Hi,
I found this msg board a few months ago, and kept coming back because of a special lady - Theda. I'm sorry I haven't seen her post recently.
I have a 5 y/o ds with severe autism and seizures. Our story is a little different than most. My ds developed normally for at least 30 mths. He had above avg language skills, knew his colors, could count to 20, then he had his first regression. He has major regressions every 6-8 mths, his last one was in Feb. He is now almost non-verbal with some echolalia and a few words he never loses - no, go away, and McDonald's. His receptive language is much better than his expressive. With every regression he losses language, fine motor skills, and his autistic behaviors always increase. At the end of the regression he regains some of his skills, but his extra autistic behaviors remain. His ped., and dev ped, have no answers, but we are currently working with 3 neuros to try and find some answers. We don't have many tests left to try, other than a spinal tap. His reg neuro is not optomistic anything will be found, as we're looking for some very rare things. CDD keeps being mentioned - scary! My ds has been in an autism class for 2 yrs, has ABA, OT and ST, but has shown no improvement. His teachers finally admitted he is like no other autistic child they have seen. I know it's common for many of them to be affectionate, but my ds desperately wants to interact with adults and children, he hates to be alone, and constantly wants to be the center of attention. He manipulates people by using smiles and hugs to get them to do what he wants, usually it works very well. He still manages to be a very sweet, happy boy, for the most part.
If you're out there Theda, just wanted to say I miss your posts, I know how tough it is to watch others make great strides with their child, which still gives me hope, but it's tough to not see things get better, and having to watch my ds go backwards is so painful, but Theda your posts show such unconditional love, for your ds no matter what life throws at you, you never give up, because he his your son. Hope you don't mind me leaning on your cyber shoulder, and I hope you realize that you're an inspiration to many of us out here.
Pauline
Pauline,
Hi I'm Karrie. I have a 3 year old with PDD-NOS. Welcome to the board!! I too miss theda and hopfully if she reads your post and realizes how much she is valued here she will come back. I just wanted to say thank you for noticing such a great lady and even though you haven't met yet how wonderful it is that you have been inspired by her like so many of us here have been. I really hope she reads this and is able to see how much she is valued and needed back here. Take care,
Karrie
My name is Linda, I just wanted to give you a proper "welcome".
Linda...aka Tony'sMom...aka MWN64