where you can get support, as well as a scope and sequence. They also have a play area where they have games to reward them for working on the site. You get all of this for a low monthly fee, and I feel it's well worth the price. I couldn't be happier with them, and wanted to share this with all of you!
OUR OWN LITTLE TIM'S STORY
I am Angie, mom to 6 yr old Tim who is high-functioning autistic, and Josh, age 3 who it's still undecided if he is on the spectrum or not. Tim is the reason I put this site together, my kids are my passion. Here's our story, where I'm coming from, so you can get to know me.
We knew at birth that something wasn't right. I can say it's hardly normal for a newborn infant to suffer from night terrors, but he did. It took my husband realizing this, because this was the farthest thing from my imagination! He also had colic from birth all the way to nine months of age, so I just figured that was what was waking him up at night. My husband figured out that it was a different tone to his cry, and told me to try to leave the light on dim. That helped, but he didn't stop having night terrors until he was three. He still sleeps with a night light on. I had a baby swing that lit up and played classical music. When I tried having the lights on, he would have mini seizures. Needless to say, I only tried this three times, and then quit using the lights. He HAD to be held, all the time. If I put him down for more than 10 minutes, he screamed. I know now that was a sign of sensory issues, but I didn't know anything about it then! He hit all of his milestones early, so I wasn't concerned. However, he still was not sleeping through the night until he was three, and he NEVER put things in his mouth ( now I know that is a very important developmental step!) and he never got into trouble when he started crawling, except for breaking two tv's by punching buttons that he could NOT leave alone. He started speaking on time, like he was supposed to.
When he was almost two, he had a seizure while in the bath tub, which scared me to death. He stopped breathing, I was right there so I caught him as soon as his face hit the water. I didn't know it was a seizure because he just went limp, so I thought he was drowning. My husband had to do CPR while I was on the phone with 911. He told me it sounded like a febrile seizure (he had a slight fever before going into a warm bath), but I don't believe that's what it was now. It's very common for kids with autism to have other disorders, one of which is epilepsy. I'm going to allow them to test him for seizures when he's seven, after the point that he should outgrow febrile seizures. Just a few months before that seizure we moved to a new house, and that's when our world turned upside down. I know the autism was there before, but the shock of the move and everything he knew, brought it out full blown. I looked that up and found that that isn't unheard of. Anyway, a few months before turning two the tantrums started, right before the seizure happened. He would have them over tiny things, and would have the strength of 10 men when he had them. I was pregnant with Josh at that time, and the only way to keep Tim from hurting himself was to hold him on my lap facing out, and hold his arms and legs. Not easy to do with a belly! He started out just having a few, but by the time he was three he was having about 15 a day, and they would last about 45 minutes each. He would self-mutilate, throw things, kick, you name it, and as I said in my response on YA was non-responsive to threats or bribes! I had never seen anything like it. I would tell people, and would just get the 'terrible two' speech.
Finally, when Tim was 2 1/2 and I had just had Josh, it was Christmas. We went to my husband's brother's house first, and they got to witness one of the tantrums. I could tell by the look on their face, that it wasn't normal and they had never seen anything like it. After that we went to my sister's, and she witnessed one, and how I had to hold him down to control it. She saw the look in his face, which seriously looked like he was possessed, and saw how it would just stop. It wouldn't taper out like a normal tantrum, but would just be over, without any reason,and he just went right back to playing. Being as outspoken as she is, she flat out told me that something was wrong. That was not a normal tantrum, and to look into autism. So, I started researching, and she was right.
He also started, around 19 months after I taught him HOW to play with toys, lying on the floor on his belly, slowly moving a car back and forth, for at least 1/2 hour at a time, just staring at the wheels. Quiet as a mouse, not really responding to anything. He also started spinning in slow circles for LONG periods at a time without getting dizzy, with this happy look on his face. It was really cool to watch! He also started losing his speech. He was only up to about 30 words by age 2 1/2, and that's the 'normal' range for a 1 1/2 year old. He was only using two word at a time, so his speech was really slow. He would repeat the same phrases every day at the same times, and just BARELY quit doing this a few months ago. He would learn a new word, would retain it and use it for a couple of months, and then it would literally be gone. He couldn't eat meat until he was three, because he would gag, fought over wearing tags in his shirts, and HATED shoes. Actually, he hated all clothes, preferred to be in his underwear. And, he was an ace on the computer... At 2 1/2!
I decided to homeschool him. I had always known this is what I wanted to do when I had kids, but knowing that he could not handle the stimulus from the outside world made that decision even easier to make. I started him on some supplements that drastically increased his mental awareness and more specifically, his speech. It helped with the tantrums, with the sleep issues, almost everything. He was still delayed in his maturity compared to his peers, and we still had small tantrums, but they were much more manageable. I started working with him academically when he was 3, and it wasn't easy. But, now at age 6, he'll be starting 1st grade and he's working at a 2nd grade science and social studies level. He is a very gifted young man, but it takes me finding ways to motivate him, working within his interests. He still has speech problems, but they get better all the time, especially during the process of learning to read.
To see him now, unless you were told he has autism or see him in an extremely stressful situation, you wouldn't know he had it. He functions at about the level of a 5 yr old emotionally, that's still the main area that we see problems with. Socially, he's great. The only problem we have is that he's TOO trusting, TOO friendly. He doesn't know what a stranger is, can't understand why people would want to be mean to him. That's just as dangerous, if not more, than a typically autistic child who stays away from others. I have to watch him like a hawk to protect him. He is very fearful of new things, does still have some sensory issues, but we see improvements in that all the time. He is a wonderful little boy who loves to help his dad work on cars, or help me cook. He is a great big brother, too!
No matter where your child is at on the spectrum, there is always hope for a good life! Don't ever give up hope, or listen to others tell you that the way your child is now is the way they will always be. It will take a lot of work on your part to find the things that will help your child improve, and there's no guarantee as to how much improvement you will see. But always strive for improving their quality of life, and you'll be just fine. If you have any questions, please contact me, I'm more than happy to help!
WHAT IS AUTISM?
Christian and Makena's Battle with Autism.
Permission Given By The Video Maker
Autism (sometimes called “classical autism”) is the most common condition in a group of developmental disorders known as the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive, or severely limited activities and interests. Other ASDs include Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS). Experts estimate that one out of every 150 children will have autism. Males are four times more likely to have autism than females.