Before my son was diagnosed with autism, I was making excuses that he wasn't autistic. I was in such denial. I was constantly searching for clues and taking online free quizzes about his development skills. Even the quizzes would result in, "Probably Autistic."
Still, seeing those words made me think, "No, that's not right."
I was searching up MMR vaccines with thirmersol or mercury causing symptoms of autism, early signs of autism, aspergers syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). I wanted specifics! "Tell me what I want to hear! My son is fine! He will outgrow these weird habits and start talking I know it!"
This may be why you are here reading this. You want to know the truth what is going on with your child. I know. I've been there. You know the truth but your thoughts are setting you back telling you that that's not possible. There is another explanation why my child is doing the things he or she is doing.
You talk to other parents what their child is doing or not doing. You compare you child to theirs. You want to know, "Is this normal?"
Deep down, you know something is wrong. You choose not to accept it like I did. You want to wait and see the results that everything is okay. Nothing to worry about, right?
You enroll your child in school. The teachers are seeing things your not. They also give you quizzes about what you see your child doing at home. You and your spouse take separate quizzes and then the school psychologist compares. You put in your comments. It boils down to where the school wants your child labeled. Finally, you get them screened. Diagnosis, Autism.
After that long day with the doctor, occupational therapist and speech therapist the results come in. The doctor says it appears your child has autism.
I took that news in trying not to choke up and held back. The doctor says not to give up hope. I knew this was gonna be the final result but I didn't think it was real.
After the facts were laid out, I also felt a sense of relief. Now, I know it's not all behavior problems. It's things inside that aren't connecting. We have to figure out a way to cope with this. He is our son and we love and accept him unconditionally.
I just hope I can break a barrier with you. Stop denying and get your child screened for autism. It may not be autism. Whatever it is you'll feel better knowing what it is and what you can do about it.
This is my online diary about my son diagnosed with autism at age 2. His progress and regressions. His behavior and his sensory overloads. Therapy and picture schedules. Drama and humor to figure out how his mind works.
Showing posts with label speech therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speech therapy. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Summer School
Danes teacher thought it would be a good idea to have him enrolled in summer school. Even if the teacher didn't suggest this I was going to enroll him. This is to keep in into a routine and meet new teachers and students to help with his social skills and prepare him for kindergarten. This will also give him a chance to do things that he is more interested in.
Children on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) don't take routine breaking easily. Life changes and new obstacles lay ahead. It is best to keep him in a active school environment, or extended before the following school year.
Next year, Dane will have a new teacher and possibly new students added to his classroom. He will have to adjust like any other student but it will take longer with his autism. We show him his class picture to get to know the faces of his classmates.
We are slowly working Dane into a 5 day full time school week. We started with 1 three hour day on Fridays when he was 4 years old. At 5 years old we bumped him up to 2 full days a week. On Friday, he has his special education with more one on one time with his Speech Therapist, Behavioral Therapist, Musical Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Psychologist. Friday is the most important day for him and it upsets me when school is called off or there is no school. That is the day that focuses entirely on his needs.
Since Dane has been enrolled in school, he has gained much more in his social skills. He is talking more and not echoing back as much as he once did. Some of his vowels sound like other letters and is hard to understand what he wants. He gets frustrated until we figure out what he wants. After he gets across to us what he wanted he is very relieved as are we.
Being around children his age has had such an advantage to helping him learn to be more independent. He now can get himself dressed with less help. Sometimes it takes a few commands to get him started. Hearing him start to ask questions is very exciting also. Learning is an entirely different story with those of a certain disability. It takes more patience and time. Early intervention was the best option.
Children on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) don't take routine breaking easily. Life changes and new obstacles lay ahead. It is best to keep him in a active school environment, or extended before the following school year.
Next year, Dane will have a new teacher and possibly new students added to his classroom. He will have to adjust like any other student but it will take longer with his autism. We show him his class picture to get to know the faces of his classmates.
We are slowly working Dane into a 5 day full time school week. We started with 1 three hour day on Fridays when he was 4 years old. At 5 years old we bumped him up to 2 full days a week. On Friday, he has his special education with more one on one time with his Speech Therapist, Behavioral Therapist, Musical Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Psychologist. Friday is the most important day for him and it upsets me when school is called off or there is no school. That is the day that focuses entirely on his needs.
Since Dane has been enrolled in school, he has gained much more in his social skills. He is talking more and not echoing back as much as he once did. Some of his vowels sound like other letters and is hard to understand what he wants. He gets frustrated until we figure out what he wants. After he gets across to us what he wanted he is very relieved as are we.
