Autism

[dragonflyinthesky]

Not van dwelling stuff but I know there are at least a few other members who have to deal with autism. I do but on a limited basis and to say its 'taxing' is putting it nicely.<br>I have not yet read the book but have had a few friends recommend it. There is also a movie out. I am going to try to find it. Looks good from the trailer.<br><A href="http://www.horseboymovie.com/" target=_blank>http://www.horseboymovie.com/</A><br>

 

[She]

I watched the trailer. A thousand tissue movie.....at least. Well I cry at commercials too. I still remember as a young girl in sleep away camp, there was a young boy with autism. It left a long impression on me.

 

[Dust of the Sun]

hey Dragonfly<br>wondering if you could elaborate alittle about how and why you are dealing with autism...not asking for personal or family info but maybe in a general way?? I ask because I have 2 people in my sphere of friends and families, wait actually 3...that have either been diagnosed with autism or suspicion of some form of autism. No direct family thankfully but this seems to be a growing issue as I understand autism is on the rise in the USA to a large degree.<br><br>2 of the 3 cases are undiagnosed....it seems professionals can NOT even diagnose just what the problem IS...let alone help.&nbsp; The one that IS diagnosed, the professionals seem to offer NOTHING in the way of treatment. And in the diagnosed case, the family is in denial and acts like it's MILD when in fact it is severe...you see they are lucky or rather rich enough to hire a full-time caregiver so they can remain with their heads in the sand.<br><br>In one case my good friend has done everything possible to help her 25 year old son but he is unmanageable...no diagnosis other than ADD and Bipolar which is a catchall....they want to say EVERYBODY has those disorders so they can just prescribe lots of drugs...he may be autistic too... she's taken him everywhere, tons of doctors and counselors to no avail....how do you get to the bottom of this when the psychologists and psychiatrists don't have a friggin' clue...in my humble opinion!!<br><br>If this was my daughter for example I just don't know what I would do...I do know marriages with an autistic child have an 80% divorce rate....isn't that unreal. Hope you are not having to deal with a close family member with this.<br>Dust<br>

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

Hey Dust, good to hear from you.<br>No family members. My best friend runs an adoption agency. She has also adopted 20 children in her lifetime, now has 2 grandkids she is raising. To old for that. Her oldest son is functional socially, 32 yrs old. 70 IQ. He was very autistic but seems to have outgrown it over the years. He still shows it by the occasional detachment. He has never needed meds. It seems the kids and adults that have other issues don't do as well.<br>Another adult child is autistic, 70 IQ, very high functioning, married a "slow" woman and they have an autistic slow child.<br>Pat taught them how to engage their little one in eye contact from the time he was an infant.<br>Interesting, I have learned over the years that you can sometimes get along just fine with a low IQ. Maybe the key is someone recognizing it very early and working with them, as Pat has done.<br>These kids/now adults, were not what I see on TV, they have an ability to be touched and are not hyper active.<br>I am amazed at how many more kids have it. I just don't remember this in school growing up.<br>

 

[yesican]

<p style="margin: 0px;">I was a licensed&nbsp;Care Coordinator for couple years in Seward AK.&nbsp; Our job was to keep people out of long term care facilities.&nbsp; This included elderly, developementally disabled, and physically disabled.&nbsp; There is a much higher rate of Autism than people expect because many autistic childern are not developementally disabled; they are socially disabled, and often go unnoticed in society.&nbsp; Is a matter of fact, most of the austic children on our services were highly intelligent, they just lack ability to interact socially with the world.&nbsp; One of our training seminars was from someone who had a masters or doctorate in sociology/psychology who was autistic.&nbsp; Kinda interesting.&nbsp; Its like having&nbsp;a&nbsp;Cadillac&nbsp;but you don't know&nbsp;how to drive.&nbsp; They can be very difficult to deal with because they respond in totally off-the-wall way.&nbsp; Their life is difficult because they look totally normal but can't process feelings in normal ways and often live lonely lives.&nbsp; In Alaska, they have great programs to help these kids/adults.&nbsp; I don't know what its like in other states.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Rae</p>

 

[dfh]

Hi there. Thanks for the link, I"m going to check that out.<div><br></div><div>My son is a high functioning 10 year old. He was diagnosed by school psychologists when he was around 5. I followed up with his pediatrician.</div><div><br></div><div>In all my my education on autism, I've never seen a child be prescribed drugs for it. The best therapies I've seen are behavioral based therapies. The best case scenarios for children with autism are educated parents. The only time I've ever seen children prescribed drugs is when they do have other diagnosis on top of autism, such as adhd or bipolar (we have 2 other kids in the family who also have autism with those diagnosis on top of it.)</div>

 

[dragonflyinthesky]

<B>from dfh</B>&nbsp; <FONT color=#0000ff>The best therapies I've seen are behavioral based therapies. The best case scenarios for children with autism are educated parents.</FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT>&nbsp;<BR><B><FONT color=#000000>True from what I have seen with&nbsp;my friend as well as working at the adoption agency.&nbsp;Looking from the outside&nbsp;though, if there are other issues that need meds on top of the autism, I feel for the parents and future caretakers. Sometimes it just seems to be sliding backward and it would take a strong marriage.</FONT></B><BR><B>Dust and dfh,&nbsp;on a positive note, the 2 kids of Pat's that are now adults I sited, as infants and into grade school, they were very autistic and now they function and hold down jobs. Remember though, they are on the lower end of intelligence (by the numbers) and never needed meds for anything else. I don't have any stats of course. Maybe more intellegent people are affected worse by autism.</B><BR><B>I am fortunate, I have a good sense of humor, and you really need to lighten up around special kids and I get to go home at the end of the evening after dealing with them.To many people make judgements about parents and caretakers. Until you have been in their shoes, you have no idea what its like.</B><BR>

 

[dfh]

My son too has improved leaps and bounds. He's had a lot of occupational therapy, its been tremendous help. As part of his school curriculum too, his class has social behavioral class time. A big part of it too is just discussing how to interact with others... Something I felt strange about at first as it was never anything I'd had to do with my daughter.<div><br></div><div>I feel really fortunate myself, my son is high functioning. I've met so many other parents whose kids were not as high functioning and their road was a little tougher, but man were they some of the toughest folks I'd ever had the pleasure of meeting.&nbsp;</div>

 

[sl1966]

I saw the movie and loved it. Thanks for the suggestion. The parents setup a foundation even.<div><br><a href="http://www.horseboyfoundation.org/" target="_blank">http://www.horseboyfoundation.org/</a>&nbsp;<br><br>Turns out&nbsp;they're very close to SA, even closer to Austin.<div><br></div></div>