Autism and Social Media
Mistakes we made with our neurodiverse son.
“Jack, hold on, I can’t understand you!” Joe said frantically into the phone. “Please, calm down.”
April 8, 2022. It was almost midnight. Nearly a year into his program, Jack had called Joe. He was screaming.
Joe had come upstairs to wake me up, and I stood next to him in the living room. My heart was pounding. It took a few minutes to understand what was happening. Slowly, punctuated by Jack’s shouting and Joe’s attempts to calm him, the story emerged.
A few weeks earlier, Jack had connected online with who he thought was a peer. He used a popular dating site. After trading messages back and forth, they arranged to meet in person at an abandoned building on a Sunday night.
Jack walked there from where he lives. Instead of a teenager, two young men were waiting when Jack arrived. They convinced him to get into their car, drive to an ATM, and attempt to take out money.
They drove to a small convenience store around the corner and stayed in the car while he went inside with his debit card. For whatever reason, the card didn’t work. When Jack returned to the car, they agreed to bring him back to the meeting spot. Jack got out of the car, and it was only after they drove away that he realized his wallet was missing. At that point, he called the police.
When it came to sending Jack to live away from us, this was Joe’s very worst fear – that he would be persuaded and eventually harmed.
“DAD! I will FIND THEM! I will SLASH THEIR TIRES.”
“Jack!” Joe said, “Breathe.”
“I HATE THEM!”
“Okay, Jack, please put the officer on now.”
There was a rustling sound as Jack handed the phone to the officer standing nearby.
“Hello, Officer? You’re with my son Jack. He has autism.”
“Yes, thank you. I figured that out when I met Jack.”
Climbing back into bed several hours later, our hearts were broken.
Where did we go wrong?
Cell Phone & Social Media