Dear Y'all,
As the month of April comes to a close I want to spread some facts about Autism. A lot of wrong information is out there. I recommend searching out real websites that hold facts. This doesn't include someones blog with their opinion. Opinions or experiences no matter if their child or children have autism doesn't make it real or factual. Its just that, an opinion or an experience. www.austismspeaks.org and www.autism-society.org are some good website for facts on autism.
Austism rarely comes as a single diagnosis. This is where a lot of the confusion lies. The definition I like of Autism is on the Autism Society website under the heading "What is Autism?" it states: "
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disability; signs typically appear during early childhood and affect a person’s ability to communicate, and interact with others. ASD is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a “spectrum condition” that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees. There is no known single cause of autism, but increased awareness and early diagnosis/intervention and access to appropriate services/supports lead to significantly improved outcomes."
Some facts I would like to put out there are this:
1. You cannot "see" Autism in someones physical appearance.
2. Not all Autism cases will have sensory issues (i.e.excessive clapping hands, sudden loud outbursts, etc) but most do have sensory issues. This is something commonly found in lower functioning Autism cases. Luke is high functioning and does not have any visual sensory issues.
3. Autism children are 'retarded' and uneducated or stupid is a huge misconception. Calling someone with Autism retarded is not only uneducated and stupid sounding this is also like calling someone (excuse the swearing but its true) an ass-hole or such derogatory name. High function autism cases actually shows most of them are extremely intelligent or on the genius side of I.Q.
4. Not all Autism cases have children who are violent, but some do. This is due to a sensory overload and the output is violent behavior. View it as them having their nervous system on the outside of their skin and not the inside. They are more sensitive then most. Luke is naturally non-violent but if pushed he will act out as a sensory overload because he is overwhelmed and been pushed to his limit. To be fair this has happened only maybe twice that I know of for sure and that was due to a bully in school. His most common sensory overload output is crying and shaking. Most people view it as a tantrum, but let me be very clear. It is a melt down. I have had people say just spank him or put him in a time out it will stop. No, this is very untrue. Experts have shown that is not helpful and actually damaging to child with autism. This area I could go into a lengthy explanation onto how we discipline Luke but I'm going to end it here because thats individual to each family.
Luke case is HF ASD, the long version of that is High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (in olden days people called this Asperger Syndrome but that classification no longer accurate) he also has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He also has a mathematics learning disorder and reading/comprehension learning disorder. In his school he is in a regular classroom but he is taken out regularly for addition helps in these areas as stated in his I.E.P. If you don't know what an I.E.P its basically an outline stating that various medical personal saying he requires certain classroom accommodations to be able to learn. This is basically by law, the school has to accommodate Luke in these areas, or risk serious penalties. They're more to his I.E.P but its all technicalities for testing, breaks, etc.
According to a recent study done by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention stated out of 68 births in the United States 1 will have Autism. To make it more complicated boys are 1 in 54 births... The Autism Society website continues its explanation, "
Some of the behaviors associated with autism include delayed learning of language; difficulty making eye contact or holding a conversation; difficulty with executive functioning, which relates to reasoning and planning; narrow, intense interests; poor motor skills’ and sensory sensitivities. Again, a person on the spectrum might follow many of these behaviors or just a few, or many others besides. The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is applied based on analysis of all behaviors and their severity."
This is about all that I want to say. I have two pictures I am adding that can help you understand Luke better and better communicate with him. These images are ones I found on Pinterest that I like and are not originally made by me. I love the Autism Awareness puzzle because Luke actually really likes puzzles and putting them together.
Autism Awareness
*Accept, Understand, Love*
*Different, not less*
Love Y'all,
S
