him Reiki before trying to discuss and explain why it’s so important to focus on other relationships too.  Previous talks have led to the single-mindedness that only a child on the spectrum can have.  By sending him Reiki first, we’re able to enter into the conversation with both us of coming from a calmer and more balanced place.  I’m not going to say the situation has cleared up, but there’s been definite improvement.

The thing is, I’m so used to sending him Reiki, that the minute I hear the anxiety in his voice, I automatically.  Yesterday he called me because he’s worried about going to Prom.  He’s never been to one before and he was concerned about “not knowing what to do”.  I immediately started the Reiki energy and talked to him about Prom.  His entire demeanor changed within minutes.   The funny thing is, he caught on.  He knew I was sending the energy and called me on it…..then thanked me because it calmed him down.

There are practitioners out there who say Reiki is not magic and on the practical level, they ‘re right.   As for me, I’m constantly having magical experiences because of Reiki.  I guess it depends on what your definition of magic is.  When a child’s demeanor changes for the better within minutes of starting Reiki, I call that magic.