PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Potentially Dangerous Friends:
How They’re Made
By Dacia PRICE
I am the mother of a child who is a little different. You probably wouldn’t notice. He
speaks, eats, runs, and jumps. He cries when he’s sad and laughs when he’s happy. He
looks like all the other kids in his class, though they can see the difference, even if you
can’t.
I
n kindergarten, he once hid under the table for
hours. The teacher didn’t know what to do. I had to
crawl in with him and coax him out. In first grade,
he refused to do his school work for almost the
entire year. They thought he needed to be held
back. In third grade, they put him in the gifted
program. At home, he ate only peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches. I tried to sneak in bananas when he
wasn’t looking, but he always noticed. When things
didn’t go his way, he’d throw himself on the floor and
scream. When I would request that he brush his teeth
or change his clothes, or that he take a bath, he’d slam
his fists and feet. He’d bang his head. He was nine.
In fourth grade, he became so angry with his teach-
er that he wrote hateful things in his journal. When
he was caught he blamed her for going through his
personal things. He wrote of wanting her to die. The
school took the threat seriously. They suspended
him for two days.
He was devastated. He had erased it, he said. It wasn’t
there anymore. Why was he still in trouble? He wanted
to know: Why was everyone always so mean to him?
When we got home, he cried and wanted me to hold
him. This was nothing new. He’s full of contradictions.
Angry one minute, playing with my hair the next. He
tells me he loves me at least a hundred times a day and
follows me to the car when I leave. He stops to hug me
every few feet. Sometimes I have to remind him that I
need space, too. But he has a hard time remembering.
His anger seems more controlled now that he’s older.
He has a dog and two rabbits, and books. They help
46 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 72
him feel calm. He eats carrots and cucumber, pas-
ta and avocado, and smoothies, though still prefers
PB&Js to all of it. He’s obsessed with computer pro-
graming and making YouTube videos. He’s really into
science and space and theories and discoveries. His
hero is Neil deGrasse Tyson.
He’s really smart.
But being smart doesn’t make friends. Or communi-
ty. Or build connections with other kids. In real life,
they remember the boy who throws fits and uses