        
                               YESTERDAY'S CHILD  
                                      by 
                                  Janie Bowman
        
             YESTERDAY'S child was born in the 1800s. As a young boy, 
        he was considered medically fragile.  Every respiratory illness 
        known to mankind in that age seemed to seize him.  Even though 
        YESTERDAY'S child spent many of his early years ill, this did not
        stop his insatiable curiosity and boyish escapades.  TODAY's
        child would be described as "just being a boy."
        
             YESTERDAY'S child often found himself in risky life-and-
        death situations.  Around the age of five, this boy nearly
        drowned in a canal; then he almost smothered as he sank into the
        depths of a grain elevator.  TODAY's child would be described as
        "having no common sense."
        
             YESTERDAY'S child was found asleep in the barn in a nest he 
        had constructed, lying on top of the chicken and goose eggs he
        was trying to hatch. TODAY's child would be called "weird,
        eccentric."  "Get off those eggs, you'll crack them!"
        
             YESTERDAY'S child drove his parents to exhaustion by his 
        persistent questioning of the world around him, determined to 
        know the "whys," "what fors," and "what abouts" of his world. 
        TODAY's child is searching for someone to ask the questions to.
        
             YESTERDAY'S child, with no malice aforethought but only out 
        of the intense curiosity of an inquisitive mind, set his father's
        barn on fire.  For this he was publicly thrashed by his father,
        who tried to instill in him the serious consequences of his
        actions. TODAY's child would be called a "juvenile delinquent."
        
             After only three months of formal education, YESTERDAY'S 
        child walked out of his school in a fit of rage.  Running home,
        he could hear the thoughts of the schoolmaster echoing in his
        head: "stupid .... stubborn ... difficult."  Thus, at the tender
        age of eight, YESTERDAY'S child refused to return to school.  The
        next day, YESTERDAY'S mother gave the schoolmaster a piece of her
        mind and withdrew the boy from school.  From that day onward, she
        became YESTERDAY'S teacher.  TODAY's child would be called "a 
        problem child, a bad boy, oppositional."  And TODAY's mother 
        would be told she was "highly excitable, and coddling her child."
        She would be encouraged by all the experts to force her child to 
        return to school because "He'll outgrow it.  He's got to learn to
        adjust." 
        
             YESTERDAY'S child went swimming with a friend in a nearby 
        creek.  When the friend didn't surface for air, YESTERDAY'S child
        waited for what seemed like forever.  As darkness fell, in his
        own unique five-year-old logic, YESTERDAY concluded that it was
        time to go home.  As the town was trying to piece together the 
        disappearance and drowning of his friend, he tried to explain how
        he waited for what seemed like forever.....   TODAY's child would
        be treated for "conduct disorder" and undoubtedly find himself 
        one step away from the juvenile justice system.
        
             YESTERDAY just couldn't comprehend consequences; that 
        much seems true.  One day he attached wires to the tails of two 
        cats and energetically rubbed their fur.  This experiment in
        static electricity went astray when he was brutally clawed.  One 
        unsuspecting childhood friend suffered an upset stomach after 
        YESTERDAY gave him some sort of powder just to see if the 
        resulting gas it produced would send him flying.  TODAY's child 
        would be in long-term therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
        Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, or some other 
        behavioral disorder.
        
             YESTERDAY'S mother complained constantly about the life-
        threatening condition of his bedroom.  Fearing for the safety of
        her family and any others who ventured into the family home, 
        YESTERDAY'S mother moved his experiments into the cellar. 
        YESTERDAY called it his laboratory and immersed himself in 
        science, to the exclusion of what other "normal" kids were doing
        at his age.  TODAY's child would be called "Schizoid," and
        TODAY's family would be labeled "dysfunctional."  TODAY's child
        would be spending time in an court-ordered alternative school
        program, meeting with a psychiatrist twice a week for therapy,
        and be enrolled in a class to learn social skills.
        
             At age twelve YESTERDAY'S child insisted on going to work 
        and began successfully earning his own wage.  TODAY's child, at 
        that age, would face a closed door to the world of mentorship in 
        the workplace.  TODAY's child would have to search beyond home 
        and work for other avenues that accept and appreciate his 
        abilities.
        
             As you read about YESTERDAY'S child, you are probably 
        wondering how he could have survived and how he could have 
        contributed to society in a positive way.  Clearly, YESTERDAY had
        somebody who accepted his uniqueness, changed his environment 
        to meet his needs, was not intimidated by his gifts, and tried 
        sincerely to see the world through his eyes.  
        
        YESTERDAY's name is THOMAS ALVA EDISON.  What is your child's 
        name?
        
             The above piece originally appeared in "The Missing Piece,"
        the newsletter of the Learning Disabilities Association of
        Washington (State)
        
             Did Thomas Edison Have TS?  It's a tantalizing possibility.
        As outlined nicely above by Janie Bowman, Edison had a lot of
        quirks that make it pretty clear that he had a neurobehavioral
        disorder with features of ADHD and features of Pervasive
        Developmental Disorder (PDD; Asperger Syndrome). But did he have
        the requisite tics to call him TS?
        
             Edison spat a lot, and was often seen to have
        tobacco-stained spittle on his chin; one BBC documentary was even
        entitled "The Wizard Who Spat on the Floor!"   But on reviewing
        readily available motion picture footage of Edison, we saw no
        spitting .... did he control a tic while on camera, or was his
        spitting just the poor social grace of a tobacco-chewer with PDD?
        
             In motion pictures of Edison, he is routinely seen to be 
        blinking several times as often as those near him (who'd have the
        same lights in their faces). But the blinking is not exaggerated
        in force, and we couldn't see his eyes roll with any of them ....
        did he have a blinking tic, or just dry eyes?
        
             Again in motion pictures, he's often seen making a right-
        hand-to-brow movement, sometimes carried through to a hair-
        smoothing motion.  But the films were often made when he had just
        removed his hat, or was approaching a microphone ..... was he an 
        unkempt guy who appropriately smoothed his hair at these times, 
        or was it a tic?
        
             Several biographers describe Edison as constantly in 
        purposeless movement during his attempts at formal schooling
        ..... ADHD "fidgets," or motor tics? None of the descriptions is
        detailed enough to tell. And those persistent "respiratory
        illnesses" of his childhood  might some of them have been periods
        of trouble with coughing, sniffling, throat-clearing or
        nose-rubbing tics?
        
             Some biographers describe a grimace in which his lips 
        thinned; we never saw it in film footage, and the descriptions 
        aren't clear as to whether it always appeared in what might have 
        been an appropriate context.
        
             We found ourselves fascinated by the possibility that Edison
        might have had Tourette Syndrome, but we're so far unable to 
        assign that diagnosis with confidence.  But the point is clear
        and important, whatever diagnostic pigeon-hole we choose to stuff
        him into.  Kids with neurobehavioral disorders have strengths as
        well as problems. If we identify those strengths and nurture
        them, they can grow up to be highly productive adults. The Edison
        story is a particularly compelling example, and we thank Janie
        Bowman for letting us reprint her essay.
        
