Today I was looking to see what parents think the hardest part about raising a child with autism is. I stumbled upon this blog that was a really detailed blog about all the hard times. The mother says most days it feels like work even when its my day off. She talks about how hard it is to see your child go through these changes and be different than all the other children. Children with autism often have social issues, this was a big concern of this parent in the blog. She says its hard but you learn as you go and it gets better with time. Heres the link to the original blog I was exploring. http://ediann.hubpages.com/hub/Autism-and-hope
While looking through that specific blog there was a youtube video about a 20 year old man named Jordan. The story was told by his mother who has raised him. He was diagnosed at 2 years old, she explains it as being a death when they found out. She called it the death of a dream of how it was supposed to be. His behavior changed dramatically in school and he became very violent. With time they learned how to cope with autism and make it easier on everyone. She has had such a positive experience with Jordan having autism. I love how she calls them differences not a disability. In my opinion children get very discouraged with the word disability. This story really showed me how families make the best out of a terrible situation. The link is below go check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTDmdClWtkc
Also I have a book on hold at the public library. Its titled "Next Stop: A Son With Autism Grows Up. The book is about a young boys struggles and also how his parents coped with the autism and raising him. It should be in by next week :)
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Parenting a Child with Autism
I looked at the reaction a family had to the diagnosis of autsim. I did a little bit more research on reactions towards autism. I didnt find another specific case but I did find a site that was very itneresting. It provided a lot of details that come along with finding out your child has autism. There are so many things I never would have imagine. In my mind I was only thinking about parents worrying about not having a normal child and also about the medical side of it and their childs health. There are so many more things added to the parents plate then what I was thinking.
Those factors I was thinking about are true but there are more things then that. The parents first of all have to worry about how their life is going to change. Their lifestyle is going to be completely different than what they had imagined. They have to change the way they do a lot of things in order to accomodate their childs needs. Also the family has to worry about money. Autism will require a lot of doctor visits. What if the fmaily doesn't have insurance? This will be a very stressfull because they will need to closely monitor their finances and the bills will keep adding up as the child gets older. The parents also have to worry about what the public is going to think of the child. People in public arent always as understanding as they should be. People are very judgemental and dont understand how hurtful it can be to the child and the family. This would be very stressfull as a parent because this could really hurt the childs feelings and make them feel not accpeted in society. There are so many things that change in the parents lives!
This ties in with this weeks summary papers! The parents are under so much stress when their child is diagnosed with autism. As teacher we need to be able to help them and work with them. They need to know that they arent alone and there is help out there.
Here's the site http://www.brighttots.com/Autism/Parenting_autistic_child ! Take a look around there is a lot of information on how it is to raise a child with autism.
Those factors I was thinking about are true but there are more things then that. The parents first of all have to worry about how their life is going to change. Their lifestyle is going to be completely different than what they had imagined. They have to change the way they do a lot of things in order to accomodate their childs needs. Also the family has to worry about money. Autism will require a lot of doctor visits. What if the fmaily doesn't have insurance? This will be a very stressfull because they will need to closely monitor their finances and the bills will keep adding up as the child gets older. The parents also have to worry about what the public is going to think of the child. People in public arent always as understanding as they should be. People are very judgemental and dont understand how hurtful it can be to the child and the family. This would be very stressfull as a parent because this could really hurt the childs feelings and make them feel not accpeted in society. There are so many things that change in the parents lives!
This ties in with this weeks summary papers! The parents are under so much stress when their child is diagnosed with autism. As teacher we need to be able to help them and work with them. They need to know that they arent alone and there is help out there.
Here's the site http://www.brighttots.com/Autism/Parenting_autistic_child ! Take a look around there is a lot of information on how it is to raise a child with autism.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Parents Look on Autism
I found a blog where parents raised a boy Cameron and he has been diagnosed with Autism. They talked about how as parents we want our children to be anything but normal. And we do many things to make them fit in such as going to the park or birthday parties . Then came the diagnosis and everything changes. They said this statement that stood out too me "It’s pretty much at that point where all of the optimistic dreams of limitless possibilities leave us and we look at our child wishing for exactly the one thing that we didn’t want for them… to be normal." This quote showed me the initial feeling behind finding out your child is autistic. It has to be very hard for many to accept this. They also quoted this about after the child has been diganosed "Hopefully, if we learn how to help our child, where to get help, what works best and what doesn’t and we figure out what our child is truly capable of… we start to realize that all of this time, through all of these dreams and doubts… we got exactly what we wanted." I love this. This shows that they accepted the problem and lived with it like nothing was wrong. I think its important for parents to think this way, so they can appreciate their child and make their life as smooth as possible. I love that these parents coped with it and appreciated everything about autism in the end. It made their child have his own characteristics and they loved every minute of it.
