Autism? How many have children on the spectrum?

[RedBear78]

Time flies I reread what I wrote here a couple years ago.My sons now 14 and growing like a weed.He has come a long long way in the past few years.I’m pretty sure that by the time he’s early 20s he will be self sufficient.Teaching him and connecting with him is still a struggle but when it does happen it’s a rewarding feeling.Sometimes I’m talking to a kindhearted young man and then seconds later he’s a moody toddler.I’ve really really really had to pray for patience.Consistencies,patience and firmness is the only way to get it done with him.He’s home behavior is mostly good he doesn’t like to get into trouble but he has a really hard time listening especially to his mother.He has perfect behavior at school,he’s mostly in normal classes and all his teachers love him.The faculty says he’s the most well behaved kid in the school,that’s never been said about me I promise you.Having a regular bible study based around his needs and learning abilities still really helps.Church is really the only place he enjoys getting cleaned up and dressing properly to go to.Health finally got good enough where I took him jetty fishing for the first time last week.He had a blast catching medium sized black drum I’m hoping I can take him again in the morning.I have it easy compared to a lot of other parents so I’ll take what I have and be content.I’ll also keep you parents and grandparents of special needs kids in my prayers.Bless y’all and your families!

[donpablo]

A lot more people have kids (or are themselves) on the spectrum than realize it. It's a pretty wide spectrum.

[bullets13]

What I'm curious about is, at least it seems to me that this affects mostly boys? I recall my grandsons class not having even one girl.

I made the move to special Ed last year, and out of 18 students over those two years I had three autistic girls and five boys.

[270Sendero]

My son Hunter has Aspergers. Like some of you, we really think all of the vaccines he got at 3 years of age had a lot to do with it. He’s one of the kindest most caring people on the world. And smart. Don’t watch Jeopardy with him.

For those of you who haven’t had your kid checked, please do. We got Hunter checked at 5 and started seeing a therapist at 7. The therapist can really help get the special help your child may need at school.

Many Asperger’s kids find something they really like and fixate on it. For Hunter it was history. He’s 28 now, has his masters degree in history and is a teacher. We are very proud of him.

I know it’s a scary thing to deal with, but hang in there. It does get better. God bless all of you as you go through this

[3DW5]

My son has aspergers.

A literal card carrying genius that's wired a little different.

Reads a novel a day, loves music but hates noise.

Wouldn't trade him for the world.

I know your son, doesn’t he run the snowcone stand???

[3DW5]

My brother is Autistic, very high functioning and has lived with my parents for 35 years but has just recently moved to an assisted living area in Waxahachie….

[mjhaverkamp]

We have an autistic son, he is high functioning, can drive with a licensed driver, probably drives better than a lot of normal people, he is very smart about certain things, his memory is off the charts, just a couple days ago I asked him when did we open up our restaurant, he told me the day and the date, it was 5 years ago, he amazes me, he can be a handful at times but we love him to the moon and back.

[CletusBodeen]

Just a little update on my mini me.

He is up for re-evalutaion through the school this year and should be considered high functioning now.
He is no longer non-verbal and never shuts up. I can't always understand what he trying to say which will cause a meltdown.
I have learned how to bring him back down when he's building.
I treat him like a normal kid because he gets mad if he thinks he's being treated special.

I couldn't ask for a sweeter boy to be my son.
He will get to sit in the blind this year for the first time.
He spots deer before me and then hollers " shoot it dadda, shoot it"

[Kevin]

I work with a guy in his 20s that is firmly on the spectrum. He’s the most brilliant individual I’ve ever worked with and also the least at times lol. Love the guy.

[Prairieboy]