Being around children his age has had such an advantage to helping him learn to be more independent. He now can get himself dressed with less help. Sometimes it takes a few commands to get him started. Hearing him start to ask questions is very exciting also. Learning is an entirely different story with those of a certain disability. It takes more patience and time. Early intervention was the best option.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
"SOCIAL SKILLS"
I believe in having your child with autism to be around peers their own age to help with their social skills. Children learn from watching and imitating others around their social environments.
I have seen many improvements with my own son diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
He is in early childhood class, 4k. 2 days a week for 8 hours he is involved with normal childhood activities within his class and peers his own age. Monday and Wednesday are his classes. On Fridays he is involved in a more special education class with other students of learning disabilities.
On Fridays he has one on one therapy with a Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Behavioral Therapist, Psychologist, his teacher and a Musical Therapist. He has developed to socialize with other students a lot better than he did over the past school year.
2 days a week we have our children in childcare for 5 hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays. The daycare consists of the mothers own 4 children. They are aged from 7 down to 3. There are also several more boys and girls throughout the day that my son has social interaction with.
Watching these kids eat, play and get dressed has helped my son with autism learn abilities he should be doing in his own age group. Instead of playing off in the corner by himself, he has learned to interact more with these children.
Taking my son to the playground has had positive effects on his social skills. Children want to play tag with him but he didn't understand what to do. He was off in his own world putting wood chips down the slide. Either way, getting him around other kids still made him happy.
We choose to have as much social interaction with my sons autism. This is a most definite plus in learning what children do to socialize with one another. Set up play dates with other families. Take your child to the zoo and playground. Get them away from their autistic traits. Get them into the world and be a part of life. "The worst thing a parent can do is do nothing." Quoted by Temple Grandon.
I have seen many improvements with my own son diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
He is in early childhood class, 4k. 2 days a week for 8 hours he is involved with normal childhood activities within his class and peers his own age. Monday and Wednesday are his classes. On Fridays he is involved in a more special education class with other students of learning disabilities.
On Fridays he has one on one therapy with a Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Behavioral Therapist, Psychologist, his teacher and a Musical Therapist. He has developed to socialize with other students a lot better than he did over the past school year.
2 days a week we have our children in childcare for 5 hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays. The daycare consists of the mothers own 4 children. They are aged from 7 down to 3. There are also several more boys and girls throughout the day that my son has social interaction with.
Watching these kids eat, play and get dressed has helped my son with autism learn abilities he should be doing in his own age group. Instead of playing off in the corner by himself, he has learned to interact more with these children.
Taking my son to the playground has had positive effects on his social skills. Children want to play tag with him but he didn't understand what to do. He was off in his own world putting wood chips down the slide. Either way, getting him around other kids still made him happy.
We choose to have as much social interaction with my sons autism. This is a most definite plus in learning what children do to socialize with one another. Set up play dates with other families. Take your child to the zoo and playground. Get them away from their autistic traits. Get them into the world and be a part of life. "The worst thing a parent can do is do nothing." Quoted by Temple Grandon.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
"EARLY INTERVENTION"
A parent knows when something is wrong with their child. You see things that the child should be doing but their not. Or, they were doing it but now it stopped. Whats going on here?
We took our son in to see his family doctor for a well-being check up. We told her about the weird things he was doing and that he stopped talking. She referred us to the Birth to Three program through our county. This was the start of my sons early intervention.
If we had not taken my son to the doctor, or, if the doctor didn't refer us to the early intervention, Birth to Three program, my family would be lost today. 2 days a week for 45 minutes a speech therapist and occupational therapist came to our house to study our son and give us advice.
Birth to Three early intervention ended when Dane turned 3 years old. After that, we had our son involved in school 1 day a week for 3 hours. This was to help get him into the routine of going to school and being around other children. Early intervention was the key to help with my sons social skills. This was before he was diagnosed with autism.
The school gave my wife an I a quiz to narrow down why my son is not meeting his peers activities. The school psychologist would narrow it down to where it was a possibility of autism. Eventually, we took him in to be screened for autism and he was diagnosed.
Without a diagnosis, our son would probably be not getting the treatment he needs. This gave us the opportunity to have him involved with specialists who are trained to help children with disabilities.
Currently my son sees an Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Musical Therapist, Behavioral Therapist and a school Psychologist. All these people play a very important role in helping my son develop his social skills, behavioral issues and how to do things more independently.
Without early intervention I would be lost with my son. Recognize there is a problem and do something about it before it is too late. The sooner the intervention, the better.
We took our son in to see his family doctor for a well-being check up. We told her about the weird things he was doing and that he stopped talking. She referred us to the Birth to Three program through our county. This was the start of my sons early intervention.
If we had not taken my son to the doctor, or, if the doctor didn't refer us to the early intervention, Birth to Three program, my family would be lost today. 2 days a week for 45 minutes a speech therapist and occupational therapist came to our house to study our son and give us advice.
