[Postal_Blue]

WAAD

Both of my beautiful little girls have been diagnosed with Autism. It has been very challenging yet rewarding experience thus far. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the disorder as chances are you will encounter it.

Did you know…

* Autism affects as many as 1 in 150 children and 1 in 94 boys
* Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the world
* More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with diabetes, cancer, & AIDS combined
* Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
* There is no medical detection or cure for autism, but early diagnosis and intervention improve outcomes
* Autism does not discriminate by geography, class, or ethnicity

 

[ecclesand]

My 7 year old son was diagnosed with Autism 4 years ago. My 4 year old daughter was just recently diagnosed with ADHD. It is a constant struggle but I wouldn't trade them for anything or anyone.

 

[VicAjax]

i find autism and the PDD spectrum disorders to be fascinating, mysterious and frustrating. i have friends and relatives with autistic or PDD children and i know that you both, as parents, must have the souls of giants to work through the daily challenge... so my heart goes out to you both.

what blows my mind most is when autistic kids discover they can chip away at that wall that surrounds their minds... through type-to-voice or other devices and techniques... and communicate remarkably moving and eloquent thoughts that have obviously been trapped inside them for years.

HBO is airing an amazing documentary right now, called Autism: The Musical, which i highly recommend if you haven't seen it.

hang in there... more people than you know are rooting for you, and doing what we can to raise awareness.

 

[Dr. T]

My 9 year old son was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 3 and subsequently with anxiety disorder and inattentive variant ADD. It has been a difficult road at times but he has made amazing strides. He is now a kind, gentle kid who is totally mainstreamed. The point here is that awareness is crucial because so much can be done to improve the functioning of autistic spectrum kids, but it works so much better if diagnosed early. Success of therapies drops off significantly beyond the age of 5-6, due to completion of myelinization of the brain which limits its ability to rewire itself. We took our boy to several different professionals including a child psychiatrist who totally missed the diagnosis (even I, a radiologist, didnt put the pieces together). But my wife KNEW something was wrong and persisted until an occupational therapist of all people nailed it.

Postal Blue, have you gotten some special attention? Autistic girls are rare and two in one family is exeptional. We have met one other family the same as you and the Yale autism clinic was all over them. For those who don't know, the Yale clinic is about the best around and almost impossible to get into unless there is something unusual about your case.

 

[Dr. T]

Postal Blue, I assume that is one of your daughters in your avatar? That brought a laugh to me since my son was obsessed with my audio rig for a time. He loved doing the robot dance to my Kraftwerk CD's, over and over and over and.....

 

[ecclesand]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. T /img/forum/go_quote.gif My 9 year old son was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 3 and subsequently with anxiety disorder and inattentive variant ADD. It has been a difficult road at times but he has made amazing strides. He is now a kind, gentle kid who is totally mainstreamed. The point here is that awareness is crucial because so much can be done to improve the functioning of autistic spectrum kids, but it works so much better if diagnosed early. Success of therapies drops off significantly beyond the age of 5-6, due to completion of myelinization of the brain which limits its ability to rewire itself. We took our boy to several different professionals including a child psychiatrist who totally missed the diagnosis (even I, a radiologist, didnt put the pieces together). But my wife KNEW something was wrong and persisted until an occupational therapist of all people nailed it. Postal Blue, have you gotten some special attention? Autistic girls are rare and two in one family is exeptional. We have met one other family the same as you and the Yale autism clinic was all over them. For those who don't know, the Yale clinic is about the best around and almost impossible to get into unless there is something unusual about your case.

Agreed...get help as soon as you can if you haven't already. My son has had an IEP since kindergarten so he gets occupational and speech therapy while in school. He also gets help from the special ed teachers at his school. We moved to this particular area in Colorado because of the school system. Outside of school, my son is seeing an occupational therapist weekly. He is now almost done with 2nd grade and is almost at the same level academically as the other kids. He actually excels in mathematics and science. I help him with his homework and he can do addition of multiple 4 digit numbers and subtraction of 3 digit numbers in his head. Sadly, however, he cannot tell me how much 2 quarters + 4 dimes + 2 nickels represent without using actual coins. He understands black and white only. Autism is such a strange disease!

I too heard that autism is uncommon in girls. Also, having multiple children with autism is rare, let alone having multiple girls with autism.

 

[Postal_Blue]

Thanks for the comments. We have been doing all we can to get both are little girl all the help we can afford. Tennessee has an early intervention program which has been very helpful. My oldest, Clara (the one in the avatar) is in preschool and attends a special needs school and her class is all autistic children. We learned recently that knox county will provide a full time personal aid for Clara once she starts kindergarten.

As for any special attention. No there has not been any. I will most certainly push the issue now. I honestly did not know it was exceptional to have two little autistic girls.

Hang in there folks. One thing I know for sure is I will learn far more From Clara and Lauralei than I could ever teach them autistic or not. These children are a blessing. Love them.

 

[soundfreq]

my heart goes out to all of you. in my training, i've encountered children diagnosed with autism and other pdds. it's both very interesting and challenging at the same time. being an "outsider" i can only imagine how stressful it would be being around them all the time. but in the very limited time i've spent with these children, i feel how wonderful they could be.

i'd like to share one experienced i had with a boy with autism. he was about 9yo and i was doing behavior modification techniques as a pre-requisite for my thesis. the behavior i was trying to elicit from him was task completion: finishing a simple coloring material. at first i feel that i wasn't able to make a connection with him. it took us a long time to go thru with the program. but nearing the end of it, i noticed that aside from gradually improving at the task at hand, i can feel that he was showing "affection" or at least familiarity towards me. he wasn't distracted at much, would hold my hand at the end of the session and at one instance, i ask for a hug at the completion of the program and he did respond. i know that certain text would state that it was just behavior for them and no real emotion was involved, but for me i feel that it was. i was so happy that time that i almost cried.

so to the parents and other family members who have children with autism and other pdds, my heart goes out to you: for your patience, diligence and unselfish love for them.

