carefulwiththataxluke
Dark Side of the Moon
Posts: 1,135
Joined: Jan 2005
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Just wanted everyone to know that April is "Autism Awareness Month" I myself have a 4yr. old who was born with this disease which currently there is no known cure. For those of you who are not aware of what this means for a child who suffers with this, it's a learning dissability. Although there are many forms of this I'll just use my son's condition as reference. When he was born he was unable to speak, walk, or even communicate his thoughts/feelings even though he was/is very intelligent and that can be very frustrating for them, so he hit his head on the wall/floor, scream, cry, ect. One day my wife (now ex-wife) took him to get his hearing checked (since he did not respond to sound, ie. his own name) they surggested to have him checked for Autism. After being tested he was diagnosed and began treatment. Today he's doing great and has made so much progress and of coarce it goes without saying that I am very proud of my son. If there is anybody interestsed maybe we can start a Autism thread, just a thought. In the mean time please spread the word. Thanx. carefulwiththataxluke
American by birth, Floydian by obsession.
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| 04-05-2005 01:02 PM |
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Steve Hill
Division Bell
Posts: 4,414
Joined: Apr 2004
Reputation: 1
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One of my cousins has autism and so has severe social problems. When there are more than a few people in the room at any time or people that she is not overly familar with, she prefers to hide.
In the UK, a lot has been made of the suposed link between autism and MMR, (the triple vacine of Measles, Mumps and Rubela), but the original links between the two were heavily publicised by a doctor receiving sponsorship from a group of lawyers who were representing a group of people with autistic children suing the drugs companies for this unproven link. I am not 100% sure either way, but would say it is more likely the link does not exist, or if it did, it is only a trigger for some dormant genetic condition.
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| 04-05-2005 02:14 PM |
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carefulwiththataxluke
Dark Side of the Moon
Posts: 1,135
Joined: Jan 2005
Reputation: 0
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In the U.S.A. it's on the uprise (more & more children are born with this every day) and although there are lot's of theories out there, none have been proven to date. It's a shame that any child should have this strugle, my son was lucky in the sense he was diagnosed at an early age and is very "high funtioning" as where there so many others are not; also in New York where he lives with his mother there is a lot of help via. the state, not so in many other states/countries.
Edited By carefulwiththataxluke on 1112740269
American by birth, Floydian by obsession.
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| 04-05-2005 02:21 PM |
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rebecca
Meddle
Posts: 649
Joined: Jan 2005
Reputation: 1
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I have an 8 year old son who was diagnosed with PDD (pervasive developemental disorder)/autism.
I know the sooner you get the child diagnosed the better it will be for the child.
Actually, PDD is the umbrella and autism, asperger's, rhett's and fragile X all fall under it.
And it's a neurobiological disorder. They're not sure how one goes about having it or how they "get" it but they do know that it can occur with 23-29 days after conception.
Basically what autism does (or is) is, it somehow causes the child to slip into their own world and the hand flapping or the banging of the head on the wall or floor or, and my son does this, singing to themselves or any other non-typical behavior is due to sensory overload. Children or people with autism can not express themselves or communicate like a typical person. They can not express when they are bothered by something or feel stressed out. And sometimes their senses are hypo-sensitive (meaning they need stimulation with a specific sense) or hyper-sensitive (which would be why some autistic children/peope freak out to loud sounds like vacuum cleaners).
Occupational Therapy is VERY VERY VERY important for an autistic child/person. OT that works with sensory intergration will help that autistic person with their senses and help balance them out a bit.
I was taking my son to a pediatric neurologist up north of Chicago when I finally had realized that something was going on with him. This pediatric neurologist believed that autism and epilepsy could be linked somehow. He believed that seizures could be what has weakened areas of the brain where autistic children are affected. So, my son had to get an MRI done and a 24 hour eeg done. And what was found was that my son was having these "silent seizures", or abnormal brain activity and the MRI was showing the areas of the brain being affected. Those areas being by the temporal bone area where social skills and cognitive skills are all learned and/or processed. The very skills that autistic children seem to lack. My son was put on depakote and became a new child instantly.
I don't know. Every child is different. My son is higher functioning but you can still tell he is autistic. He hand flaps, sings, writes music for hours, draws for hours and is HORRIBLE with any type of transition (i believe due to sensory issues).
Think of it this way, an autistic person's stress level is going to be like a typical person's stress level is when they're are at their worst, ALL THE TIME.
wow, I just went on and on forever.
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| 04-05-2005 10:32 PM |
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The_Final_Brick
Obscured By Clouds
Posts: 829
Joined: Mar 2005
Reputation: 0
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okie dokie thanks for the heads up!
Seriously..
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| 04-11-2005 08:24 PM |
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