World Autism Awareness Day #AutismAwareness

Posted April 2, 2014 by Michelle in Life off the Blog / 10 Comments

autismday

I know each month is a time to raise awareness about some special cause and everyone always has one they tend to back more then others. I have a few I like to raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis for my Husband and Autism for my son.

So lets Light it up blue this Month
for my son and those affected with Autism
and help raise Awareness that different isn’t a bad thing!

Blue

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old.[2] Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood.[3] It is one of three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs), the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (commonly abbreviated as PDD-NOS), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or Asperger syndrome are not met. via Wikipedia

It’s like a mother just knows when something isn’t right. At 6 months old I felt that my son just wasn’t doing things other kids would do but I kept telling myself all kids are different. For some reason I just kept getting the feeling I was missing something and I asked the doctor but he kept brushing me off. A mother knows, he wouldn’t make eye contact, he would disappear in his rooms for hours never come back to find us, he would line up anything and everything and wasn’t talking only making noises. We finally realized something wasn’t right when we were at a party and a balloon popped causing all the kids to stop and look, some were crying other just looked surprised but not Ryan he just kept playing like nothing had happened. My sister had Early Intervention for my nephew, which is a state program that comes to help a child in home with speech or fine motor skills. I thought maybe I should call them since I figured him not talking was an issue.

The ladies came to evaluate him and see if he qualified for the program. It was the first time in my life I never wanted to be right. The evaluator said that it might be in our best interested to have him tested for Autism and he would require services from the state. He had 4 hours of developmental therapy and 2 hours of Occupational Therapy. He hated it but it worked, He got a diagnosis of Autism in November of that year, Actually he is on the spectrum, PDD-NOS (pervasive-developmental disorder not otherwise specified) meaning he shows most but not all signs of autism, he also had sensory integration disorder, pragmatic language and severe behavioral problems. It’s a lot to take in but Early Intervention helped him so much, until he had to go to school that was when the real fight started.

Now I want to go into detail about the school but at this point it’s in the past but it was one hell of a fight and I was ruthless, even now they dread when I call on the phone about my Ryan πŸ™‚ I like it that way. Always the supervillian never the hero when it comes to the school (at least to my son I am a hero) they are just jerks and for 3 years denied services only until he was suspended in Kindergarten (yes kindergarten) did they finally out source him (he goes to another school out of district) The school he goes to is wonderful and have helped him so much. He still has his issues every now and again but they are few and far between. This adventure has been a huge fight and I plan to fight with him as long as he needs me to.

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My son has taught me more about life then I could have taught him. He sees the world differently and has shown me to open my eyes and see it the same way. He is an amazing kid and so very funny, I am so proud of him everyday and Thank the heavens that god choice him to be my son. I love you Ryan with all my heart and soul and I know whatever you plan to do you can do anything πŸ™‚

I have added a few books that have been great resources for me when I was going through the beginning stages of autism and this information helped me. I also added Stim a book I just recently read and Ryan’s favorite book on Autism, Chicken Boy, we read it often and it was the bridge that helped me explain to Ryan what he has and why things are different for him.

Clicking on the books with take you to the goodreads synopsis.

This is an adventure that Ryan and I will be on for a while and like I said I plan to be with him every step of the way (as long as we wants me to be)

Thank you so much for stopping by and please take a moment to help raise Awareness of Autism

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Please ignore all spelling errors that I may have missed since I stinky-dinky-doo at spelling and spell check hates me…thank you πŸ™‚

About Michelle

I am a mom to two pretty amazing kids, four pretty cute fluffy children and a wife to one adorable husband. I am a gamer, reader and a graphic designer with 20 years experience. I recently started my own business "Limabean Designs" to help other bloggers, authors and anyone else create amazing things that they would be proud to show off. I have been reading since forever and started blogging because I love sharing all the awesome books this world has to offer. I am also the co-host for the COYER Challenge, Reading Assignment Challenge and the Bookish Resolutions Challenge. I try to create a warm welcoming environment on my blog where authors, readers, and bloggers will have a great time. Let’s chat books, games, blogging, recipes, design, or family over a cup of coffee and a glass of wine!

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10 responses to “World Autism Awareness Day #AutismAwareness

  1. Thanks for introducing us to Ryan. I’m someone who has no experience of Autism whatsoever, and I think fiction books have an important role to play to tell us ‘how it is in a real life setting’. I’m not a big fan of movies featuring any kind of ‘different-ness’ because they are, of course, always played by actors pretending to be.