Here's the blog! Check it out its a very neat story to read! http://www.stuartduncan.name/
Here's the blog! Check it out its a very neat story to read! http://www.stuartduncan.name/
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
I have done some research on what the autism sepctrum actually is. I have worked with a child that they thought was on the spectrum, but wasnt severe. This morivated me to look further into what the autism spectrum is. I used this website to give me the information I needed for this topic of research.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-spectrum-disorders
According to this website listed above, there are different classifications of autism. Some are not as severe as others. Those classifications are aspergers syndrome, persuasive development disorder (PDD), autistic disorder, rett's syndrome, and childhood disentegrative disorder.
*Aspergers is a very mild form of autism. The child is typically obsessed with one topic in school and talks non stop about that. I have heard of this form a lot. The child is high functioning, but has issues with being socially awkward.
*PDD is more severe that aspergers but the child is still considered to be high functioning. The child will deomonstrate interest in something typically one thing, may demonstrate repitive behaviors, and has issues with being socially awkward.
*Autistic disorder is more severe and the children tend to have seizures and mental redardation as well.
*rett's syndrome is something that happens to girls almost always compared to little boys. It is a genetic mutation and therapy is needed to help with development and speech
*Childhood disentegrative disorder is very severe. The children lose ability to be coordinated, to speak, and often have many health risks in their lives.
This is very interesting to me because I didnt know there were this many classifications. I understand now that almost every form of autism makes the child socially awkward. I wonder how hard it is for families to cope with a child that is socially awkward. Especially in the childs younger years, it has to be difficult. Young children are very social throughout their schooling with their peers. Next time im going to look into some blogs about how families have coped with their child being socially awkward due to autism.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-spectrum-disorders
According to this website listed above, there are different classifications of autism. Some are not as severe as others. Those classifications are aspergers syndrome, persuasive development disorder (PDD), autistic disorder, rett's syndrome, and childhood disentegrative disorder.
*Aspergers is a very mild form of autism. The child is typically obsessed with one topic in school and talks non stop about that. I have heard of this form a lot. The child is high functioning, but has issues with being socially awkward.
*PDD is more severe that aspergers but the child is still considered to be high functioning. The child will deomonstrate interest in something typically one thing, may demonstrate repitive behaviors, and has issues with being socially awkward.
*Autistic disorder is more severe and the children tend to have seizures and mental redardation as well.
*rett's syndrome is something that happens to girls almost always compared to little boys. It is a genetic mutation and therapy is needed to help with development and speech
*Childhood disentegrative disorder is very severe. The children lose ability to be coordinated, to speak, and often have many health risks in their lives.
This is very interesting to me because I didnt know there were this many classifications. I understand now that almost every form of autism makes the child socially awkward. I wonder how hard it is for families to cope with a child that is socially awkward. Especially in the childs younger years, it has to be difficult. Young children are very social throughout their schooling with their peers. Next time im going to look into some blogs about how families have coped with their child being socially awkward due to autism.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
It is AUTISM AWARNESS month (: just a little fact!
I was doing some research of stories about families that have a child with autism. Basically I wanted to see what a families outlook on autism is. Being a person that has never been around autism a whole lot, I think it would be extremely difficult to raise a child that has autism. I came upon this story about a family that has 3 children on the autism spectrum. This family is extremely strong and has battled some form of autism with each child they have had.
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/14/family-autism-story-three-kids-on-the-spectrum/
(This is where I found the story)
I was so shocked to see that all 3 of the children were on the spectrum. The family talks about many delays the children have had while developing. They could see the autism pretty early on when the children were nursing and things, becuase their development was a little delayed.They talked about finding out their first child had autism pretty early on and they were scared to death and very worn out from all the accomodations they would have to make for him.
This was my favorite part of the story. The parents were asked what they weren't told about autism but had to find out on their own.I think it's so neat that they figrued these things out on their own and they have a very positive outlook on autsim. Here's their responses:
1) That developmental delays do not mean developmental stops. The bright boy's progress was often incredibly slow, but he's still making progress today, at age 20.
