Posted: August 13 2005 at 10:09pm | IP Logged

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

When your ready, please post a quick introduction and explain how autism/pdd affects you. Please check out the links in the newbies thread and feel free to post questions that you may still have in a new thread. We look foward to to getting to know you better!

Posted: August 14 2005 at 5:18am | IP Logged

Hi everyone!  I'm so excited to have found this board - my name is Melanie and I have a daughter who is 10 with mild PDD-NOS.  It affects every moment of life.  You are always thinking of how you can help your child navigate this world she doesn't understand like the average person.

I've checked out some of the links from the very impressive list of websites and I love it here!  Real people to talk to! 

I may come and go because my last semester of school starts this week and life gets hectic between school full time and therapy with my daughter.  Plus I have an adopted step-son that is medically fragile and cannot walk or talk.  He is 9 and is so cute we just breathe him in.  We also have a blind, MR poodle and 2 guinea pigs that we watch more than TV.  My spouse/domestic partner has mild aspergers's and I have PMDD.  We joke that we should be a group home. 

 I look forward to reading and collaborating with people on this site!  :)

Melanie

Posted: August 14 2005 at 5:47am | IP Logged

I am Mary. My daughter is almost 4, born Oct 27th 2001.  She dosen't have a working thyroid. That was discovered after she was born and replacement therapy began 2wks later. She was dx in Sept 2004 (last year) as having PDD-NOS, borderline autism, w/greatest delay in speech and gross motor.

She was a good, quite baby for the most part. I noticed how intense she was early on. SHe also freaked out when we drove over hilly roads. SHe was only about 8 or 9 months old when I first started to wonder.  SHe wasn't crawling yet and she played w/the same thing for hours...sometimes to get her to stop I would have to pick her up and move her to something else. SHe didn't start walking until 16 mos old but never learned to climb or jump or run until a year ago.

By 2 she was lining things up and her vocabulary stalled out. SHe was saying about 10 words at that time.  By the time she was turning 3 we had her evaluated.  She could talk a little but mostly repeated the same words over and over, all day.

SHe seems like a typical preschooler in many ways and it can fool even me still.  She  can draw at a 5 yr old level, work puzzles at a 5 yr old level. BUt she is at a 2 to 3 year old level with speech and struggles to skip and hop. She stims by rubbing things...our face (started about 4mos old) and fingernails. She is very imaginitive. When her foot fell a sleep she wanted me to open her toe and get the bees out.  On the bad days, she cries over every thing, has a harder time w/focusing and looks off into space.  Her speech gets very abstract and she dosen't want to leave the house or cooperate out in public.

So it is on the spectrum I suppose....and each chid being unique in their own ways.  Anna is awsome in her disability and finds ability dispite the struggles to comprehend the world around her. It is that determination she has that keeps us hopeful.

Posted: August 17 2005 at 6:57pm | IP Logged

Hello

I am a grandmother, 57, raising two grandsons age 12, soon to be 13 and one who just turned 11 ,with Gods help. They have been living with me since 1999 with there mother, my ex daughter in law. She moved out In January and they remained with me. Right now they both have been diagonised as having severe Adhd and the youngest one also has OOD. I am so honored to be raising them ,but boy, can they be a handful sometimes. There parents hardly ever see them.My youngest son, there uncle, will take them occassionally so I can get some rest.  I find my problems are not so much with the boys as with there parents.....

They are great kids but sometimes this grammy wants to go AWOL with a bottle of wine and my anchovie crackers for some peace and quiet!

One of my main problems is sleeping...I am not getting any! LOL and just like the boys when they don't get enough sleep I become as crabby as they are! And at times that is not a pretty picture as we all are running around getting ready for school especially if the cat or dog removes articles of clothes to play with during the night! One time we put there shoes outside and found them in the back acre 10 minutes before the bus came! Lots of wild dogs out here! LOL

I lay out clothes they pick out so there are not lost underware, socks or shoes. I colored codes my oldest drawers so he knows where his clothes are and colored codes his hangers for both school pants and shirts. Because he has severe problems following directions I put up cue cards for him to look at when he does the dishes, laundry and when he is taking a bath and early morning chores and it seems to work well for him, if his brother doesnt tear them down just to watch him meltdown! I also, sometimes if they get up to go to the bathroom around 4 or 5am ,give them there meds so they are calm when they wake up and it does work.

