The Faces of Autism Today

A long while back people always had assumed that Autism was this horrible thing.
They could depict the movie “Rain Man”, if they only could understand how much it has changed.
You could walk past a High Functioning Autistic person tomorrow and not know.
I had always knew the word Autism but never understood what it was I can now tell you the story of my
Sons and their own personal walk with Autism.

Vinny was born on April 16th 1998 weighing 6lbs. 9ounces 19 inches. He was born 5 weeks early, but he was healthy. His bilrubin count was a little high as a result his skin and eyes were a little yellow but he was able to go home.

The first year of Vinny’s life I knew he was fussy, and cried, I knew he hated his crib, and a lot of sudden motions…I knew he liked to sleep with a lock of my hair in his hand and would get such a grip on me I could not escape him…if I were to remove my hair he would wake up and go crazy in a crying fit. What I did not know a lot of this was not routine, and should have been addressed I believed in my naive new mom brain that every baby was probably like this.

As Vinny got older it got worse he was very attached to me…not a problem for me I loved him so much, the fact that I had given birth to a daughter right after he turned one made it difficult for my daughter in the toddler years.

His Tantrums were almost all the time, and I had no idea what was wrong he would wake up this way and if he woke up in a relatives house it was really bad he would be disoriented and he would go stiff throw himself down and punch me if I tried to console him let alone anyone who tried.

At 3 years of age we had a 2 year old daughter, and a new born daughter. The pediatrician had suspected that Vinny had a speech delay…I had no clue about this because my 3 year old had a vocabulary the size of an adult. His evaluation came back that his speech was highly intelligible. At this time Vinny was also developing other symptoms he hated water on his face, head and baths became nightmares I had to come up with so many ways to work around it so that I made it easier and comfortable for him. The sound issue too One day I was washing dishes in the kitchen and he walked in and grabbed his ears screaming make it stop, make it stop as soon as I turned off the water he was fine, so I had to buy him ear plugs because the baby crying got the same reaction from him.

I expressed my concern to his doctor and she sent him for audio logic testing all that they said was he has hypersensitivity to sound and to buy him ear plugs, of course I already did this.

Vinny had problems falling asleep, making choices in a store, throwing frequent public tantrums, fear of the playground equipment, bike riding, school buses, other children and a long history of picky eating, and separation anxiety.

I noticed he did better with routines and scheduled things if it stayed the same it was okay if it changed it was a tantrum. Going to school tantrums just to get him on the bus was heartbreaking he would scream and run away, one day he ran into a gas station and was in danger but the principal was on the bus for him so she came off and the police had to sneak up behind him and grab him and then they had to ride in a school security car watching him go trough this I felt helpless and guilty like maybe I did something wrong.

No one ever had answers and it took almost 8 years for my discovery of Autism and actually telling the doctor I need to have him checked for it…sure I have heard of Autism, honestly I just knew nothing about it.

Vinny was referred to a neurologist who thought he had ADHD…but further testing at the schools evaluation and the information I provided and my concerns showed he is a High functioning Autistic.

What have I learned:

Don’t be afraid to express your concerns immediately to a doctor, don’t take no for an answer…or OK I’ll look into it.

Always keep checking in with all of the school staff, doctor’s, specialists don’t wait for them to call you it may never happen.

My number one rule….LISTEN TO YOUR CHILD…Tears, tantrums, fears…all the time are not ordinary. They can not express themselves fully even when they are five because Autism is a communication disorder too.

Vinny is going to be 9 this April and is seen to everyone as quiet, and shy. He loves the computer, playstation, and yu-gi-oh cards. He loves wrestling and can remember all their stats. He is very smart and loves science and math. He is in a mainstream school this year he has been going in the classroom without separation anxiety. He receives special ed for an hour a day in an 8:1 ratio, and gets OT 2x a week. He has a lot of children that like him but he prefers to socialize with a handful of kids who he has known since first grade. Vinny does not like people to look at him much especially after school he can easily have a meltdown over something simple because a school day is very overwhelming for him but we know him and his routine and we have learned to follow his lead and give him space.

When Matthew started crawling I started realizing he would drag a leg, and little things his arms developed a problem where the joint at the elbow would come displaced very easily, the doctor’s had to teach us how to fix the problem by simply bending his arm up to the shoulder and holding it in place. We now know he is double jointed. He also was not talking by 18 months he drooled a lot and would keep his mouth closed and talk through his teeth, he used to pull me around the house desperately trying to communicate with me and tell me what he wanted.

Sometimes he would get these really bad fits were he would smack me very hard in the face with all of his might, or move the furniture around to climb in the window and just sit there like a cat. He hated holding our hand outside and still does, and he was easily frustrated. I always sang to all of my children to soothe them but he would act like my voice pained him, and even my affection.

As time started to pass we realized something was really wrong and they told me he may dart into the street, and he will have no sense of danger but they could not diagnose him until age 3.

He continually got ear infections and his new doctor told me he was special, his response to touch was different….but still no answers.

It took his behavior and speech to finally that really made me pursue this, I finally now got a diagnosis for Matthew ….he was evaluated 4 times.

Matthew is 4 years old and has “Aspergers Syndrome” (mildly Autistic) He also has Low muscle tone, speech delay.

Matthew now is in a mainstream Pre-K class until his paperwork is complete but will be moved to a self-contained or inclusion class, that he will receive sensory therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, ABA, and psychotherapy.

Here is the face of Autism NO JOY, NO REACTION, it’s all gone sometimes you can get that smile out of him but smiles come rare so do hugs and kisses.

It feels like sometimes someone came in the middle of the night and robbed us.