She wants the best for her son with Asperger’s
Lisa Cassell and her 8-year-old son, Carlos, enjoy a nice day at the skatepark. Along with Lisa’s daughter, they have been in Baytown six months, taking care of relatives. They are here temporarily from Idaho.
“He was probably 4 or 5 when we really started noticing things. When bathroom hand dryers came on, he’d start screaming because they were too loud. When it was hot outside, the heat was way worse for him than for us. And the lights bothered him. When I’d vacuum, he’d start screaming. One time when I was vacuuming, I looked back and the chair was tipped over on the floor and he was hiding under the table. I was panicking. I knew something wasn’t right. He was having speech problems as well, so everything started to add up.
“When my dad passed away, I found a note. I think my family was asking each other if my son was autistic. And it hurt my feelings because I was like, why at this time would you guys do that? Then I started going back and thinking about everything. That’s when I realized, I’d better check on this.
“Asperger’s is what they’ve kind of clumped it all into on the spectrum. I thought autism was one thing, and that you could tell, you could see. I had no idea there were different levels of it.
“I’ve been homeschooling him and dealing with it mostly by myself. I’m just continuing to learn as much as I can. My husband works out of state, so he’s not around very much to help. My daughter, when she’s not working part time, has been a real blessing. She’s like the second mom. She’s helped out tremendously.
“We’re making slow, slow progress. He does want to go to school, and I want to prepare him for school. If that’s what he wants, I want him to go. I just want to know that they are going to be able to give him what he needs. I know we’re behind. But I’m doing the best I can with his academics and socializing, trying to help him learn how to deal with other people. I want the best for him and for his future.”
— Lisa Cassell
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