Birth to Three early intervention ended when Dane turned 3 years old. After that, we had our son involved in school 1 day a week for 3 hours. This was to help get him into the routine of going to school and being around other children. Early intervention was the key to help with my sons social skills. This was before he was diagnosed with autism.
The school gave my wife an I a quiz to narrow down why my son is not meeting his peers activities. The school psychologist would narrow it down to where it was a possibility of autism. Eventually, we took him in to be screened for autism and he was diagnosed.
Without a diagnosis, our son would probably be not getting the treatment he needs. This gave us the opportunity to have him involved with specialists who are trained to help children with disabilities.
Currently my son sees an Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Musical Therapist, Behavioral Therapist and a school Psychologist. All these people play a very important role in helping my son develop his social skills, behavioral issues and how to do things more independently.
Without early intervention I would be lost with my son. Recognize there is a problem and do something about it before it is too late. The sooner the intervention, the better.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
IN SIMPLE TERMS
How do you explain to a visual thinker on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) everything? Long story short basically. When it comes to a long explanation, narrow it down. Then, narrow it down further. Than it becomes, just because.
When the explanation is in progress of leaving your lips every word is blah blah blah. Except the words that they can visualize. Take for instance when you tell a visual thinker, "It's raining cats and dogs." That person will actually visualize cats and dogs falling from the sky.
With all the pun in the english language, one thing can mean another. Instead of telling the child about raining cats and dogs, they need to hear that it's raining hard outside. That they can understand.
You can actually see the confusion on their faces while you explain. Their minds are trying to piece that jigsaw puzzle together starting with the border. After that, pieces start falling into place. The more they hear and pictures to show, sentences become clearer.
Over time the more they picture words the easier it will become for my son to understand. It's a matter of how fast the words can be processed visually in his mind. For now, repeating sentences and shortening them up is helping him to learn faster. It helps him pick out the words he knows so he can visualize what I'm saying.
When the explanation is in progress of leaving your lips every word is blah blah blah. Except the words that they can visualize. Take for instance when you tell a visual thinker, "It's raining cats and dogs." That person will actually visualize cats and dogs falling from the sky.
With all the pun in the english language, one thing can mean another. Instead of telling the child about raining cats and dogs, they need to hear that it's raining hard outside. That they can understand.
You can actually see the confusion on their faces while you explain. Their minds are trying to piece that jigsaw puzzle together starting with the border. After that, pieces start falling into place. The more they hear and pictures to show, sentences become clearer.
Over time the more they picture words the easier it will become for my son to understand. It's a matter of how fast the words can be processed visually in his mind. For now, repeating sentences and shortening them up is helping him to learn faster. It helps him pick out the words he knows so he can visualize what I'm saying.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
"AUTISM AND SPEECH DELAY"
Our child didn't start speaking till he was about 4. From what I can remember he liked the word, "Fan." It is easy to see why. He is emotionally attached to fans. I don't know why and I may never understand his attachment to fans. He will turn on the ceiling fan and bring out every other fan we have available in the house and turn them on.
The Birth to 3 program would stop by my house 2 days a week for 45 minutes. One was a occupational therapist and the other a speech therapist. I had to deal most with the speech therapist. The main goal of this session was to speak slow to commands and use 2-4 word sentences. You cannot tell an autistic child; "Hey, go to your closet, get your pants and shirt on, it's time to go." You have to cut it short and speak slow. Tell them "Pants on, shirt on." You may have to even cut it shorter than that and do one step commands. Autistic people, especially children, have trouble multi-tasking.
Our son is doing especially well right now. I think his little sister is doing much to help him. She is 3 and he is 5. I also think that having him in preschool and having daycare 2 days a week around children his own age helps.
For the most part, speak slow, short sentences across to your child to help them comprehend. Getting him or her especially involved with children their own age I would recommend to help them learn how to do things more independently.
The Birth to 3 program would stop by my house 2 days a week for 45 minutes. One was a occupational therapist and the other a speech therapist. I had to deal most with the speech therapist. The main goal of this session was to speak slow to commands and use 2-4 word sentences. You cannot tell an autistic child; "Hey, go to your closet, get your pants and shirt on, it's time to go." You have to cut it short and speak slow. Tell them "Pants on, shirt on." You may have to even cut it shorter than that and do one step commands. Autistic people, especially children, have trouble multi-tasking.
Our son is doing especially well right now. I think his little sister is doing much to help him. She is 3 and he is 5. I also think that having him in preschool and having daycare 2 days a week around children his own age helps.
For the most part, speak slow, short sentences across to your child to help them comprehend. Getting him or her especially involved with children their own age I would recommend to help them learn how to do things more independently.
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