I HAVEN'T CHECKED THIS BOARD FOR A LONG TIME

Hi: My name is DeeAnn and I checked today, and saw that there has been some activity on this board!! I wrote quite awhile ago, and there was very few people on here at that time. I have 17 and 15 year old sons with Autism. I also have a 13 year old daughter with PDD. My 17 yr old is a senior, and is working full time at opportunity village, in Clear Lake. He is currently on several waiting lists, for group homes after graduation. He is verbal and fairly high functioning. He does have mild MR as well. I just got guardianship of him, for when he's 18. My 15 yearold is more affected, also having mild MR. He's in 9th grade, and is in a special needs classroom, with a small amount of regular classroom time, with an associate. Both boys were diagnosed around 2 1/2 yrs of age. Barrett, 17, was potty trained at about 7 yrs, Jordan,15, at 11. I read some of your posts, and boy I've been there and done that!! The stories we could share!! I've felt like a zoo keeper at times!!! LOL I can say that things have settled down some, as the boys have gotten older. Still, all things most families take for granted, can be such monumental tasks for us!! I have walked out of stores more than once with screaming children, leaving behind full carts of groceries! I've endured the stares, and sometimes rude comments by people who have no clue. Unless you've parented a child with Autism, you definitely don't know what people like us go through. Still in all, I love my boys dearly! I'd love to swap"WAR STORIES" DeeAnn PS I'm almost 7 months postop and down 102 lbs

Hi DeeAnn! I haven't check the board in awhile either... Had my surgery on 10/21 so I'm just getting around to catching up on some message boards. We have 8yo twins.. our son has autism. He's in a special needs classroom and a regular 2nd grade classroom part of the day. Right now he's a handful... seems every fall we go through this. The change of season really affects him! Congrats on your fantastic weight loss! Hope to hear from you, and our other board members, soon... Cheryl

Hey Cheryl, I did not know that your son was Autistic. My daughter Morgan is Autistic. We have been having issues with her. She started her period at age 10. I thought we had a few more years before this but OH NO! Anyway, we gave her the depo shot and it has not stopped the cycles as we had hoped. It has actually made it worse. I have to take her to a Gyno to see what they can do to stop it. I have to take off work when she is on because she goes to daycare after school and they will kick her out if they find out about it. They will say they are not equiped to handle this situation. I teach BED kids, so my life is wild. I have now lost 54 pounds in 15 weeks! Yea! Me! Keep in touch and email me any time. Susan