    Peggy recently posted: Sunday Post #11 06th April
    • Yes I don’t really go by Movie version however Temple Graden (I spelled that wrong) was a fantastic movie about her life and she has done so much for Autstic people. The worst movies they have with an autistic kid in it is There’s something about Mary, it’s awful (I understand it’s a comedy but it’s bad)

  2. Although I studied psychology I actually know very little about Autism. I majored in economic and consumer psychology, so I didn’t follow any clinical psychology course after the second year. After reading your post I actually went to wikipedia and read the articles about the three autism spectrum disorders (I really hate that term disorder, makes it sound so negative).

    I agree that people should be more knowlegdeable about things like this and that you shouldn’t judge people’s behavior until you know why they act a certain way.

    It sounds like you’re a great mom and do your best to help your child :).
    I especially like this sentence from your post: “My son has taught me more about life then I could have taught him. He sees the world differently and has shown me to open my eyes and see it the same way.” That’s a beautifull outlook to have πŸ™‚

  3. I have a “Ryan”, too!!! Except mine is named Jake!!! And he is freaking fantabulous but I’m sure Ryan is just as fabulous, too!!!! Give him a bear hug from me!

    I didn’t do a post this year but last year I did one to coincide with the Mental Awareness Giveaway hop.

    Our story is almost exactly like yours, except Jake made no sounds early and it was because his hearing was bad. EarlyOn program started in school district at 2 years old, we added our own private OT and speech, he was cleared for mainstream Kindergarten and all hell broke loose. Other parents labeled Jake a “bully”! Worst time of my life! Jake was finally assigned a parapro (for his own protection from the other kids and parents) and in first grade he excelled. Starting this year, a third new parapro, no one knows anything about autism and 28 kids in his classroom, 18 of which are boys. His “cool-down” area is outside in the hall (nothing says you’re in trouble more than going out in the hall).

    So we pulled him and I homeschool him using K12 online school (I’m switching him to Connections Academy for next year, though). He goes to the YMCA once a week for the homeschool gym class. He is so stinking smart but he sucks at social situations πŸ˜‰ He’s PDD-NOS, too.

    Online school still provides support for his IEP, too! They have to. He has a tough time doing it over the computer but he’s adapting. That’s the main reason why I’m switching to Connections. K12’s special Ed isn’t as good as Connections. I have a friend who’s son has an IEP and Connections does a fab job with him.

    OMG!!! I’ve just gone on and on and on… Sorry!!! I’m on Facebook if you ever need help or an ear!!!!!! I’m personally struggling with the fact that kids in the neighborhood are just mean and don’t take the time to understand Jake or be his friend. Kids are brats!!! Jake says “hi” and they say nothing!! Who taught these kids manners????

    I’ll stop….

    πŸ˜€

    • doh! Kristin Rash Clifton in Port Huron (or Fort Gratiot?) Michigan is my Facebook handle πŸ˜‰

      Kristin recently posted:
    • I love hearing stories about parents who work hard to get the help their kids need. I have thought about home school but I have to work and can’t afford to be home otherwise I would have home schooled both my kids. The school that Ryan is in is so helpful and they have done so much for him and plan to keep him for as long as they can. He will eventually be mainstreamed but that scares me, he is very quirky (as I like to call it) I worry kids wont understand. I really wonder what parents teach their kids. I think that’s why raising awareness not only to adult but to kids and educating them on what to tell their kids. Not everyone is going to like everyone else but most kids don’t even give him a chance. I will send you over a friend request on FB πŸ™‚ I think our sons would be awesome friends!!!

      I always say I am lucky to have him and completely blessed and I wouldn’t change him for the world. He a love bug and I will give him a huge bear hug for you. He loves hugs, no kiss only hugs πŸ™‚ Thank you so much for stopping by, it’s nice to hear positive/similar stories. oxox

  4. I feel like I know Ryan, you talk about him so much and he’s obviously a sweet boy. And it sounds to me like he’s doing fantastic (isn’t Julia more work? LOL), I’m sure in no small part to your dedication. So many of the schools are just horrible when it comes to helping children like Ryan – they assume different means they have a free pass to not do what the kids need. Education is one of my soap box issues, though, so I’ll stop there. Cheers Ryan!

    • OMG don’t get me started on Julia lol she’s a full time job πŸ˜‰ you can rant at me all day about it but we will save it for our next phone conversation! Ryan is a blessing, he makes my life so much more and he is amazing!