World Autism Awareness Day

[marguerite_26]

I'm back from my week of insanity and have a few things to post about, but most importantly today is World Autism Awareness Day.




What is Autism?

Having a child with autism means your life is never your own ever again. And I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm proud of my son, of who he is, of who he is becoming. I want him to have the tools to deal with having autism but never take away what it is that makes him wonderfully unique: his sense of humour, his joie de vivre, his fascinating way of looking at the world.

Did you know: An estimated 1 out of 54 boys and 1 in 252 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United States. (The numbers are very similar in Canada, though no recent Canadian stats are available)

24 facts about Autism

Comments

[ayalleda.livejournal.com]

My nephew is waiting to get a diagnosis from the paediatrician but the family, the nursery and the speech therapists all know that it's going to be somewhere on the spectrum.

Whilst Alex doesn't speak, he knows his alphabet and can whup my arse at temple run any day. He's not as smiley and into hugs and cuddles as his big sister but he makes us smile and laugh (and cry at times). He may only be 3 but our lives are all the better for having him and his own uniqueness.

I'm amazed at the amount of help and support there is available, particularly from other families.

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

Waiting for a diagnosis is so hard! I remember the months and months of does he? doesn't he? What are we wishing for here? Because parents usually ~know there is something and labels (for all that they can be negative things) are very useful.

At least here in Canada, the label opened a lot of doors for support and 'justified' our concerns in the eyes of school/day care.

But we went into it saying: even if he doesn't get his label, he still has the same needs so we've got to plow on with our without 'officially qualifying' for support. (though he did eventually get a diagnosis, rather unexpectedly when he went into the doctors for an ear infection and the doctor finally said okay, I'm declaring it.)

Being non-verbal is a huge stumbling block, but technology has changed so much to help kids. Especially the Ipad and certain Apps on there are really really useful.

Mine was mostly non-verbal at 3, not at 6 (after a lot of work) he has been established to have age-appropriate speech.

If you are ever looking for suggestions for speech therapy resources, let me know!