Living With Autism the Parents Guide!

Hello to all of you out there! I am the father of 5 wonderful children. In this Article I will focus on just one of them, Arek our 4 year old boy who has Autism. More about my family can be found here. Arek is a wonderful boy and has made promising progress; I will get to that later on. Let's start at the beginning. Arek was born healthy and is healthy to this day. From about 6 months on my wife noticed slight differences in Arek from his siblings. At that point it was too young to really tell he had Autism. Time moved on and when he was 1 years old he still didn't make eye contact, he didn't babble, he did not do what babies do. Now my oldest children Brett and Lauren I had adopted . So Arek was my first born child. I thought nothing was wrong with him because well I thought that he was just perfect. He never cried, never attempted to get our attention for anything. We had to change and feed him on a schedule. We knew that something was wrong, so we then researched the good Ole INTERNET. This is the first step everyone should take. We began by googling different behaviors he was exhibiting or not exhibiting. We sorted through many different articles and websites. The majority of which pointed us to Autism. We than began to research Autism and more and more of the picture became clear. Worried and wanting to do something for our child we contacted our doctor. She was not so concerned and gave us the wait and see response. Our mistake was to listen to her. If you have researched and are educated on what might be going on with your child then by all means insist they be evaluated. This is what we did 3 months later when he had not developed any further if anything he was going backward. This time we insisted and the doctor was forced to listen. She contacted early intervention and referred us to them. It may have a different name in your state.

They came to our house a few weeks later and evaluated him on all kinds of criteria. he was below age level on everything they tested. He was qualified for services. This is the key to curing symptoms of Autism, early detection and education. He began therapy 3 days a week 2 hours a day. It was not very effective at first but slowly began to help. It wasn't until he was put into the connections group at Communication clubhouse that we began to see the difference. The key here is the therapist were trained and this group was Autism spectrum disorder specific. I believe he would have done better in the home if the therapist would have had better Autism specific training. Make sure your child gets the therapy, education, support and whatever else that is appropriate to their learning. Autism is a broad disorder and what works for one child may not work for another. It is important to have the different methodologies of teaching available to you and your child. You must get educated on Autism as a parent in order to know what services your child is getting and know if they are effectively working for your child.

Do not get overwhelmed with all the different information on the web. There is no known cause or cure for Autism period. There are a large number of studies out that contradict each other on possible causes and treatments for Autism. You will go broke and crazy if you attempt to try all the cures of the month. The only real cure available right now is education. Teaching Autistics how to communicate effectively with the world and teaching the world how to communicate with Autistics. I know our son did not get thermasil in his vaccines, we checked. I know he does not have gluten or other food allergies. We have tried to no avail. He does get diaper rash from milk but exhibits the same autistic behavior without being on milk. Once they have figured out the science, biology, genetics and etc... Then we will worry about that. No matter what as a parent you love your child and do your best to get them what they deserve in life.

Patience is the key to parenting an Autistic child. You must have courage and relaxation. You have to childproof like never before. Should I say Autism proof. Arek is a master at figuring things out that his non autistic sibling’s wouldn’t think of. You have to be proactive and educated on Autism. Become a therapist at least a home therapist for your child. Learn the methods of teaching that work for your child and make sure that when in therapy or school your child is receiving the appropriate education. Advocate for your child. Advocate for other children. As parents we are all in this together. Some may have resources that others don't. Let's pull those resources and bring forth change in the special education systems across the country. Love your child and learn to love the unique qualities they have. These are not something that should be changed or forced away. The goal of education is to help Autistic people communicate better in the world we live in. I wouldn’t change Arek's personality at all. The child is sweet and happy as can be. Although with age he is developing a temper. In the past he has destroyed a great deal of our family items such as big screen TV’s, computers, display cabinets as well as their contents. It was through his curiosity and sensory stimulation issues that he did these things not out of anger. He has improved some in this area but not a lot. He does have some words now as far as communication goes he will bring you his cup or ask for a Popsicle or some other foods. He isn't consistent and has days with no words he has reached the milestone of attempting to communicate his basic needs. I hope this guide has been of some help to any parents out there new to autism. I know it is broad and not very specific it is not t meant to be.

Advocate! Educate! Love! And Patience! Are the keywords you should take from this article! A diagnosis of Autism doesn’t mean your child is never going to have a normal life. It means your child will have to try harder and grow further then other children in order to have a better life. Autism is a puzzle as they say mysterious. Some have relatively minor symptoms while others are completely disabled by it. Still others are somewhere in-between like Arek Just waiting to share all of the knowledge that they have with the rest of us. As a parent you can unlock that part of your child just don't give up.