Autism Is Ok - Welcome to my world Autism Is Ok

Mom Needs Help With Autistic Teenage Daughter

by Pat on Dec 20, 2008 at 11:11 AM Filed in Autism and Stress | Parenting Autistic Children | Stories from Readers

Does anyone having any suggestions for helping parents dealing with high functioning autistic preteen (female, my daughter) who is going through puberty and dealing with emotions, her period, acne, dieting because she feels fat, and just starting to notice boys--she is 14 years old. She wants to be treated more adult like but when she doesn't get her way....she acts like a two year old....Yelling, howling, and acts like I am killing her literally....a wounded animal especially when she is ready to start her period. She has had some bad experience with her period...severe leg and back pains to the point of crying and howling uncontrollable...pain meds don't work well and she blames me or the doctor..."I am mean to her and I don't love her....when they don't work..."

She throws those same words when I have to make her do her homework over or start writing a report or essay she needs to do. "I am evil and so is school...."but she is my super smart student...she feels she doesn't need to do all of that homework...she understands it so why do teachers make you do some much useless stuff????

There are times I can get through to her and she understands, but then, she forgets and asks me again...I have to repeat it so many times....I sometimes snap and start yelling and I don't want to but I get tired and I have two other children who also need me...her brother is o.k.--no diagnosis and her little sister who is has a speech problem and is in special ed preschool. I know God does give us more than we can handle, but at times I just want to slap her and make her shut up, but then I stop and think about when they tested her back in 1998 and called her retarded and I said to myself--SHE IS NOT RETARDED AND I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU SHE ISN'T.

And she showed them....I was very fortunate to find a daycare with a wonderful and so helpful lady who took in children with disabilities and didn't charge extra....she was sent by God to help me with Katy and Katy blossomed there.....I tell her that she took my little rose bud that didn't want to bloom and gave it the needed nourishment and sunlight that it needed and she opened up and became this beautiful rose flower. Now, I can't get Katy to stop talking because I also had asked God to make my Katy talk. What I forgot to ask was that he give us about a 20 min to 1 hour break in between...ha, ha...

Anyway, I hope someone has some suggestions because she also has trouble at school...kids saying mean and nasty words to each other and to teachers behind their backs and she doesn't like it and worries about H.S. and even college....afraid to go...
Help!!

Currently rated 5.0 by 1 people

  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags: , , , ,

Parents Strike Back at Clueless Columnist about Autism

by Pat on Dec 17, 2008 at 7:10 PM Filed in Stories from Readers

Here is a story that went into the Naples news and many newspapers throughout the country because Thomas Sowell printed a very negative story about autisim.

’Welcome to my world’

Editor, Daily News:

I guess columnist Thomas Sowell has never lived with a child with autism.

Welcome to my world.

My child was 14 months old and developing normally. Then he started to go backwards — stopped eating, stopped talking (yes, he had more than 15 words) and his face went blank. He started head-banging, having tantrums that two adults could not control.

Our pediatrician — at 18 months — said, don’t worry about it until he is 2½.

Well, we were the lucky ones and our pediatrician moved away. At our son’s 2-year-old checkup with a new doctor, she just listened, not sure what it was, but sent him to speech and occupational therapy, and there is were the help started.

No one said the word “autism.” They just worked with our child. We then found Eden Florida, which is an autism school. Our son is in the early intervention program, which is privately funded. Our son has been in therapy five days a week and it is working!

There is no funding for children with autism until the age of 5, and that is after doing one year in the public school system. After four trips to the Dan Marino Center and an overnight stay at the Broward Children’s Hospital for testing, our son was diagnosed with autism at 33 months. Yes it was heartbreaking, but at least we understand what is going on with him.

Our child will be three years old in December.

Sowell says therapy is abusive; not wanting to stop the head-banging and tantrums is abusive. Ignoring a child not communicating is abusive.

Therapy has not only taught our child but has taught us. I, as a parent, was doing everything wrong. Autism is an unknown disorder and we are learning every day how to teach our children.

My child is a gift that I would never give back, but I do need help, and therapy is the only proven way to help children with autism.

We cannot ignore a neurological disorder that is affecting one in 160 children.

Rosanne Hogle / Naples

Currently rated 5.0 by 2 people

  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags: , , ,

Content © 2008, AutismIsOK.com. All Rights Reserved.Website Development by 1011 Web Solutions