Sunday, November 13, 2011

Asperger's in a Restaurant

Our family went out the other night to celebrate my aunt's 75th Birthday.  There were eight of us that went, three confirmed Aspies and one that is family-diagnosed.  It was a delightful, stressful event all at the same time.

To start off with, I always have to sit in a particular seat at the table.  My oldest son thinks it is funny to try and sit there before I get there.  I'm not sure exactly why he finds this funny as I find it rather irritating.  He is moved to another part of the table.

Kyle's patience is nonexistent.  He thinks as soon as he orders something, it should appear spontaneously as if by magic.  About six times I had to call him back to the table because he was headed to look for something that had been ordered that hadn't arrived yet. The funny one, funny now but not when it happened, was when he asked the waitress for a glass of water.  His exact words were, "Can I get a glass of water stat please."  I wanted to crawl under the table.  I explained to him about how that was a rude statement, he didn't understand because he heard it on a medical show and it was an okay thing to say.  So, after explaining it to him for what seemed like eternity, I think he finally understood.  I at least got him to apologize to the waitress when she came back to the table.

Sitting for any length of time has always been a challenge for Kyle.  Luckily, it was later in the evening and the restaurant was almost empty.  I did allow Kyle to leave the table because he found a quiet section in which he could spin around.  He did this for quite some time.  It was okay because he wasn't near other people and he wasn't hurting anything.  If I had forced him to stay at the table, there would have been a huge meltdown.

Dinner was great, our table was loud at times, but it was all good.  I am grateful for understanding waitresses.  Is dinner out a relaxing experience...no.  Is dinner out better than it used to be...yes, by far.  Am I looking forward to going out to a restaurant soon...maybe in a few months.

1 comment:

  1. I am glad that things went well. Plus it is good that the waitresses understand.

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