New Here! an Introduction | Autism PDD

Hello, i just found this website today and after looking around the forum i decided to go ahead and join in!

My name is Robin and we are from Western Washington, just moved here about 6ish years ago, my sons name is Jacob and he is 6 years old and has med - high functioning autism and apraxia. He goes to a great ST center 4 days a week and is going to be starting some kind of kindergarten program this year! (very excited :)) He has a very limited vocabulary but is starting to request alot and to use several word sentences - usually only when requesting something. He also has a limited diet - something we had Hoped he would grow out of but doesnt seem to be happening. He stopped stimming about a year and a half ago but is having some aggresive behaviour and lashes out at times. He also is not yet potty trained, though we have tried in the past, but we are trying again soon to make school easier for everyone - dont know if its going to work yet though!

Jacob is and always has been very smart - started putting together 24 peice puzzles at about a year and a half old, he has an Insanely good memory, he can count to 10 on his own and knows his alphabet and how to read and write a lot of different words, he also loves animals and knows what Quite a few of them are :D

Well that is a little (okay, alot!) about us and i look forward to getting to know everyone here and hopefully learning from everyone with more experience as we still have a long road ahead of us.

Thanks for reading :)

Hey Robin! Great to hear from you! Welcome to the board! Hope you find it as wonderful as the rest of us have! Glad to have you here.
Nice to meet you. My daughter and Jacob sound very similar. Amanda is 7 and potty training is going no where. She only remembers when she thinks it is a game. Unfortunately it is a game she gets bored with rather quickly.

Her vocabulary is limited to mostly "yes, no, Mama, Daddy, thank you, bless you (for sneezes), up, down and a few other essential words. We use a lot of sign language as well.

Her memory is amazing. If she sees me put something down she never forgets where it is. I haven't lost my keys in years.

School starts next week, thank goodness, because I think she has just about run out of patience with my wife and I.

Again, nice to meet you.

Hi Robin, welcome. I too just started on the board. Jacob sounds a lot like Noah was a couple of years ago. It seemed to take forever for him to say his first sentence or ask for something. But once he got started, he didn't stop. He's now 9 and we can't get him to stop talking. We actually have conversations back and forth now. I would have never thought I'd see the day. Looking back, it seemed like it just took off overnight. Like he was waiting until he was ready to say everything the correct way. Since birth, we always had his attention and you could tell as a toddler he was taking everything in that we were doing or saying--his problem was communicating back to us and his frustration level with it would impede him.

Diet and sleep problems?? That's for another post. (LOL)

John, Yeah for school!!!

Hi Robin! I'm new as of a few days ago and have no idea how I, or my son, have survived til now. Welcome. Everyone here seems to help everyone else down the road....the hills, the valleys, the cliff you didn't see coming....you know, your life. I'm glad you're here!

Hi Robin,

Welcome to the board!! I'm Karrie and have a 3 year old son with Autism. Glad to have you here. Take care,

karrie

hi Robin, welcome this board is the best thing! my son is 3.5 with autism.

Welcome Robin glad to have you here!! You will find alot of good info and nice people here. My name is Nita and my son Nick is 5 yrs old and autistic.

Nita

HI, I am also pretty new this board.

My daughter is almost 4 w/HFA and very mild CP. And she too does the puzzles. At 2 she was dumping out her 12pc puzzles together into a pile and worked all 3 at one time. ANd when she had just turned 2 she was drawing faces with eyes, nose and mouths. By 3 she was doing total body with all the arms and legs and ears hair ect. Also, she draws clouds and rain and grass, things like that.

Yet, after her speech started to come....those talents begin to slow down. She would sit and draw for hours (we have notebooks that proove it). BUt as soon as she became verbal that slowed down and now she only draws once in a while. She use to line stuff up all day every day...that too only happens once in a while now that she is talking more.

SHe can count to 10 and has done that for over a year. SHe also has an awome sense of direction. SHe will know where we are going even if we just go their once.