The boys are on AdderalXL 20 mg , two tablets a day with .o5 Risperdal in the morning and Imipramine 10mg added at night for sleep. I start out all there meds at the lowest level first and work up the perscription order mostly to monitor any side effects.......Since they started these, yesterday, I got to sleep a whole 6 hours....YES! And after playing three hours on the tramoline they are now in bed sleeping and its only 7:52pm....I try to have them get at least 12 hours of sleep because of all the engery they expound during the day.

I am interested in the weighted blanket everyone is talking about. Could someone tell me about it and how it works. My oldest, who is 12, is being retested and I was told he may have a form of autism, so I am trying to read everything I can to help him and sleep seems to be the issue at this time and I have noticed that he loves lots of blankets when he sleeps.Could someone please send me some information on this blanket.

Thank You, I am looking forward to learning all I can with all of your help.

Annamarie

Posted: August 18 2005 at 4:37am | IP Logged

Hi all, I have a little boy turning 3 next month named Isaac. He was diagnosed with autism last December when he was just over 2. Life has changed ever since, ABA, OT, ST, have become familiar words in our house.

He has had a lot of progress since we started an ABA program in February, he has gone from not following any direction or acknowlegeding any one was speaking to him, to now following simple directions, pointing to everything he wants, and recently it seems like he is trying to talk.

It is still hard when I take him to the park and I see other kids his age talking and playing with each other, when he still keeps to himself (although occasionally he will push them out of his way or try to lead them to what he wants) it is hard not to compare sometimes.

He is our only child and we love him to bits, despite all of his other issues (meltdowns, biting, obsessive behaviour) he is my greatest joy and is extremely cute.

Posted: August 18 2005 at 11:57am | IP Logged

Hello to everyone,  I have been reading these post for sometime.  I really enjoy the information I recieve from them.  It really helps to know that we are not alone.  I have a son 14, he has ADHD, OCD, AND ODD.  Some of these things are lessen as he has gotton older.  My next son is 12 he has mild to moderate Autism.  Some days are better than others.  I have a 4 year old daughter that has what they call adjustment disorder with features of pdd.  I am taking her next week for a second opinion.  Lastly I have a  1 year old girl whom I hope will have no disablities. 

Autism effect our life in so many ways, money, friends, family just being a normal family is impossiable.  My oldest just wants our family to be normal just like everyone else.  he has missed out on so much because of chris,

Posted: August 19 2005 at 11:42am | IP Logged

I have lurked on this board for a few months, but decided it was about time to introduce myself.  My name is Jessica.  I am a stay at home Mom to former 26wker b/g twins.  Zackary and Samantha will turn three on 9-01.  Being born so early, we have always been involved with EI.  Zack was officially diagnosed with autism 6 months ago.  It was suggested we also test Sammy too - but it turns out that although she is delayed with speech and has echolalia and perseverance, Dr. Coplan feels she is just copying her brother's speech patterns.  It is a relief, but we still worry another bomb will be dropped in the near future!

Autism affects our life in so many ways.  I think I always *knew* that something was 'off' so it didn't really come as a surprise.  It just explained a lot.  Zack is hyperlexia...knew all of his letters, colors, numbers, shapes at around 20-22 months, but only started saying "mommy" meaningfully around age 2 1/2.  At almost 3, he is doing pretty well with ABA, OT, and ST.  He is also starting to read words, so I hope it will help his progress.

I am just so thankful to have my miracle babies.  After a 3 months NICU stay and a shaky first two years, I still feel lucky - even w/the A-word in our house.

Looking forward to this board, sharing information and providing support!

Jessica