QuestionI am a mother of a 7 year old who had digestive troubles and colic as an infant and had a bad reaction to MMR. I have taken a biomedical approach (diet, supplements, addressing leaky gut). I've also worked with anthroposophical doctor, osteopath, homeopathy, acupuncturist. With all this, some troublesome symptoms have improved(night time screaming, energy level, ability to function more independently and be less fearful), but I'm seeing more and more that she has Aspergers and OCD symptoms. Life is very challenging because she often is in a bad mood and is not comfortable. I'm familiar with anthroposophy and Waldorf education. She has been attending a Waldorf School for 3 1/2 years and I am trained as a Waldorf teacher. I'm trying to understand her health on the level of how her bodies are affected, how she's incarnating. I recently heard Eugene Schwartz (a well-known Waldorf educator) speak and he described Asperger's as a serious condition where the astral body can't come in the right way. I didn't get to speak with him or ask about it because the topic of the talk was more general, but it's not the first time I've heard this kind of statement. I am wondering if you know what I can read (besides carefully reading her!) to understand this idea about how the different bodies are fitting together and what the hindrances are. I've pored over Steiner's Curative Education, but haven't found anything that really speaks to her condition yet. I find I'm very frightened by the OCD, as well as her difficulty expressing being in the world, so I address this aspect of her life every day. I feel like coming to terms with my fear is the most important thing I can do. At the same time, I want to understand more deeply what is going on with her so that I may help her. Do you have any recommendation or insight for me?
Many thanks,
Wendy
AnswerDear Wendy,
I would love to share my findings with you. I have been actively and intensely doing research on Autism for close to five years, ploughing through every resource I could get my hands on, specifically Anthroposophic literature. It is my day job, practically. It has been a long and winding road and the work is still very much in progress. Recently a few ideas, however, have crystalised into some surer understandings.
In order to convey this I need to send you a lengthy essay which summarises the concept of Autism by Anthroposophic medical specialists, emeshed with modern scientific reserach, and my own - at times provocative - ideas. I draw on my experiences with my own son, raised from a "classically Anthroposophic" world view and ideology as much as is possible, in a modern, urban, and often oppositional setting. I also have gone through a torturous ordeal with the Waldorf school, the Anthroposophic therapists and other fundamental incompetence and ignorance. Yet, I remain determined to approach my son's disability from an Anthroposophic angle.
However, the basic over-simplification of the condition I have met with betrays a lack of genuine compassion and horrifying arrogance (fear-based, of course). And the unwillingness to look at Autism with more daring and pro-active eyes, not only shockingly reveals ego and politics within the Movement (not unlike shortly after the time Steiner died), but, also, leaves parents without any help, and souls left to their own devices - which is precisely asking the impossible. I note malpractice, incompetence, and imposition upon personal destiny and indoctrination of the individual: basically surreptitious enslavement of the soul under a false Anthroposophic guise. This is happening because educators and physicians (predominantly therapists) are implementing and rehashing theories uninspired and unenthused by their own certain higher knowing. This all forbodes little good for the future of Anthroposophy, and has dismayed me much. But a Michaelic Man does not give up when the going gets tough!
I would very much like to go into all these things in detail for you, respecting your fears from a deep recognition. I wish to inspire your own quest for understanding Autism and support you in finding a way to make a difference for the soul of your child. I believe I have seen what can and what definitely cannot work. Not everybody (especially within the Waldorf circle) can accept this, but I still think you need to consider this alternative take from one whose entire life is dedicated to making Man wise, Sophia willing. Since the essay is formatted to include scanned passages and footnotes, please mail me (
[email protected]) your email address so that I can send it as an attatchment, if you are interested. It may take a little longer for me to edit the work so far, so bear with me if you don't receive the essay immediately.
Love Evelyn.
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