The literal world of autism -

[MCDavis]

Originally Posted by Eracer

Bravo, you love your child, and appreciate the good in her. That is all that matters.

I couldn't say it better, so I'm simply agreeing with Eracer.

Thanks for the story, Bravo!

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

When I was in elementary school, we had a wing that housed austistic kids and kids with other mental disabilities. When I was in about grade 5, we (the students) thought it would be a good idea to bring the kids from the wing out to play with us for recess instead of segregating them. Those kids had a ball playing football, soccer and everything under the sun. You could see all of them just beam when it was time for recess.
R35

When typical (normal) children do what you and your friends did - it makes disabled children OVERJOYED...so many of them just want interaction with others...

Great story. You made my day.

[MCDavis]

Bravo, does your daughter attend a special school or a regular school? Reason I ask, my 6th grade son and a couple of his friends (girls and boys) have grown up looking after the autistic child I mentioned in the other thread (going to China). He has been mainstreamed (I hate that word) into the school that his mother and my wife teach at. It's really neat seeing/hearing the stories of how he responds to these 3 kids. He can be having a really bad moment and it just takes one of them to talk to him, or in some cases to tell him "no" or "stop" and he immediately reacts...better than for the teachers in many cases.

I was just curious if your daughter has kids like this in her life. Hope that's not too personal a question.

[Bravo]

Hi MC and thanks for your inquiry.

Yes she is in a regular elementary school and is 'mainstreamed' as much as possible. The school has very good resources for special needs children (70 personnel in the school system overall who have degrees in Special Education).

It's always a battle getting help for your children though. Thanks to Federal legislation passed quite a few years ago, public schools throughout the U.S. are required by law to provide for the educational needs of ALL students, regardless of their intelligence. These laws also give parents of such students a lot of legal 'punch' if the schools do not comply.

So Laura does indeed go to a regular school and they do a good job with her. She has made a ton of progress over the past four years. We are also lucky that her psychiatrist is the Chairman of Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at a local research university.

Those who do not have such resources available are unfortunate indeed....

[warbirdlover]

When I see an autistic child the first thing I note is how loving and affectionate they are. I'm so glad things have changed (improved) so much for them over the years. I remember how it used to be for them in the "old days" and how sorry I felt for them. Now I see so many success stories and it does my heart good. The innocence you see in their little eyes just melts you.

[Bravo]

Originally Posted by warbirdlover

When I see an autistic child the first thing I note is how loving and affectionate they are. I'm so glad things have changed (improved) so much for them over the years. I remember how it used to be for them in the "old days" and how sorry I felt for them. Now I see so many success stories and it does my heart good. The innocence you see in their little eyes just melts you.

WBL - we are lucky that we have one of those. Other parents are not so fortunate...many autistic children are anti-social, do not make eye contact and 'stay in their own world'. If we had one of those, I'd think I'd slash my throat. They are much harder to take care of than ours.

Dogs, dogs, dogs. We've got our two and the two from next door. She just loves dogs...our next door neighbors go out of town frequently on weekends and just give us a call when they leave. I've got a key and Laura and I have a daily ritual in which we go over there and put up their two massive Labs and their 22 pound cat. Let 'em out and feed in the morning. She loves it as she is in control for once....the electric fence around both properties keeps all animals contained in a three acre area so the animals are roaming in our airspace all the time floating in and out of the house with all their doghair!!

Don't know what we would do without the dogs.

[JEFF4i]

Aye, my mom's worst student right now is an autistic kid who is very violent, inappropriately sexual, among other things.

It's a shame, but I still agree with previous posters.

Inclusion is great for kids, set examples, let them socialize as any kid their age should.

[VoteWhitey4Prez]

I had a boss who had an autistic son who was prone to violent outbursts. Little things would set him off. If people wore sandles, he would try to take them and cut them up with scissors.