How could I “know he doesn’t”? Literally no one can “know” he doesn’t, not even him. But based on the hundreds of hours I’ve spent working with people with many varying degrees of dementia, it really really really looks like dementia. Sorry, I don’t want him to have it either, but those glassy eyes are very familiar to me, and it’s not a look I’ve ever gotten from “a young nerotypical child,” whatever that has to do with anything.