Not sure how I missed this thread before... Keep in dreaming and fighting for your boy, you and your wife will always be his biggest advocate, push the school to give him the best education he can get and don't let them just pass him thru without challenging him to learn. My oldest son is 24 now, incredibly intelligent in his own ways, there isn't a video game of any kind that he can't master(that's his thing), socially he can be a little awkward depending on the situation. He has a hard time depressing fantasy and reality therefore he is still very dependent on myself and my wife for the major stuff. He didn't talk until he was 7 and I truly believe he began to talk them from all the prayer and a teacher that refused to respond to his grunting and pointing and made him use his words to get what he wanted(she taught us as his parents how to help him in so many ways that I can't begin to tell you how much it changed things for us and him). She taught him to time himself out whenever he would get overloaded with sensory issues or when trying to keep him in task. She set him up some pillows over in a corner of the classroom and he would go get there for a long as he needed to calm down (normally just a few minutes was enough)and then he would come back to continue whatever it was they were doing. He has truly been a blessing , a very challenging one at time but a blessing none the less lol. He is very sweet and kind hearted but brutally honest, as in if you can't handle the truth you better not ask his opinion because he's going to tell you exactly what he thinks... there's no changing that because he was taught not to lie and therefore he doesn't, about anything. Just keep fighting to get him all the help he deserves, my son graduated high school with honors attending mostly regular classes with some sped classes mixed in throughout the day. His girlfriend is also autistic and they have been dating right around 5 years, he is extremely protective of her and she Definitely runs things when they are together lol. I can't imagine having him any other way than how he is and feel so blessed to have been able to see how far he has came and how far he is going to go, with each year that passes his mind mature a little more so I'm still hopefully that he'll get to be mostly independent at some point. If not it's perfectly OK but we are still praying and holding out hope. Sorry it got a little long winded but I could go on for hours about this subject.

[Cazador]

My oldest, 26 now, was diagnosed as Asperger when he was 4 or 5. He had OT, PT, and speech therapy all through elementary and into intermediate school. When he was diagnosed the Dr’s told us that a lot of kids had gone undiagnosed just because in years past they didn’t know what it was or have a name for it. She even said her husband, who was a Dr too, was most likely on the spectrum but never diagnosed. Hell, I even think I have some of the tendencies. My son has grown into a fine young man if I say so myself. He has a serious girlfriend who is a Dr in OT and she asks all the time about the younger him. She will be good for him since she will know why he is who he is. I tell him often…. boy, don’t screw this up!

[Hogmauler]

Not sure how I missed this thread before... Keep in dreaming and fighting for your boy, you and your wife will always be his biggest advocate, push the school to give him the best education he can get and don't let them just pass him thru without challenging him to learn. My oldest son is 24 now, incredibly intelligent in his own ways, there isn't a video game of any kind that he can't master(that's his thing), socially he can be a little awkward depending on the situation. He has a hard time depressing fantasy and reality therefore he is still very dependent on myself and my wife for the major stuff. He didn't talk until he was 7 and I truly believe he began to talk them from all the prayer and a teacher that refused to respond to his grunting and pointing and made him use his words to get what he wanted(she taught us as his parents how to help him in so many ways that I can't begin to tell you how much it changed things for us and him). She taught him to time himself out whenever he would get overloaded with sensory issues or when trying to keep him in task. She set him up some pillows over in a corner of the classroom and he would go get there for a long as he needed to calm down (normally just a few minutes was enough)and then he would come back to continue whatever it was they were doing. He has truly been a blessing , a very challenging one at time but a blessing none the less lol. He is very sweet and kind hearted but brutally honest, as in if you can't handle the truth you better not ask his opinion because he's going to tell you exactly what he thinks... there's no changing that because he was taught not to lie and therefore he doesn't, about anything. Just keep fighting to get him all the help he deserves, my son graduated high school with honors attending mostly regular classes with some sped classes mixed in throughout the day. His girlfriend is also autistic and they have been dating right around 5 years, he is extremely protective of her and she Definitely runs things when they are together lol. I can't imagine having him any other way than how he is and feel so blessed to have been able to see how far he has came and how far he is going to go, with each year that passes his mind mature a little more so I'm still hopefully that he'll get to be mostly independent at some point. If not it's perfectly OK but we are still praying and holding out hope. Sorry it got a little long winded but I could go on for hours about this subject.

