Super Hearing

Ok , so some interesting things have happend. One is I am getting to know my son so well now and it makes me feel amazing. Some people say "I don't understand what he is saying" or "I can't figure him out". I don't think the point has ever been to figure him out . He is just who he is, just like the rest of us. But something interesting happend tonight. It was amazing, like finding out my child had a super power almost , except it was for real. I was helping him with his homework, at sort of a late hour becuse we had been sort of lazy during the day but anyway, the directions were for him to color the circles on the page and there were other shapes there as well. Square, heart and so on, and of course he was tempted to color those shapes but I had to tell him about how we somtimes have to follow directions even when we don't want too and he understood.

As he got to work (he is left handed by the way) coloring his circles, he started making an interesting and sort of loud sound. Kind of like a scratching sort of noise with his mouth and I asked him why he was doing that while he was coloring . His answer blew me away . He said thats the noise the crayon makes on the paper mommy. I was like wow ! I asked him if it was loud and he said oh yes, sometimes it hurts my ears. So my child has super sensitive hearing ! This is of course a new chapter for us, something for us to learn more about and work with and be excited about. Somehow I would like to help him make this something that can be helpful in his life and not harmful or overwhelming. I don't know if anyone ever really reads this blog but if you do and you have something to say that you think would be helpful, I would appreciate it . good night all.

So I have been really busy and haven't had much time to work on this blog.
So many new things have been happening. New things with my son and new things with me. After watching the movie in my last post I started paying mor attention to some of my little boys symptoms. It was astonishing how open my senses to him felt.

He has been showing signs of sensitive hearing. When we are walking down the street the sounds around us sometimes bother him. Large loud trucks. loud motorcyles, people yelling and fighting. So many of us can program ourselves to ignore these things in our every day life but my son is an exeption to this. He doesn't seem to want to program himself to ignore it or get use to it. I think personally he needs a more quiet outside environment. Trees, bees, and lotsa grass and green life aroud. He seems to flourish in such placs. So the bext step is to aquire some of that space and serenity. some more stable ground for the both of us. Oh and I wanted to mention, alot of people think that becuse a child has autism that they are not smart. SO WRONG ! And has been proven wrong over and over again. My child is so clever he surprises me and makes me so proud every day.

My mother had bout him a V smile game over the last holidays. A friend of mine got him a bunch of these games. At first he was frustrated with the strange contraption and he would sometimes throw fits becuse he was having a hard time understanding how to play. then all the sudden he puts on his srious face sits down and plays the game 2 hours yesturday all by himself ! And did such a great job and had so much fun ! I can't even express how proud I am for him to jump over that hurtle. Every time he falls I am here to catch him even if he gets a bit bruised in the ego but more and more he pushes for his independence. I am giving him more and more room to grow : )

Temple Grandin

This woman is an absolute blessing to our world. Through just the movie about her my perception of autism has changed. It helped me to understand better my son and why he does some of the things that he does. This movie could not have come into my life at a better time. Though my sons "condition" is not in the category of lower functioning autism. He is still very affected in his daily life and there for so are all of the people who interact with him and care about him.

In the movie Temple talks about spinning, rolling and being hugged by things other than another person to bring comfort to herself becuse of her autism.
I am lucky in the fast that my son has always been very cuddly with me. More so I think than most children. So he needs extra hugs if anything but, he does do other things to calm himself down. One of those things is talking to himself. He does this alot. Another is singing and laying on the floor. I sometimes find him out of his bad at night sleeping on the floor. I am not sure what it is about this act that bring him comfort but I think I know. I think he feels more grounded more secure when he lays on the floor.

I am a very sensitive person like he is. Sensitive to others emotions, sounds, music, lighting and most of all atmosphere. I am now thinking of ways that I can help him find more comfort. Becuse lately he has been very uncomfortable. Very agitated and seemingly stressed. I am honestly not sure why. But I intend to get to the bottom of it and help him in any way that I can.

when my son is agitated and or over stimulated his symptoms become very strong.
He will begin to yell, cry, and argue everything I say no matter what it is even if his argumentative words make no sense. For example I will say "Arthur please calm down it is just a stick and it broke we can get another one." "No!!" He will reply while throwing the broken peices to the ground and start to cry now this some may say is what most kids will do but he will take it a step farther. This will continue for hours until I can find something to get his mind off of the stick. An hour later I am still holding him and trying to get him to calm down and he is saying things like I dont want too, not my problem , this is not a test. And he is so upsett that it seems to interupt his thought procceses.

Now he does not always get this intense. Usually if he does it is becuse he is tired or really over stimuated. But lately as I have said he seems angry at the world and agitated. No worries though, He and I will get through this together .

good news

Well some good news, Arthur has been struggling with potty training and we just had a break through. He has not had to wear pull ups for over 2 days now. He made the choice on his own and I coudn't be happier.

He has not wet the bed or made any messes. We have been going through potty training since he was 2 an now that he is 4 I was really starting to get nervous about it . Mostly becuse he is in preschool and I was afraid the other children would give him a hard time about it. They didn't though.

He made many friends at school even though he had such a hard time communicating for a while. The other chidren adapted to him an his needs very well and this has been a key stepping stone in his progress.

my sons progress

Today was a good day for Arthur. He goes to pre school with all the other children and has been involved in a program called early intervention. Which I would recommend to any mother whom has a child with any kind of learning disability. Not to say that I believe my son to be disabled , quite the opposite.

Since being in this program Arthur has flourished ! I have seen so many big changes. The best thing about this program I think is that it allows him to remain in a regular classroom with just some help from the person from the program. Arthur is high functioning in the umbrella of autism. Most say that upon meeting him they don't see it. But once they are around him a little more the traits become more recognizable. But we will touch on that subject more later.

Today as I went to get him off of the school bus his bus driver told me something that made me incredibly happy. This has been Arthur's bus driver for a good many months and he has become a friend to us in how wonderfully he treats my son.
He said to me : I have to tell you , Arthur seems to be doing so much better. His vocabulary and speech, the way that he talks to me as I drive him to school. He asks questions and answers them pretty well too. I just thought you should know , I flt I needed to tell you that I have just seen so much progress in him. I was so happy I could have jumped straight up into the air and if I had a hat thrown it, just like Mary Tyler Moore. What wonderful news to see that others are noticing it too.

It took us a lot to get where we are and to be here and start seeing real results feels so good. I could cry, tears of joy and relief I assure you. I hugged Arthur after the news and planted a big kiss on one of his cherub cheeks. I told him what the bus driver had said and congratulated him. We had Doritos to celebrate. I wish all news could be this good.

Being lucky

I am a truly lucky woman. I gave birth to a 9lb 13oz healthy baby boy in 2005. I wanted him so much and he was a real blessing. Our situation financially was not ideal, but like many other brave mothers before me I decided to keep my baby and shower him with all the love of my being. Figure out the rest as we go. We were not destitute or homeless but we struggled. I was so lucky to have great friends and some family to support us emotionally and lend us financial help when they could. My sweet baby boy. This blog is about our life together day to day. My son I will call him Arthur for the sake of his privacy is an amazing 4 year old child now. He has grown so fast. Arthur was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old.

This blog is about my son and I and our lives together with autism. I will tell you things that perhaps you didn't know about autism. What it is like to get the diagnoses. The feelings , struggles,day to day life , our past stories and you can come on this journey with us. You are welcome to ask questions or give advice if you like.