我們渴望與人交流,不僅僅是說話

Every day, upon picking up my 11-year-old son from school, I would ask, “How was your day?” For years, I got the same response—“Fine, fine”—with no eye contact.

每天，當我從學校接我11歲的兒子時，我會問：“你今天過得怎麼樣？”多年來，我得到了同樣的迴應——“很好，很好”——沒有眼神接觸。“你今天過得怎麼樣？”兒子回答說：“很好，很好。”

His autism, it seemed, was going to deprive me of the normal chitchat parents unconsciously relish. One early spring afternoon, I asked the question, expecting the same answer.

他的自閉，幾乎要剝奪我作爲父母和孩子之間聊天的樂趣。一個初春的下午，我又問了同樣的問題，期待着同樣的答案。

“How was your day?” My son replied, “Good, good.” Then he looked at me and said, “How was your day, Mom?” With tears streaming down my face, I said, “It’s really good—the best day ever.”

然後他看着我說：“你今天過得怎麼樣，媽媽？”我瞬間淚流滿面，說：“今天真是我過的最好的一天。”