This is us almost verbatim. Then the stove fire occurred, he was treated for a collapsed lung. He was two at the time. They informed us that the medecine they use to treat collapsed lungs can cause seizures. I asked wht happens if he has a seizure and was told “ we stop giving him the medication “. Wrong answer.
In some people when the brain seizes it remembers how to do so and does it over and over again. Two weeks after discharge my wife went in his room and found him in a “post ictal state”. He had seized, vomited, and aspirated that into his lungs.
Hospital, life flight, 2.5 hour grand mal seizure. Doc came and told us “Your son’s brain has been damaged” No one has a two and a half grand mal seizure and comes away unscathed “.
My wife literally collapsed in my arms sobbing. It was all I could do to stand up.Fast forward through 16 years of epilepsy. Our son has successful brain surgery and stops the epilepsy; however, another challenge was coming.
In 2015, two years post surgery, our son develops a non genetic form of schizophrenia. He here’s voices.
We’re eight years into this now. He’s 29 and the most loving person I’ve ever met in my life. I couldn’t imagine life without him. Am I heartbroken? Of course. Do we struggle? Yes daily.
But let me tell all of you who are struggling. Your child is there. They may not be able to tell you so, but they are there. Despite all our son’s injuries there are times where he will say something so profound it floors you.
So don’t give up. Advocate for your child. Fight the school district when they are wrong. Been there, done that, got the T shirt! Lean on God and stand and fight and never ever, ever give up on God or your precious gift.

[Prairieboy]

This is us almost verbatim. Then the stove fire occurred, he was treated for a collapsed lung. He was two at the time. They informed us that the medecine they use to treat collapsed lungs can cause seizures. I asked wht happens if he has a seizure and was told “ we stop giving him the medication “. Wrong answer.
In some people when the brain seizes it remembers how to do so and does it over and over again. Two weeks after discharge my wife went in his room and found him in a “post ictal state”. He had seized, vomited, and aspirated that into his lungs.
Hospital, life flight, 2.5 hour grand mal seizure. Doc came and told us “Your son’s brain has been damaged” No one has a two and a half grand mal seizure and comes away unscathed “.
My wife literally collapsed in my arms sobbing. It was all I could do to stand up.Fast forward through 16 years of epilepsy. Our son has successful brain surgery and stops the epilepsy; however, another challenge was coming.
In 2015, two years post surgery, our son develops a non genetic form of schizophrenia. He here’s voices.
We’re eight years into this now. He’s 29 and the most loving person I’ve ever met in my life. I couldn’t imagine life without him. Am I heartbroken? Of course. Do we struggle? Yes daily.
But let me tell all of you who are struggling. Your child is there. They may not be able to tell you so, but they are there. Despite all our son’s injuries there are times where he will say something so profound it floors you.
So don’t give up. Advocate for your child. Fight the school district when they are wrong. Been there, done that, got the T shirt! Lean on God and stand and fight and never ever, ever give up on God or your precious gift.

The autism can be challenging and stressful but with time you learn how to deal with it. Seizures on the other hand are down right scary because there is literally nothing you can do besides watch and attempt to keep them from injuring themselves during the event. Our son began having seizures in the ninth grade. Long story short we moved that year to take care of my dad, changed schools, etc he didn't get along with the new sped teacher(ex English teacher), her personality clashed with his. Basically turned his world upside-down and the stress of everything combined caused the seizures. The first one he had, he walked into our bedroom eating a piece of a sandwich when it hit. My wife immediately went into panick mode as did my younger kids because he was having a seizure and choking on the sandwich(she lost a 4 year old daughter to meningitis when he was 18 months old). God was with all of us that day for sure! I know that because I am 6' 150lbs and he was 5'10" about 240lbs at the time and dead weight so being able to pick him up enough to perform a close enough hiemlec to dislodge the sandwich was nothing short of a miracle. Brain scans, doctors visits, tests,etc and no real answer why. No seizures for 8-10 months and then the second one hit when my wife told him she was going to be going to work and he would be staying with his older sister during the afternoon, overloaded him again with stress/ worry. We figured out then that it was anything that was very stressful to him that was triggering the seizures. He's on a low dose medication and thankfully has been seizure free for 8 years now. My son in law also has epilepsy and has also been seizure free for right around 7 years with a low dose medication and some natural meds. Seizures are scary, luckily my son in law can tell when his are coming on and we've worked out a key word and what he needs to do immediately when he feels it coming.

[Hogmauler]

Our son had what’s called an aura. It was a feeling he got in his stomach about 30-40 seconds before he’d seized. The most dangerous part is that people don’t breathe during a grand mal seizure and that’s what damaged his brain over and over and over again. Bless all of y’all I’m in the blind. It’s another great day above ground!