A dad whose son is on the spectrum describes his son’s reaction to a particular tune.

By Joe Blair

Mike was humming the same tune all night. This normally wouldn’t bother me; I’d just ignore him. If he were too loud to ignore, I’d slip in my noisecanceling earbuds to continue ignoring the sound. But last night, I was unable to do that.

His humming bothered me because I recognized the tune but couldn’t place it. It’s the opposite of getting a song stuck in your head. It’s recognizing a few bars, then searching for the rest while chastising yourself for not knowing what it was.

I knew it. It wasn’t a little pop tune. It was a big one. A very famous one. A waltz. That much I knew—a hauntingly beautiful waltz.

Door knocking

Mike has been knocking on doors for the past few months. It’s very annoying. Five years ago, we installed a combination lock on our bedroom door because Mike would continually burst in at night and wake us up.