"Mom Seeking Infomation on Autisim"

K. I have two boys with autism age 5 and soon to be 8. I have many programs I can set you up with. Too many to type lol. If ya want send me a private messege and I'll give you my number. I know how hard it is when you first find out and I would've wish someone was there back then for me. Please feel free to send me a response I'd love to help. I'm in northern KY and if able we can get together and talk. Hopew to hear from ya.

Hi K.,
I know there is an national autism website-you can find it if you google it. I don't know where you are from, but if you are in Ohio..(we are by the Akron area) you can look up United disability services in the ph. book and contact them..they can help you get some information on people or contacts you might be seeking. Also, check you main library. Ours has support groups for EVERYTHING you could ever imagine. Good luck.

Please go to www.generationrescue.org! Great advice!

Your local county should have some programs that can help you out. I would try your local "Help Me Grow" or Children and Family First, they should be able to inform you of local groups or agencies. Also, the webcite www.autismspeaks.org is insightful.
Most importantly, the causes of Austism are not known and you should not feel quilty about anything. Also, alot of testing with young children with disabilities is not a bad thing, I have sat through testing and it included stacking blocks and singing songs. So, I wouldn't fret about the testing. Best of Luck!

Please DO NOT feel bad! My son was diagnosed at 2 1/2 with PDD which is Pervasive Developmental Disorder, it is also found on the Autism spectrum. I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter at the time and was scared to death. My husband works in the MRDD field and I am a teacher. Neither of us had ever even heard of it before. I immediately grabbed as many books and websites that I could and began a frantic search for answers. I would sit and cry everytime I read something, I found that after learning basic information I could use common sense to help my son. I enrolled him in speech and occupational therapy, got in touch with our local MRDD office, Help Me Grow and our local schools for ECSE programs and starting using their help.

I was very angry at first which then turned to self pity and then frustration. Once I realized that what we have is a gift, and that things could be so much worse, I put on my big girl panties and sucked it up. My son is now 4 1/2 and is very intellegent and happy. We still have daily struggles with meltdowns, but we deal with it and move one.

With a referral he should be able to start therapy, you should sit in on these if you can. I found it helpful to see some of the ways they worked with him, and I then carried over to home. Then get in contact with your local Disabilities organizations, they can help you financially some and refer you to other local organizations.

I hope this helps. I am still learning the ropes too! Hang in there.

try going to autismspeaks.org
there is information and a video. it seems pretty thorough.

I too have a stepson with a form of Autisim. I was lucky enough to come across some information from the Autisim Society of Northwest Ohio. They offer some seminars that may help with questions that you are having and will give you an opportunity to meet other parents of autistic children. Their website is www.asno.org Check them out for more information.

Hi K.,

I am sorry to hear that your son was diagnosed with Autism. 1 in 151 children are being diagnosed with this now. My friend Tamara Mariea,CCN & others believes it is caused by vaccinations! The mercury in them is causing the damage. There are some great websites to check out. Tamara is working with over 200 Autistic children in her practice in Tennessee...people are coming from India for her treatment program. Her website is:

www.internalbalance.com

also checkout:

www.generationrescue.com

If you have any questions I will be glad to help you find some answers. My friend Tamara is Awesome at what she is doing.

L.

K.,

I know a great source to help out - her name is Dr. Cheri Florance - she used to be based here in Columbus, but has since moved to New York City to be close to her children who have all gone to college in the city.

Anyway when her 3rd child was born he was born with the cord wrapped around his neck and diagnosed with severe autism. Dr. Florance (who was trained as a speech and hearing pathologist and a psychologist) knew that there was more to her child than just autism - she saw numerous signs that he was very intelligent - OK so long story short - she embarked with her older two children to bring him out of his head and into the world. She accomplished this - her son is now 21 years old and going to college in NYC. She calls her findings with her son the Maverick Syndrome and for the last 21 years she has been helping others who appear to be autistic and very visual based learners become more successful in learning and interacting with others.

Read her book "Maverick Mind : A Mother's Story of Solving the Mystery of her Unreachable,Unteachable, Silent Son" or go to her website http://www.CheriFlorance.com or http://www.ebrainlabs.com/video_view.do

I know all of this because I have been working with Dr. Florance for the past 6 years helping her put her practice online so that she could move to NYC to be with her kids and continue to do the work that she begun her in Columbus.

I hope that this helps.

Mel

Hello! I can understand your sense of denial... As a Mom we never want anything to be "wrong" with our children. I know when I was searching for answers for my son it was difficult. I tried everything I could to help him. I finally found him the right doctor and he was diagnosed with Sensory Integration. (which is a form of autism) My son is 6 today and I will tell you that in the past 6 or 7 mos he has made leaps and bounds by the help of therapy and medication. There is a wealth of information on the internet as well as at your local library. I work with special needs and I have worked with children with autism. I also know some other parents as well that have a children with autism. I think the best thing that you can do is to take baby steps.. try not to jump in and try to absorb every bit of info on autism. There is so many different forms of autism. Does your child attend a public school? Is their an IEP is there resources available to help him??
If you need anything just hollar.

Hi K.,

If you go to www.ocali.org you can find out a lot of information. They are located on the campus of the school for the blind on N. High St. in Columbus so they are a good source of local support also. Hope this helps.

L. Ml.

I have a friend who found out very early on that her son has autism. I was surprised at how well she took it. She didn't know anything about it either, so she went to the library and found any book she could about it. She sis learn a lot and she went online and used a search engine to find online groups that have to do with autism. She's done really well with it and if you wanted to I could ask her anything for you or get her to join the group. She also gets a lot of help from (I believe) the state and she has people come to her house and help with his learning and everything, it really is something you need professionals to help you with. Don't feel bad about anything that you did or didn't do just be there for your son and try not to get frustrated. I've seen a lot of what my friend had to go through first hand, and I know it's not easy, but somehow people find that strength either in themselves or through friends and family. Good luck and stay strong. Let me know if you need anything else or just want to talk.

www.autismspeaks.org

This site is dedicated ONLY to information about autism. I've read some of it and it seems like it has alot of great information.