[kj] OT Autism

[T.B.]

"Frank Coleman" wrote:



> It's important to remember that Autism is a spectrum, which ranges from 

> being "high-functioning" -- e.g., barely discernible from non-Autistic 

> people -- to having to be institutionalized for life.

>

> My 17-year-old stepdaughter has Asperger's Syndrome and goes to a 

> mainstream school in NYC, oriented towards performing arts.  My wife 

> teaches drama to Autistic kids for a living and has worked miracles with 

> her and others.

>

> Here's a terrific article on what Asperger's is like, from a recent 

> article in The New Yorker.

>

> http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_page?printable=true


I just caught this thread amidst my tons of mail.  My 10 year old son is 
autistic.

My wife and I are fairly well involved in our local community of autistic 
families and so we've seen pretty much the entire range of children and 
young adults who suffer from it from kids that are in their teens and a very 
low functioning with a lot of social issues who basically sit at home with 
violent tendencies who'll be forced to live in assisted medical care housing 
for the rest of their lives when their parents die to children who you'd 
never know they had autism but have perhaps minor problems integrating 
around other kids and are exceptional with certain fields like math and 
science.

Really, no two people suffering from autism have exactly the same issues 
which is also why it's so hard to treat.

Our son falls kinda in the middle of the spectrum.  He started out when he 
was born a perfectly healthy, happy baby in '97 and by about 18 months, he 
was just starting to talk like any typical baby his age.  At that point, he 
had his MMR vaccines and got very sick for two days, something our doctor 
said was "normal" in many cases.  Within a few weeks, we noticed he'd 
stopped talking altogether and was crying a *lot* and was starting to walk 
on his tippy-toes like a bird. At two years, he still was not talking and 
exhibiting more autistic behavior like flapping his arms when he was excited 
and we were becoming very concerned.  We had to go through a lot of bullshit 
to get a referral to see a neurologist who knew right away our son was 
autistic.  Once we had a diagnosis, it opened up a lot of doors to get 
in-home therapy which is by far the most important thing for a young 
autistic kid - parents need to get on the ball as soon as possible.

We also worked at his disease from a medical standpoint, having a lot of 
tests done through several doctors here in the US who were and are known as 
cutting edge in treating the problem. Once we established possible causes 
(high mercury content in his bloodwork, so-called "leaky gut" issues) with 
various drugs and a strictly controlled diet we got at least his physical 
issues under control which theoretically aided his brain and body to develop 
as best as it could through his early years.  Through his first few years in 
school, we fought hard with the local school district to get the services he 
needed and should have had access to according to state and federal laws. 
We wound up suing and winning against our school district which although 
cost us well over 125 thousand dollars, our son received and has a great 
school program with an appropriate classroom and classmates and a wonderful 
full time aid.

He still has a very long ways to go but we're getting there.  On the 
surface, he seems like any other kid his age.  But he still has significant 
sensory issues, he has to wear earplugs just to go in a movie theater and is 
deathly afraid of butterflies(!).  That's the toughest thing about autism 
from an outsider's point of view, is there's very little logic or patterns 
to and autistic person's problems and behaviours.

He can't be "cured" but our goal is for him to be able to work and make his 
own life in society independently of anyone else long after we're gone.

T.B.