UPDATE Page 2: Do you know anyone with Autism?

[CBRorBust]

If so, can I pm you with some questions please?

Any info would be much appreciated!

Tina

 

[bsnyder]

Fire away, Tina. My 9 year old neice has autism. I'll be glad to try to help or ask my sister, if it's something I can't answer.

 

[crazyme5kids]

try going to the disabilities board, it is worth it's weight in gold for the knowledge and insight that people there can give.

 

[amid chaos]

Three boys in our neighborhood...feel free to Pm me as i know their situations well.

 

[Robinrs]

My son's best friend is autistic, like the others, his Mom is a walking encyclopedia of the subject so I can pass questions onto her.

Also, our afternoon jock just revealed to me this afternoon that his oldest son is autistic. We had an hour long conversation about it just an hour ago. It was amazing to see this question when I got home.

 

[I <3 Eeyore]

My 16 year old son is autistic. Feel free to PM anytime.

 

[CBRorBust]

Thank you all for responding to me! I'll make a list of things I want to know about the situation some time on wed. and pm all of you to see a wide variety of responses.

My nephew is going to have some tests done to see if he may be autistic or borderline autistic. It's very scary, but we just want to know why this little guy won't talk! So on Wed after the appointment, I'll have lots of questions!

 

[olena]

PM Teri on the DIS. She has lots of experience.

 

[Judy from Boise]

My DD has high functioning autism, I too would answer questions.

 

[aurora19]

My 7.5 y.o. ds has Aspergers (a variant of High Functioning Autism) feel free to PM me with questions.

 

[Dan Murphy]

What a great community the DIS is. Wonderful people here.

 

[Talking Hands]

I work with autistic kids as well as deaf kids. Ask away. They are great but can be very fustrating at times.

 

[fklhou]

My DW spent a year working in program for the treatment of Autism. The family of one of the patients she treated or worked with are still friends of the family. My DW had a special connection with this child and I am happy to report that the child is doing well, i.e. she is in a normal class and is indistinguishable from the other children. The child came to my DD's bat mitzvah a year ago and sat in my wife's lap during the party for a while and then played with some other kids. My DW and I were in tears seeing this child who a year and half ago was suffering from classic symptoms of autisim.

If caught early and with the right therapy, approximately 70% of autistic children can be in effect re-wired to function normally.

 

[fklhou]

As for Aspergers, one of the scouts in my son's troop has Aspergers. This weekend we attended his bar mitzvah. The boy did a great job and everyone was so proud of how well he handled himself reading from the Torah. Our next goal is to get the boy up to his Eagle rank.

 

[TigerBear]

fklhou- "If caught early and with the right therapy, approximately 70% of autistic children can be in effect re-wired to function normally."

Where did you get this information?

 

[fklhou]

University of Houston was a replication site for work done by Dr. Lavoise (sp?). The children in the study underwent intense therapy (mostly positive behaviorial reinforcement) in which the children were taught to function normally. It is my understanding that the earlier they children are diagnosied and begin treatment, the better the success rate. My wife is more up to date but over 50% of the children in the original study were indistinguisable from other first grader and another 20% were only slightly beind their peers in language skills.

My wife brought home a video of the original Lavoise study and this tape showed two of the original partiicpants who were perfectly normal and who were surprised that they ever need help.

I will have my wife respond later since she actually was involved in the program.

 

[I <3 Eeyore]

Originally posted by fklhou
My DW spent a year working in program for the treatment of Autism. The family of one of the patients she treated or worked with are still friends of the family. My DW had a special connection with this child and I am happy to report that the child is doing well, i.e. she is in a normal class and is indistinguishable from the other children. The child came to my DD's bat mitzvah a year ago and sat in my wife's lap during the party for a while and then played with some other kids. My DW and I were in tears seeing this child who a year and half ago was suffering from classic symptoms of autisim.

If caught early and with the right therapy, approximately 70% of autistic children can be in effect re-wired to function normally.

My son's also one of the success stories. At age three he was completely uncommunicative, fearful of many ordinary household sounds, and gave no indication that he even knew you were in the same room. Although he still needs aid in school to maintain his focus he's very affectionate, communicative, and bright. He's fully integrated in his high school classes, has advanced classes in math and science, and is teaching himself German (he mastered sign language and Spanish years ago). He maintains an A- to B+ average.

We also used positive behavioral therapy in addition to intensive speech and occupational therapy. I'm sure there are cases that don't respond well, but we chose not to accept the Dr's grim prognosis when he was three. We've never regretted that decision.

 

[gemmie214]

I have been working with cildren on the Autism spectrum for about 13 years now. I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. You can PM me or e-mail me and I will also set you up with message boards and info sites. It is very overwhelming at first. So much information and so many different techniques all of them saying that this works or that works. I will not get in the discussion of the success of a certain treatment on this thread but I will give you all the help I can

 

[gemmie214]

I also wanted to add that I have just started a great book written by a doctoral canidate in Special Education at BU. He is an adult with Aspergers and the book is about his life. Since he is a friend of mine and I do not want to "advertise" anyone interested can PM me and I will give out the particulars.

 

[s&k'smom]

I didn't even finish reading all the posts when I wanted to respond. Yes please PM if you have any questions. I have a 6 y.o. diagnosed with PDD (which is on the autism spectrum) ANd I second going over the the Disabilities board, tons of info over there. Living here in Massachusetts I'm very fortunate to be able to get some pretty fantastic things for my son. I also work with educational advocates so I keep up to date with the special education laws. Honey, I live and breathe autism!!!