Autism – my dealings with this.

 

“Autism is a brain development disorder that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old. This set of signs distinguishes autism from milder

autism spectrum disorders (ASD) such as Asperger syndrome.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

 

I was first introduced to Autism when I was born with my Dad. He has undiagnosed Aspergers. I have been told that I have this as well and so does my son Alex. A few years ago when my son was in his first year of school his teacher came to me ass said “please get Alex checked by a paediatrician, I feel there is a problem that we need to address now before it is a bad problem” I honestly just thought Alex was eccentric like me and my hubby, Yeah we had to put stack hat on him at 18 months old as he would get upset and smash his head on walls and floors. He was very affectionate and very ritualistic, which I didn’t know where it came from because my hubby and I are take it as it comes people. His speech was delayed and he didn’t walk till late. I just thought it was all down to my PND and that I didn’t interact with my son very much. I realised after my daughter was born and how well she developed I should have seen the warning signs. The cars all in a nice row, top to tail. He had to have things a certain way, feed, bath, bed by dad.

 

Now when I think back I see all the “warning” signs. The little information I should have seen, but as a young mum I didn’t. But I would have my son any other way. He is a lot of fun. Yes we do have to have a set routine and we have bad days, but with a normal day with normal kids you have good and bad too. I don’t make excuses for Alex any more. I used to when people would say to me “oh why is he doing that” My reason was he is autistic and he does odd things. He has obsessive compulsive traits where he looks about the place (if it is new) and we have to help him out as new things do scare him.

 

…..Ok so you see the signs what do you do about it…..

My first thing is go and see your doctor as you need a referral to a paediatrician. Discus your thoughts with the paediatrician, they are good judges. I saw mine cause I though Alex had inherited my ADHD or Chris’s ADD (which he has) my paediatrician who by chance was mine and Chris’s as a child watched Alex play and said “Liz, I strongly feel that Alex has Autism” just hearing that word scared me but he reassured me that it was ok.

 

Now the waiting……. Unless you have private health you will be waiting (in Australia) a long time. We waited 9 months for an opening for an assessment. The assessment took 2 hours and was done in 2 sessions. First was play and second was recognition where there was drawing and colouring and stuff like that. Then you wait 2 weeks for another appointment and that is the review and questions. This is where they will give you advice and other information. Alex was given the diagnose of PDD-NOS (Pervasive developmental disorder – Not other wise specified) but they felt he was Aspergers (we are currently waiting on a re assessment).

 

What do you do……… Everything you can to help your child. Get as much help you can. Seek out what is in your area available to you. Speck to your kid’s school if they are school aged as they have programs they can refer you to if they have other kids like that. I am lucky with that my school has a few other Autistic kids and they get a lot of info about what is coming up and the new ways to teach your child. Depending on the severity of the Autism depends of careers allowance. In Australia centerlink can help out. We get 30mins a day of a career’s help. J is a wonderful Lady and puts extra unpaid hours into Alex. Getting as much help as you can is great; any service you can get will help you and your child.

 

Things you can do at home…………. Flash cards. Even if your child can talk and function, flash cards are great. All I do is print pictures from the internet and write simple words and then laminate. With Autistic kids a laminator is great. Making these things is great for them and excellent for memory skills.

 

Computer games…….. Games like Jump Start are great for the kids. My son loves it and they in courage math’s and spelling. Remember your child doesn’t think the same as a normal child. My son hates the out doors. There are other games that are great for the children, this is just the one I have as my MIL is a teacher and she gave me this one.

 

Don’t discourage there routine…… Alex has a fascination with cars. We do have to in courage safety issues as he does try and stick his head out of the window in cars. Also he lines up all his dinky cars. We don’t interrupt this or change any behavior of it.

 

But the biggest thing I have learnt over the last 2 years is have fun with your child. They are precious.

 

 

Common Misconception of Autism.

 

When I first found out my son was Autistic I freaked and thought about the dealings I had with autistic kids and they were wheelchair bond and couldn’t speak. This is a big misconception. Not all autistic kids are that severer.

 

All kids with autism will have to live with their parents their whole life as they cannot care for themselves. Again another misconception. My son can do a lot of things by himself and my dad is a happy 55 year old man who lives by himself, pays his bills on time and has a great job.

 

The worst one I have heard is there is a cure for autism. There is no cure for it. There are managable medications like fish oil and primrose oil called Effalex. There are many types of natural medications. I have a group I am in and they have their children in all sorts of natural refelexology and acupunctiur and chiro’s and they all seem to work for them. I am seriously thinking about it for my son.

 

Your child will never learn proply at school. There are a different range of autism ranging from social to physical to mental. My son is social meaning he can not react well with other children. He basicly has no social skills. But these things can be helped and the children can live a normal life and are in fact very smart. My son often tells his teacher and EA (education Assistant) that he is bored with the work and needs more stuff. One thing I notice with my son is he is really smart and easily bored.

 

 

There are so many misconception with autism that if I covered all of them you would be here for ages.

Writen by Rukia