Anyone out there?

I happened on this site, and saw there were no postings, so I'll go first.! I have two sons, ages 16and 14, with autism and mild mr. They are both verbal and fairly high functioning. The oldest, Barry, is higher functioning than his brother, Jordan. The stories I could tell about thr last 14 years!!!!! We have been fortunate, to have a great school system,Clear Lake, and a wonderful AEA staff!!! Anyone want to swap "war" stories??? DeeAnn R. Clear Lake

Hi DeeAnn, I just happened to find this by browsing and saw your post..... I have 3 children. My oldest has autism ( high functioning) and ADHD. He is very clever acedemically, however his social skills need some work. He is now 11. I also have another boy who is 10 and is diag. ADHD with ODD. My daughter is 8 and "normal". They are all great kids, but somedays I find my patience wearing very thin. I would love to swap stories. Would esp. like to hear how your boys are doing in their adolescent years as it won't be long before my boys are crossing that bridge. Are your boys in mainstream classes, get resource help? Would love to hear from you.... Sherri~

Hi! I have twin 7 year old boys with varying degrees of autism. Corey, the oldest twin is the most severe but he is very verbal and pretty much high functioning other than with some social situations. He is in a LIFE class (special education-self contained classroom) and is mainstreamed into a couple of classes during the day. His brother, Dillon, is very, very mild and has been is regular ed classes since last year. I also have a 3 year old daughter who has no developmental problems (other than being 3 going on 25!). I've tried going to some autism support groups but can't seem to even find time to go to those. Does anyone find them helpful? Should I be MAKING time to participate? Kim Havanis-Campbell Garland, Texas Open RNY 9/15/03 312/255

Hi, Deeann! I have a son who will be 17 on Saturday with autism. He's go a genius I.Q., extraordinary problem solving skills, but the emotional age of a preschooler. His communication skills are like a 2 year old. I've been told by a doctor who had worked with autistic children for over 20 years that my son has the most challenging mix of ability and disability he'd ever encountered and in the same breath said he prayed for me daily. It certainly has been interesting, to say the least. Right now he goes to a wonderful school and has a great teacher. Sarasota is one of the leading school systems for autism. I don't know how you manage with two. I have a 19 year old who does not have autism and it's hard enough dealing with him. He's a great kid and loves his brother, but he does tend to provoke his brother quite a bit. I call it "bear poking". Plus I've had to deal with a lot of,"How come I have to do this and HE doesn't?" It's been a real challenge trying to deal fairly with both according to their unique characters. How do you handle things like that? Debbie Sarasota

I too have a son with Autism/MR. He is 27 years old and resides at a facility about 45 minutes from home. He is non-verbal and still in diapers at night. I have seen just about anything and everything, although my son was so-o-o easy. He started in the school system when he was three years old and fed himself for the first time. I feel so blessed to have him and always, always thought he would stay at home with my husband and me. However, three years ago, he was found to have hemmoroids and had to have surgery after treatment that proved to be unsuccessful. How I dreaded that. He had four hemmorids!! I don't know if you have had any experience with meds, but my son reacts totally opposite when given something for pain. After his surgery...( total nightmare for him and us) and he came home from the hospital, we had to eventually put him in the hospital again for pain management. Here they gave him morphine just so he wouldn't get out of bed or rip out his IV. Not understanding all that was happening to him, and always being healthy,the only thing for him to do was lash out...AND HE DID !! At this point in his life, it was time for us to make a decision we both thought we'd never have to make..and I have cried so much and missed his little noises and all the things he used to do. But we did what was best for him. He now has round the clock care and goes to a workshop everyday and goes on fun outings. We go and see him anytime we want and bring him home frequently. To anyone who has a child/children with autism, I commend you for your strength and ability to care for them. I was always told God gave children like ours to special people and now I can say I believe this. I know how much I did for him, and love him. I would do it all over again because it has made me a much better person. On the funny side, he pulled an elderly ladies wig off while standing in line at Golden Corral!! He has this thing of tugging on hair, especially women. She was so nice, but I thought I would die!! My mother was with me and after we got our food and got him fed (he was starving,) he was fine and mother and I just LOAO!! How funny was that? Take care and good luck to you!

I have a 17 year old son with Aspergers Syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism. He was diagnosed at 12. Great kid. He's extremely smart and very verbal. But zippo in the social skills and insight area. He is graduating high school a year early in may.