New to this Forum | Autism PDD
Hi Karen,
Welcome to the board! Congratulations to both you and your son for his upcoming graduation ceremonyHi!
I'm the mother of a 10 1/2 year old son with very high-functioning
autism/Asperger's. I have frequented the HealthBoards message board,
but find that most of the posters are parents with children far more
severely effected, and I have actually found it to be a bit prejudiced to
those of us with high functioning kids. I'm hoping that this board might
be a better fit for exchanging ideas and experiences.
Of further note, my son has also been diagnosed with ADD and OCD, so
while we have our hands full controlling his anxiety and erratic attention
span, I also bring a lot to the table in the way of experience and advice,
particularly in the area of education, as I settled a lawsuit with the school
district last year (Los Angeles Unified). I'm very familiar with all of the
challenges of trying to find an appropriate education program for a gifted
autistic child with severe learning disabilites! Tomorrow, my DS will
graduate from elementary school at a ceremony at Cal State Northridge,
where he will be reading a short essay that he wrote. I'm so proud I could
just burst! 
I look forward to some lively discourse with all of you!
Karen,
I'm sorry to hear about your past experiences with other forums. I don't think you will find that here. In fact...we have a large variety of ASD kids here. We all have challenges with our children no matter what the diagnosis. My name is Karrie. I have 3 children...Boy 12 (adhd and ocd) Girl 11 NT, and a 3 year old boy with PDD-NOS. I am also pregnant due in Aug with another boy. WELCOME TO THE BOARD!!!!!
P.S.
Karrie
Hi karen and welcome!Congrats to your son on his upcoming graduation and reading his essay. that's fantastic!!
Look forward to getting to know you better. Kellie
PS: My son is Luke (27&1/2 mos with PDD-NOS) and awaiting the birth of son #2 (who was due yesterday!).
Hey Karen, welcome to the board sounds like you have been busy! I am mother to Leena, 9 NT and Joe 4 (very soon to be Dx) Nice to have you around
Amber
Same here .....WELCOME I felt the same way about the Health Boards message board!! I love this board not only for the great info but for all of the great stories... some make you fall out of the chair laughing ..some make you cry and some make you think gosh I am not alone here!!!!!!!!! I think you will have alot of great info for all of us also. There are many of us who have little ones who often wonder how they might be when they are teens. And how wonderful that he is doing so well in school!!!!!
My name is Mary. I'm new too. I have a 16 year old son just dx with AS/PPDNOS. He is fairly high functioning but immature. I am so new to the A-spectrum that I don't understand many of the abbreviations, ie; NT, DH, DS, etc. I have worked with our son without ever having any significant respite. Family and friends have been kind but cautious about "not being able to handle him" for any length of time. I am so burned out. I should add that he is the youngest of four kids. Our oldest two are out on their own. At home is our soon to be a Sr. in high school daughter and our Sophmore son. We have just moved to Nevada and are looking into every resource that may be available to our family. He had an IEP in CA but was determined ineligible for NV resource programs. So we mainstreamed him with 504 accomodations and he held his own academically. Socially, he's random, backward, sometimes rude and sometimes irritating. He has to have structure to remain calm and pleasant. He doesn't move from one task to another without becoming distracted. He requires constant "navigation" to keep him on track and you all know who's the navigator. Once he's distracted he "dances", which is kind of a tip toe skip, while uttering the words (verbatim) under his breath and making the sounds of one of the dozens of movies he's memorized all the while carring a pencil in his hand and wiggling it back and forth with his head facing downward. He can do this for hours at a time. Recently, he's developed the habit of lying and being disrespectful to me. I have a volitile chronic illness that manifests itself through complete exhaustion. I'm just coming up from a rough go around of it. It's the beginning of summer vacation and I just don't know how I'm going to manage this constant vigil of keeping him on task without bursting a vein in my forehead. Thanks for being a shoulder for me as I've vented. I've felt very alone for too long. I'm so grateful to know there are others who have walked this path before. Yours in the ASpectrum, Mary Hi Karen Welcome to the board! I hope you find yourself much happier here and that you fit right in. My son is 9 3/4 with a current PDD-NOS dx which is likely about to change. I know there are a few moms here with aspies. Maybe I can learn from your school fight as I am going through a school nightmare myself. Stay-At-Home-Mom !
(and congrats on the graduation!!!!!!) Thanks Karen for the info on abbreviations.! Sounds like graduation was a huge success, how wonderful for all of you! Mary Definitions for abbreviations: http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=731& PN=1 Hi Karen, Welcome aboard i'm new too and i'm finding this board the best one iv'e beeen on!! I'm also going through the school mess too i'm sure we would all like to hear how you fought the school system !! Please share your stories!! Congrats on the graduation
much to learn from one another.
Mary, here's a quick rundown on the abbreviations. NT=Neurotypical. I
have an NT 3 1/2 year old daughter. HFA=High Functioning Autism.
ASD=Autisim Spectrum Disorder. AS=Asperger's Syndrome. DH=Darling
Husband. DS=Darling Son. DD=Darling Daughter. Tony's Mom used
one in a private message to me that I'm not familiar with: SAHM.
Anyone?
Michelle - Feel free to ask me questions about fighting the school district.
We went through our own nightmare last year.
Connor's graduation was Awesome! He read his essay beautifully,
got a laugh and waited to continue. Got thunderous applause in the
middle and waited, and wrapped the whole thing up like a pro without a
drop of anxiety. I think my heart is going to burst! What a
difference a year makes!
Copyright Autism-PDD.net