 

[Dr. T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundfreq /img/forum/go_quote.gif my heart goes out to all of you. in my training, i've encountered children diagnosed with autism and other pdds. it's both very interesting and challenging at the same time. being an "outsider" i can only imagine how stressful it would be being around them all the time. but in the very limited time i've spent with these children, i feel how wonderful they could be. i'd like to share one experienced i had with a boy with autism. he was about 9yo and i was doing behavior modification techniques as a pre-requisite for my thesis. the behavior i was trying to elicit from him was task completion: finishing a simple coloring material. at first i feel that i wasn't able to make a connection with him. it took us a long time to go thru with the program. but nearing the end of it, i noticed that aside from gradually improving at the task at hand, i can feel that he was showing "affection" or at least familiarity towards me. he wasn't distracted at much, would hold my hand at the end of the session and at one instance, i ask for a hug at the completion of the program and he did respond. i know that certain text would state that it was just behavior for them and no real emotion was involved, but for me i feel that it was. i was so happy that time that i almost cried. so to the parents and other family members who have children with autism and other pdds, my heart goes out to you: for your patience, diligence and unselfish love for them.

I think I can speak for most parents of autism spectrum children when I say that we don't want sympathy per se. Not that we are don't appreciate the sentiment - I realize this is a universal reaction to an abnormal situation. But I don't feel like a charity case. I love my two children, one with autism and one normal. My son has taught me more about the nature of love and my own nature than anyone else. My life is good. What I do want from others is the understanding that typical parenting paradigms are thrown out the window with a child like this. Many people, close friends even, have tried to convince us that if we just did such and such, instant success would follow. It doesn't work that way as you have gotten a glimpse of. So much trial and error to arrive at little things that seem to help.

Off my soapbox now. Sorry, I really don't mean to sound prickly. Studying the behavioral side of these disorders is a noble calling.

 

[nickchen]

I'm in the same boat, my son (7 years old) also has an autistic handicap. Not of the emotional locked-in sort, but with strong obsessiveness and little interest/ability in language usage. Wouldn't say that his intellect is inferior in any way, but I regard that as typical for autism.

My biggest sorrows are thoughts about the fact that he is smart enough to realize that he has very special problems. "Real" handicaped people (e.g. down syndrome) are somewhat more "blessed" in that respect.

 

[Happy Camper]

I assisted a lady who's son has this handicap. She found hyperbaric treatment with oxygen has had a remarkable impact on the symptoms. I can attest to the son's emotional stability from the time the system was installed and checkups on the system over the years. We put this system in about 8 years ago. She had discovered the treatments by going to Canada to have her son treated. Once she used her coverage up with her insurance, she bought her own chamber. I had the local union pipefitters install a piped oxygen and compressed air system to her chamber and certified it's installation before an oxygen supplier would let her purchase bulk oxygen. She got her license and started treating her son. She did this because at the time, American medicine didn't recognize this as a treatment. Not one professional would assist her then. There are plenty of studies going on now. The love and devotion she showed was an inspiration to me.

For parents, family and caregivers who dedicate their lives to this illness, thank you.

 

[Lazarus Short]

[ahem]...I grew up a little weird, and ten-or-so years ago, my best friend gave me a book to self-test the Myers-Briggs classification. I turned out to be an INTP, which is to say, Introverted/Intuitive/Thinking/Perceiver. Did I get that right? It's one of the more scarce personality types, and not one that opens doors in our society. I read what the book said about INTP's, and it fit so well. More recently, my daughter acquired a boyfriend who happens to have Aspergers. I read up on the subject, and that fit oh-so-well also - I just don't have it as strongly as he does, but he reminds me of myself at his age.

I'll bet someone is going to say, "Yeah, I suspected all along."

Laz

 

[utep10]

My 8 year old daugther is mildly autistic. We cherish having her and love her to death. She's a bundle of energy that keeps us on our toes.

I hope that in the near future that research finds the cause of Autism so that it can be prevented.

 

[Dr. T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazarus Short /img/forum/go_quote.gif [ahem]...I grew up a little weird, and ten-or-so years ago, my best friend gave me a book to self-test the Myers-Briggs classification. I turned out to be an INTP, which is to say, Introverted/Intuitive/Thinking/Perceiver. Did I get that right? It's one of the more scarce personality types, and not one that opens doors in our society. I read what the book said about INTP's, and it fit so well. More recently, my daughter acquired a boyfriend who happens to have Aspergers. I read up on the subject, and that fit oh-so-well also - I just don't have it as strongly as he does, but he reminds me of myself at his age. I'll bet someone is going to say, "Yeah, I suspected all along." Laz

I have many of the same traits as my son as well. Not nearly as pronounced and I don't know if I would have ever been diagnosed if I was a child today, but it is suprising sometimes how I would have thought about/reacted to a situation in exactly the same way as he does. I suspect there are a great many people who are somewhere on the spectrum but intellegent enough to compensate and function in the world and just be labeled as odd or awkward socially or a loner or such. Not much data out there about hereditary autism or autistic traits.

 

[nickchen]

I've read that folks with...umhhh...autistic affinities are quite common, and that most of them remain undiagnosed. (A bit of "strange" behavior, mavericks, eccentrics, etc.) The article stated that the "successful" ones often ends up working in some technical job (programmers, engineers, etc.), where social interaction isn't so prominent.

I work in a very technical field (planning of data centers), and I am almost sure that the one or other of my collegues or customers has a strong tendency towards hidden autism as well, especially when intellectual and professional brilliance is coupled with abnormal feeble social skills.