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Post by momofautistic on May 4, 2004 11:35:33 GMT -5
Hi my name is Cheri Phillips, I am 35 yrs old, married and have 3 boy's age's 4, 6 and 16 and live in California. My 6 yr old son Jimmy was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder at the age of 4 1/2. He was my only girl thingyl birth and was delivered with the aid of vacuum extraction and was kept in the hospitol for 10 days for an infection believed to be caused from my recent yeast infection. He seemed like a normal but caulicy baby and very attractive but looking back on Jimmy's devolpment there were some mild symptom's such as tapping his head on his crib mattress to fall asleep and loved to spin in circles in his walker however at the time I wasn't aware of the symptoms of autism or even knew what autism was and it had been 10 years between my first son and Jimmy so i couldn't really remember if these things were normal or not. Thanks to the internet i was able to do a little research starting with my first possible suspition of ADHD and concluding that it was more like autism i was then convinced enough to go have him evaluated so that he could get the help he needed.He has been in special education for over a year which has helped and has just been approved for inland regional services so hopefully soon he will be recieving additional speech theropy and maybe behavioral modifaction.
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Post by Imahoot on Jul 30, 2004 14:32:34 GMT -5
Hi my name is Tina and we also get services in the Inland Empire. My son is almost three and we are currently getting evaluated by dr's to see if my son is on the spectrum. Some say yes and some say no. My son has made major improvements with ABA therapy.
I am looking for other parents that know what this is all about and hopefully share my info if anyone can use it.
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Post by tassie37 on Oct 31, 2005 0:44:51 GMT -5
 Hi my name is Tracy, I live in Tasmania Australia with my husband Martin and our gorgeous 5 1/2 yr old son Matthew. I also have 3 older girls from a previous marriage Amy & Caitlin (15yr old twins) and Nikita (18yrs). Matthew was diagnosed with Autism at 3 1/2 so we've had 2 yrs to go through all the what if's, if only's, anger and saddness as well as the joys of milestones achieved. Matthew was born in Canada after a relatively "normal" labour and delivery, he got stuck on my cervix for a few hours and was born with a lovely bruise on the top of his head and he was also born face up rather than down. We (and the hospital staff too!!) were stunned at the fact that he weighed 6lbs 14oz but the placenta weighed 12lbs!!! He needed oxygen therapy for a couple of hours after he was born but we took him home when he was 5 hrs old and things went to plan for the first 12 months. He crawled, walked and started babbling at around the right times but his speech never developed from the babble but we didn't worry as everyone said that boys developed a bit slower than girls and I had an uncle that didn't talk till he was 4... and so the denial goes on and on!! LOL Looking back there were lots more signs, like him lining all his toys up, us praying that the traffic lights would either change or stay green as we approached them as he would scream if the car stopped moving. There was also the extreme fussiness about food.... for almost a year he lived on nothing but Macaroni and cheese and nutrigrain bars and they could only be a certain flavour!! He now has a slightly larger menu but still very fussy... sandwiches can't have any of the filling "hanging out" of the bread, crusts can't be jagged..etc.. etc.. KitKats and Chips are high on the list of favoured foods and Ice Cream (we've just changed it to soy ice cream which he loves) He has started Kindergarten and it has basically been the year from hell, he hates going so much that it is such a battle to get him even into the car, screaming, kicking, hitting whatever... when we finally get him into the car he settles and then we have the screaming again as we go into the school but he does settle within an hour or so of school starting. We've had great staff at school and they try to help as much as they can but not much helps. Next year we are hoping may be different as he will be going 5 days a week instead of 2 and hopefully it will become much more of a routine for him that he will cope better... we are also sending him to an autism specific school for 2 days and to the main stream school for 3 days of the week so hopefully between the two schools we'll find some help!! Matthew is basically toilet trained during the day, wets the bed at night but can't wear pull ups or nappies as he hates anything that stops at the top of the leg (he wears boxers), his speech is at the level of a 2 1/2 yr old but he can mostly tell us what he wants etc... so has improved!! He sleeps well when he goes to sleep (generally between midnight and 2am) but seems to need about 12hrs which doesn't work well with school schedules!! Anyway I've gone on forever here it seems... I'm so glad to have found this site and look forward to getting to know you all!!
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Post by momofautistic on Oct 31, 2005 16:28:11 GMT -5
Tracy, First let me welcome you to the group. Thank you so much not only for sharing your story because it reminds us that were not alone and that someone does know what were going through but also to remind me of the progress that Jimmy has made now that i look back. I think we had the most sucess in progress once jimmy was going to school full time. Cheri  |
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Post by melissa on Nov 1, 2005 21:35:36 GMT -5
Hello! Your story is so fimmilar, My son wasn't diagnosed untill after 3, even the birth part, labor was fairly simple untill after an hour of pushing and the doctor having to reposition his head on my cervix did he finaly come out with a bruise on the right of his head and he needed alittle oxygen but was fine and we went home same day. Drs. said Tell (my sons name) was just a little slow, he is a boy, he will catch up. He will for the first years of his life noodles and sandwiches was the only food. And we spent most of his infant days in the shower or driving in the car. He hates it when we drop him off at school. Crazy how you can feel so alone in the world with your child, but see that some one across the world has almost the exact issues. I must say it is quite commorting. I have a solution to the hating going to school thing that worked great for my son. I found out that no matter how close we was to the location of his school they had to provide bus services to us if he was getting the special services through the school. So, I tried the bus, which once it became routine for it to pick him up in the mornings he became okay with getting on it. He gets on the bus, and since the issue with seperating from me isn't an option when he gets to the school he goes to his class with no problem. On the days we wake up late or miss the bus though we go through the fit of being at school all over again. The bus realy saves the stress on both of us. Tell used to not sleep untill after 2 am also, and I started giving him mellatonin 30 min. before a more reasonable bed time, and after a month of it I was able to slowlly quit giving it to him and it seemed to re-establish his sleeping schedule. I know that mellatonin and other medications don't work for every one, but it is one that worked for us. Any ways I have to go Tell just got out of the shower and now is running aroud the house naked and it seems to be freaking his 4 yr old sister out |
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Post by momofautistic on Nov 2, 2005 20:50:49 GMT -5
Melissa, Jimmy is the same way about riding the bus. He gets very angry when we have to take him.
cheri
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Post by lmarks on Nov 3, 2005 6:00:04 GMT -5
Melissa,
I just have to tell you it was great to see that my daughter is not the only one who freaks out when her brother runs around naked. My son loves the shower and he's so happy when he gets out he won't stay still! ;D
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baughman4netzeronet
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Post by baughman4netzeronet on Nov 4, 2005 2:13:18 GMT -5
Yes. Tell just loves taking showers, but Alayna freeks!!!!! out, but Tell just laughs and runs sooo fast, laughing, shaking his hands, yelling, sometimes it seems like he is just bouncing off the walls he gets so happy.  |
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Post by Melissa Bishop on Jan 4, 2008 13:46:34 GMT -5
Hi Cheri, My name is Melissa Bishop. I have recently authored a child-parent organizer called By the Book: How to Take Care of My Kids. A friend of mine (he's a master teacher for the local special education district in St. Louis) looked through the book and mentioned that it would be especially helpful for parents of children with autism, Aspberger's and Down's Syndrome. Would you mind checking out our website and letting me know what you think? You can find it at: www.bythebookkids.com You may contact me at melissa@karmelpublishing.com Thank you. Sincerely, Melissa Bishop |
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