audrarose

Hey, thanks for reading this! I'm so glad that you liked it! *bg*

I think you're right about TPTB wanting to steer clear of the autistic angle. The thing about autism is that being a spectrum disorder, there are many different levels of severity. In addition, exceptionally gifted or sensitive children can exhibit symptoms similar to autism which disappear as their nervous systems catch up with their brains, as it were. *g*

However, I can see why they wouldn't want to try to explain this on the show. Personally, I like that interpretation, b/c to me, it just makes Charlie more sympathetic.

Once Alan mentioned (in the pilot, I think?) that Charlie was mutiplying four digit numbers at four years old, I immediately thought that in RL it would be a very rare thing for Charlie's social and physical development to have kept pace with his intellectual development, and that it may have taken some time for everything to integrate smoothly. As a parent, (and I imagine as an older sibling), the in-between stages are hard to watch, and bring their own level of worry. Throw in sibling rivalry, and ta-da -- Don's level of protective snark. *bg*

I'm so glad you thought it worked on some level -- I enjoyed writing this one. (And of course, who else would give Charlie kite string but Larry? *g* There's a certain magic to their relationship whether seen romantically or not, I think.)

Thanks for commenting!