Autism As A Whole: High Functioning Autism

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Fears of the Unknown

Unknown 6/04/2011 0 Comments

It is finally the end of a very long and eventful school year. I have found myself counting the days till the children get out of school. Sometimes I am thinking,"Oh my, how am I going to survive the summer?" and other times I find myself relieved that the school year is at an end. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me for the summer and so I really need to come up with an at home therapy schedule. I don't want it to seem like work to them but I want them to continue progressing through the summer. It is heartbreaking to see them regress. I also know that if they are going to regress, it is just going to happen and there might not even be a way to prevent it. It is all part of the territory.

Chucky Cheese is going to start Kindergarten in the fall which is very scary. I had a choice on where I wanted him to go to school and I just hope that I made the right choice. That is where fear comes in. I fear the choices. I wonder if I made the correct choices. I question my decisions every day but I know that I am only human. I think that is what helps you get through. You know in your heart that you may make a mistake but you are only doing what you feel is the right thing. It is the fear of the unknown. Chucky Cheese has made tremendous progress and I am ecstatic! It makes me happy to see him really playing with another child even if it is a rare occasion. I enjoy the hugs and the snuggles that I get now because I know what it feels like not to have them.

Buddy has also made some progress. As many of you know it has been a roller coaster year for him and he will probably remain in first grade. I encourage him and his accomplishments and I also make sure that he understands what is going on. He understands that staying in first grade is not his fault. It is only for his benefit. The school failed him, he did not fail at school. Hopefully, with a lot of intervention, he will achieve many things next year. Slowly, I am regaining my son back. I see him smile more and try to interact again and I know how much of a a gift this is. He has many struggles but he is a very strong boy and very loved.

Buddy was officially diagnosed with Tourettes, Aspergers, and Cri du Chat!! I wasn't looking for all of this but I needed answers. Now, I find myself fearful of answers. I am unsure if I want to have any more testing done. I don't know if that is a normal feeling, but I really don't see how any more testing is going to mean anything. It is just a bunch of letters bunched into words to provide answers but many of these answers have no solutions. I hope for a very progressive year next year. I know my boys can accomplish anything they want to and with a lot of love and encouragement it will happen. Buddy just has to be taught to be comfortable in his own skin. He is who he is and no one can change that.

Monday, November 1, 2010

My Family Introduction

Unknown 11/01/2010 6 Comments

I guess I should start with a little introduction into my family. I am a single mom of four beautiful children. I am 31 years old and enjoy photographing. As a child I led a challenging life and thrive to prevent my children from ever having to endure that.

My oldest is Princess, who is going to be twelve on the 7th of November. She loves to sing and has an amazing voice. She is a tomboy and loves hunting and skateboarding. As she was an only child for five years, she finds it difficult dealing with her siblings at times. She is very scattered in her thoughts but is an amazing young lady. Princess had a lot of medical problems when she was young but it has all cleared up now. She had GERD and Bilateral Syndactly. GERD is a gastro-intestinal problem and the Bilateral Syndactly is a birth defect in which the last two fingers of both hands were joined. They were separated at 8 months and again at a year and a half. About two years ago she underwent another surgery on her hands to attempt to straighten the fingers to improve function, unfortunately it was unsuccessful. The latest surgery was for her tonsils and adenoids. She also struggles with borderline ADD. Regardless, she is a beautiful young lady.

My second child was born in August 2003. She is extremely bright and thoughtful. I have thought about having her tested for gifted as she does have a lot of the characteristics of a gifted child. She met all her milestones early and knew how to write her name, recognize her letters and numbers and drew pictures with immaculate detail before Kindergarten. She is sensitive and bubbly. I call her my Chipmunk because she never grew out of her chipmunk cheeks. She also loves to sing and is reading at a Fourth grade level. She is mathematically and artistically gifted but has not been tested yet.

My third child was born in August 2004. We call him Buddy and he is Chipmunk's Irish twin. He was born on the same day, a year later. He had speech delays along with a lot of sensory problems. I might add that similar to his oldest sister he also had the issues with his fingers although his was actually one bone and not just joined skin. His was separated at 8 months and again at 1 year. This was done twice for him because as I called him"My Little Houdini", at 8 months old continually pulled the casts off his hands with his feet which caused them to web during healing. Buddy received early intervention until the age of three and currently receives Occupational therapy in school for his hands. He remains a very demanding child with a lot of sensitivities to sounds and touch. He has ADHD and is being evaluated for ASD.

My last child, was born in March of 2006. I may refer to him as either Chucky or Chucky Cheese depending on the circumstances and his mood. LOL He was named after my father whom he never met. He is an amazing young man but very challenging. He has High Functioning Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, Hypotonia, and an anxiety disorder. While he can now speak, is potty trained and able to do simple one step tasks he struggles to get through each day. Therefore my other children also struggle too. Chucky Cheese was born 3 weeks early at a healthy 7 lb. 12.9oz. He failed to meet any milestones on time. He couldn't hold his head up, rarely smiled at you, and didn't coo. The only vocalization out of my son was screaming. He was most content sitting in his swing rocking side to side. Early intervention started when he was 8 months old. He remains in a special needs school and is functioning at a two and a half year level. He has taught me a lot in his four years. Patience must be the first and well, unconditional love is right on top too.

It takes a lot to maintain a household and keep harmony and I have realized that Autism, ADHD, is not only a feat for the parents but also the siblings involved. Unfortunately in the mess of things there is always the child that feels he/she is not getting attention. In my case that falls on my girls cause they do not demand my time as much and they can function. I want to make this better but I really am not sure how. Most of all what a lot of people forget is that it is most difficult for the child who has it.

I hope this blog gives the whole story into a household with Special Needs children. It isn't just about the child with the disability but also the others that live with it and deal with it each day.