Tuesday, April 30, 2013

What Autism looks like in our house...

     Today is the last day of Autism awareness month. I don't talk about Autism a lot outside of a little group I am in. Because, really, why would you want to talk about it all the time when you live it every. single. day. I am aware, trust me.
     Autism has its ups and its downs. It means something different for every family who experiences it. No two kids with Autism are cut from the same mold. I can ask my fellow autism mommies a question and most of the time they have very little advice cause they've never experienced that situation themselves.
   Don't get me wrong, Autism is great sometimes! If it weren't for Autism I wouldn't know so many things. Like did you know that there are around 8 or 9 different internet browsers? And my computer has had every one of those. Did you know that Ellen comes on every day at 5 pm, on channel 18, and Ellen is usually done talking and starts her dancing at 5:04. She is usually talking to her first guest by 5:18. She has many different segments and games, like Clumsy Thumbsy, know or go, kid ink, real paid for photos...and so on and so on. Also did you know that for two whole weeks at the beginning of April, Ellen only showed reruns and that way so upsetting?! No worries, she's back now with new episodes cause she had been in Australia. Another great thing, is if I wanna know the day of the week my birthday is gonna be on is the year 2015, he can tell me.
     The downsides are hard though. But they also motivate me to keep going and to try harder. Like now I am in the middle of an IEP mess with his school. I have been trying since he was first diagnosed at age 6 to get him an IEP. I am farther now than I have ever gotten before. He is in the evaluation process which he was denied before. I am drowning in paperwork too. In the end it will be worth it, but now? It's a pain. There are meltdowns, some minor, some major, that tend to get out of hand and make you question if you'll ever get the hang of this whole "Autism thing". There are weekly therapy appts, and frequent dr. visits. That can be both uplifting and discouraging.
    When I get into a corner where I just wanna cry cause I think I can't handle things anymore I have many Autism mommy friends in that corner with me who always know the right things to say to help me out. I am thankful for those friends every day. It's not a club you start out wanting to be in. But once you're in, its pretty awesome to be apart of. To share in the successes of other kids just like him is great. Its not what typical kids would achieve. But sharing that you're kid has finally made a friend that they talk about and and are excited about seeing and spending time with, having other members of this club to share it with is great.


     I made this collage up at the beginning of the month so people could see what Autism looked like in our house. For us, Autism is:
~Hating to take pictures, so you get a grumpy face or a surprised face cause you caught them on camera. 
~It's schedules, INSANELY DETAILED schedules
~It's weekly therapy appointments with more than one kid along. 
~It's unusual christmas and birthday lists. 
~It's Friday shirts.
~It's unusual requests, like one of these pictures is him with an overhead projector that he asked for, FOREVER. 
~It's quiet lonely moments, and loud chaotic moments. 
~It's hardly ever seeing the front of his face cause he is happier in front of some sort of electronic. 
~It's "It's 5:01, why isn't Ellen on TV yet?!?!?"
~It's paperwork, never ending, lengthy paperwork. 
~It can be exciting and heartbreaking all in the same day, heck, same hour. 

So, I am sure everyone is aware of Autism. It's everywhere lately. But this is just my little piece in hopes that the next time you are out in public and you see a kid screaming or fighting with his parents, throwing stuff, Whatever. Maybe instead of thinking, wow what a spoiled brat. Maybe think, there might be an issue there that is making that kid act like this in a public setting. (We had one of these issues recently, and it was a result of, he didn't want to be out of the house, people were standing too close to him, and it smelled weird in there). Its different for everyone.