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Welcome to our page on Autism.
I hope to be able to help people
understand Autism a bit better.
I am doing this to build Autism awarness,
and help others
understand what some families deal with everyday.
After years of being told our son had PDD, we were told he also was BiPolar.
We now are entering a new territory, and new ground with him.
He was recently sent to a special program for diagnosis and treatment.
This information will be added in new pages.
Even though my sons has been diagnosed with ODD,
and we were told he does not have Bi-Polar.
I will be leaving all this information here in hopes that it will help
other families. I will leave the Bipolar information also,
So I will be adding some information on that to our site also.
Our official diagnosis is ADHD, PDD, and ODD.
None of these are things that can be detected through
testing that is done during pregnancy.
Most people are framiliar with ADHD (attention defeceit hyperactive disorder),
Pdd (pervasive developemental disorder, there is information on another page about this.
ODD (oppositional defiance disorder), there are also pages on this disorder here.
Ryan was developing normally until he had a reaction to one of his shots.
The area of the
shot was swollen and red for over a week.
Within a few weeks he began
head bangning and we noticed he was throwing temper tantrums.
We had also noticed he
had stopped talking. When I asked his Dr. I was told some kids
are head bangers and he would most likely out grow it.
Well when he
started banging his head on things until he had bruises,
I called our local counseling agency asking for help.
Not wanting him
to injure himself, and hoping someone could help
us to understand the changes in our son.
Birth to Three was the number
I was given to call.
They sent a woman out to the house to interview us
and see if there was any way they could help.
She asked if they could send 2 ladies out
to run some tests on Ryan
I of course said yes. After the women came out, the
lady who came out the first time came back.
She said that they would send a special
ed teacher and a speech therapist out to work with Ryan.
For the next year and a
half he worked with the specialists.
Birth to Three helped me get him enbrolled in
Pre_kindergarten.
Making sure that a special ed program was in place for him.
He's doing much better now, and is in regular classes, only needing some
extra help now with homework and organization. He has been in school full time
for 12 years now, he starts 9th grade in the fall.
This was written by a very nice gentleman on gather.com.
This is information EVERYONE should read!
Ten Things Every Adult with Autism Wishes You Knew
by Jarl Jackson
1. I am a person with autism. I am not "autistic."
My autism is one aspect of my total character.
It does not define me as a person.
2. My sensory perceptions are disordered.
This means the ordinary sights, sounds, smells,
tastes and touches you may not even notice can be
downright painful for me. I may appear withdrawn or belligerent to you,
but . . . . A "simple" trip to the grocery store may be hell for me.
People are talking at once. The loudspeaker booms today's special.
Muzak whines from the sound system.
The pulsating light bounces off everything and distorts what I am seeing.
The space seems to be constantly changing. There is glare from windows,
moving fans on the ceiling, so many bodies in constant motion, and too many
items for me to be able to focus - and I may compensate by closing my eyes.
I can lose my vestibular sense, and cannot tell where my body is in space.
I may stumble, bump into things, or simply lay down to try to regroup.
3. Please distinguish between will not (I choose not to)
and cannot (I am not able to). Receptive and expressive language
are both difficult for me. It is not that I do not listen to instructions.
It is that I cannot understand you, even if I seem to.
When you call to me from across the room, whatever I hear,
it may be lost – completely or in part – garbled or distorted. Be patient.
It is frustrating for me as well.
4. I am a concrete thinker. I may interpret language somewhat literally.
While I may 'get:' "It's pouring cats and dogs," but react to it 'funny.'
However, the more "subtle," I may miss. Yet, as a visual thinker,
I may need to think and express myself metaphorically.
This does not necessarily mean I am less literal. "Imagic," or image-based,
language is often confused for nonliteral language, but is very concrete,
not abstract. (Images are "real;" words are not.). Autism is subtle, but profound.
It is an "invisible," but not "unobtrusive" condition.
5. Be patient. Sometimes, it is hard for me to tell you what I need when
I do not know the words to describe my feelings right now - words are beyond
my ability to use. Be alert for signs that something is wrong. Other times,
I may sound like a little professor or a movie star, repeating words
or whole scripts. These are messages I have memorized from the world around me,
because I know I am to respond at times. I do not necessarily appreciate the
contextual inappropriateness of terminology I am using.
6. Language can be difficult for me, because I am very visually oriented;
writing detailed, explicit instructions down, while not perfect is better
than trying to process, recall, and retain spoken directions. An explicit,
written schedule, like a day planner, only more, relieves me of the stress
of having to remember what comes next, makes for smooth transitions between
activities, and helps me manage my time and meet expectations.
7. Let me focus and build on what I can do rather than what I cannot do.
Like any other human, I cannot learn in an environment where I feel that
I am not good enough or that I need fixing. Trying anything new with the
near-certainty of criticism, however constructive, becomes something to be avoided.
Look for my strengths and you will find them. There is more than one right way
to do most things.
8. Support me in social interactions – do not just welcome me, really include me.
It may look like I do not want to participate, or interact with others in a
social setting. However, sometimes it is just that I simply do not know how
to make conversation or socialize. If you can make an extra effort to include me
effectively, comfortably, I may be delighted to be included.
9. Try to help me identify and deal with meltdowns and shutdowns triggers.
Meltdowns are even worse for me than they are for you. I am in overload.
Shutdowns are less dramatic or apparent, but just as difficult for me.
Both are avoidable.
10. If I decline to do something, do not think it is because I am not willing to try.
I may have already tried to do so and found it too difficult, if not impossible.
You do not fulfill every expectation and do like constant reminders of it.
I did not choose to have autism. Remember that it is happening to me, not you.
I need support to be successful, or increase my success. View my autism as a
different ability rather than a disability. Look past "limitations" and see "gifts."
I may not be good at conversation, but is that all there is? I promise I am worth it.
You are my support. Think through some of those societal rules, and if they do not
make sense for me, let them go. Be my advocate, be my friend and see just
how far I can go. I probably was not going to be the next Michael Jordan,
but with my attention to fine detail and capacity for extraordinary focus,
I might have been the next Einstein. Or Mozart. Or Van Gogh. They had autism too.
He also asked me to post the following link.
He is hopeful that this information will help others to understand those with Autism.
T* A* S* C* - the Tallahassee Autism Support Coalition
The links below are to help you
find more information on this and other nuerological disorders. Please if
you feel there is a problem with your child, and your Dr. will not listen,
get a second opinion! No one knows your child like you do!
There are a few pages to deal with Autism, PDD, and Aspergers
Syndrome, then also a links page. I hope these are helpful to
people.
This is the form letter to use to ask your school for your childs
records.
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE ALL OF YOUR CHILDS
RECORDS!
LETTER
ASPERGERS/PDD
AUTISM DEFINITIONS &
DIAGNOSTICS
UNLOCKING
AUTISM
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