2) That the idea of a lack of empathy is incorrect; they are extremely empathetic, but they have to notice it.
3) That you will come to appreciate the refreshing honesty that your children offer you. That you will survive and thrive and so will they, if you give yourself time to adapt, if you will surround yourself with people who care, and if you accept that there will always be challenges.
This story was very touching and this couple is extremely courageous and have done a great job with managing three children on the autism spectrum.
Dont forget its AUTISM AWARNESS MONTH :)
Okay thats it for today! Next I want to look at what the autism spectrum is. Whenever you hear about autism, most of the time you will hear "they are on the spectrum". But what does that mean? How is the spectrum defined or broken up into categories?
I was doing some research of stories about families that have a child with autism. Basically I wanted to see what a families outlook on autism is. Being a person that has never been around autism a whole lot, I think it would be extremely difficult to raise a child that has autism. I came upon this story about a family that has 3 children on the autism spectrum. This family is extremely strong and has battled some form of autism with each child they have had.
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/04/14/family-autism-story-three-kids-on-the-spectrum/
(This is where I found the story)
I was so shocked to see that all 3 of the children were on the spectrum. The family talks about many delays the children have had while developing. They could see the autism pretty early on when the children were nursing and things, becuase their development was a little delayed.They talked about finding out their first child had autism pretty early on and they were scared to death and very worn out from all the accomodations they would have to make for him.
This was my favorite part of the story. The parents were asked what they weren't told about autism but had to find out on their own.I think it's so neat that they figrued these things out on their own and they have a very positive outlook on autsim. Here's their responses:
1) That developmental delays do not mean developmental stops. The bright boy's progress was often incredibly slow, but he's still making progress today, at age 20.
2) That the idea of a lack of empathy is incorrect; they are extremely empathetic, but they have to notice it.
3) That you will come to appreciate the refreshing honesty that your children offer you. That you will survive and thrive and so will they, if you give yourself time to adapt, if you will surround yourself with people who care, and if you accept that there will always be challenges.
This story was very touching and this couple is extremely courageous and have done a great job with managing three children on the autism spectrum.
Dont forget its AUTISM AWARNESS MONTH :)
Okay thats it for today! Next I want to look at what the autism spectrum is. Whenever you hear about autism, most of the time you will hear "they are on the spectrum". But what does that mean? How is the spectrum defined or broken up into categories?
Saturday, April 7, 2012
What is Autism??
Hello Everyone! I hope I got this set up ok :)
Over the next few weeks I am going to be exploring autism. I am going to be looking at the affects that autism has on individuals and also their families. Throughout my practicum experiences I have seen childrent that have autism, but I have never worked with a child that has autism. Seeing this in schools has left me with many questions about the disability. So I chose this for my blog!!!!
The first thing I wanted to explore while starting this blog was to look up what autism actually is. I feel like for me to really understand the affects of this disability, that I need to know what autsim is classified as.
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/asd.cfm
This website was very helpful in explaining to me what autism is. The website explains autism as a disability that causes major problems with social interaction and communication. It also said that many of this will occur before the age of three, which causes many areas of development to be affected. This has got to be extremely hard for those families of young chidlren becuase communication is a huge part of the schooling process for young children and also in the world around us communication is a huge part of everything we do each day.
Thats all I have for now. I will get back on here in a couple of days to make another post!
Over the next few weeks I am going to be exploring autism. I am going to be looking at the affects that autism has on individuals and also their families. Throughout my practicum experiences I have seen childrent that have autism, but I have never worked with a child that has autism. Seeing this in schools has left me with many questions about the disability. So I chose this for my blog!!!!
The first thing I wanted to explore while starting this blog was to look up what autism actually is. I feel like for me to really understand the affects of this disability, that I need to know what autsim is classified as.
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/asd.cfm
This website was very helpful in explaining to me what autism is. The website explains autism as a disability that causes major problems with social interaction and communication. It also said that many of this will occur before the age of three, which causes many areas of development to be affected. This has got to be extremely hard for those families of young chidlren becuase communication is a huge part of the schooling process for young children and also in the world around us communication is a huge part of everything we do each day.
Thats all I have for now. I will get back on here in a couple of days to make another post!
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