Autism Moms and Dads! Let's Share Stories About Our Kids!

[MN Dis Fans]

I have noon recess duty at our school and your son's idea sounds like a great one!

This week DS handed out some pretty unique valentines. One of his mini obsessions is ancient Egypt (related somewhat to Yu-Gi-oh! I guess). He wrote all his cards in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

 

[peepzlz]

when I was 10 I had a terrible time at WDW untill they put me on medicine when I went back the next year I had a wonderful time.

 

[Earstou]

I just remembered something that happened when we went to the Black Hills on vacation. When I was a kid, my dad always honked his horn in tunnels, and we kids thought that was the greatest thing. So when we hit the tunnels in the Black Hills, I told my dh to honk the horn. When there was lots of traffic, my dh told the kids to "honk" since he didn't want to disturb the other drivers.
So, a few days later we visited Wind Cave and DS (2 yrs) kept making this loud "woo" noise. We kept asking him to stop because the others on the tour couldn't hear the guide. It got to be embarassing because he just got louder and louder.
I finally realized he thought we were in a tunnel, and was trying to make one long continous honk that came out as "woo" instead of the "honk" he had done in the car! As soon as we explained the cave wasn't a tunnel, he stopped!!

This year he did a PowerPoint project for school. He added this,
"Disclaimer: (his name) is not responsible for any PowerPoint Poisoning or any injuries sustained from fainting due to how great his project is."

 

[wiggles02]

We took our son who is 4 1/2 and is hyperlexic to see Curious George on Sunday. The movie started and I heard him say, "That's Dick Van ****" and "That's Drew Barrymore". I realized that he had saw the trailer and read the names of the voices. People around us gave us that How does he know that look. He has an amazing memory. He has come so far. We are so proud of him. He didn't really talk until he was three and now he speaks clearly and often. His social interactions are improving. He is reading on a 3rd grade level which should make for an interesting education. Anyway, thanks for this thread. It is always helpful for me to hear about other kids who are just like Braden. It gives me a lot of hope (this coming from a mom who had a really hard time adjusting to the fact that her son was far from typical). But aren't we all...

 

[Ctsplaysinrain]

We are planning a trip to Disney in a few weeks. I mentioned to my son who is 10 and has Asperger's... He wanted to know if we were staying in the same hotel with the coke bottles on the wallpaper... This is correct- we were there in 1999 when he was just a week over 4... We stayed at the Holiday Inn Family Suites- there was coke bottles on the wallpaper......BUT, this is the only thing he remembers about his trip to Disney...LOL
Debbie

 

[Family Loves Disney]

I am just subscribing to this thread. I will come back and post about my special little boy with pdd-nos or aspergers (2 different doctors with 2 different diagnosis) and fragile x syndrome when I have some spare time.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My 11 year old son has Asperger's. He has an incredible memory and excellent verbal skills. He can read a book once and recount the story chapter for chapter. He says the most insightful things sometimes that absolutely amaze us.

A few months ago, we were at a salad bar restaurant. I thought he was done eating but noticed he was still chewing on something. I asked him what he was eating and he said, "Just some sunflower seed interiors."

We also refer to him as our personal GPS. If we take him somewhere once, he can remember how to get there. The second time we went to his new orthodontist's office, I couldn't remember exactly where to turn so he directed me from the back seat. What an amazing kid!

 

[Foohound]

My DD is 5 years old. She has mild autisim. She is obessed with reading store signs. Everytime we are shopping, she reads the signs to me until we leave. Once we were grocery shopping and out of the blue she ak me what Beer is. I explained to her it was an adult drink. She proceeded to tell me it must be bad since they do not sell it on Sundays. Even the store clerks were laughing!

 

[rentingspace]

It's real nice to have this board. Thanks for all the stories. It lightens the day. My son Charlie was diagnosed when he was 18 months. I remember the fear of being non-verbal now he scripts the movies etc. No full conversations yet, but they too are coming. Then of course you have the fear of not potting training. Phew that's done. Now getting ready to try to main stream into kindergarten We're going through a stretch right now were he tries to hit anyone in the way when another child is upset. Keep writting everyone! All stories help

 

[Dis1978]

We have had quite a few obsessions - dinosaurs ( aged just 2 he knew all their names and could read quite a few of them too), Pokemon, Harry Potter, Star wars and now computers. It's strange looking back because we all thought these were just the normal childhood crazes. Only now,with a soon to be diagnosis do I realize that they were obsessions. It is a strange thing Aspergers. It's hard to understand how a child can fit in, have friends and yet to have been autistic all those years and no one knew.
Teenagers and autism it has to be said are not cute at all. I would love to know how to handle all the rage and aggression that he sometimes displays.

 

[rentingspace]

I too am worried about how he'll be when he gets older. It's cute right now at 4yrs. I guess I'll stay at the one day at a time moto. We were laughing at the support group I hold every month, remember when? I was worried when he ate wood chips, he didn't talk, he wasn't potty trained, etc. Oh just one more day.

 

[mommie2angels]

I love this thread and all the stories are great!

Our dd#2 has autism. She also has Aicardi syndrome. When she was a year old she was diagnosed with angiosarcoma cancer. Her leg was amputated due to the cancer. She scoots every where around the house but when we are out she is in a wheelchair since she cannot walk. I told you all that because she also head butts. I had to laugh when I read the stories because I can just invision her running up and doing that to someone. She head butts people in the chest when they are holding her or she is sitting next to them.

She loves to slap - actually just pat to get people's attention. She is none verbal. She often pats her leg very hard or her hands or anything that makes a loud slapping noise when she hits it.

One day we were at a cancer event. Jeff Foxworthy (the comedian in case anyone didn't know) attends some of our events. He was there this day standing at the check in table. He spoke to us as we came in and we chatted with him some. He turned to talk to someone else as we were about to register. I was pushing my dd in her wheelchair. As we were standing behind him she reaches over and slaps him on the butt. I wanted to crawl under that table. He turned around and I know my face was blood red. I was stumbling over my words so bad trying to apologize and tell him my dd did it. I looked to my dh for help and he looks at Jeff and says I am so sorry, she just loves you. It was obvious he was talking about me. Dh and Jeff are laughing. I was even more embarrassed then. DD was just grinning.

 

[disney dreamers]

my son cavan who at eight has a intrest in ladies breasts decided he would tell all the female teachers at his school who did and did not have nice ones ,not happy with this he then wanted to discuss the reasons behind this as in whos were too small,,hard,,or big and comfy looking ,,, well thanks for that cavan!!

 

[larklynn]

I have 2 ds's one is diagnosed with cp and enceplothay he is 12 and then there is his best friend my ds 6. He has been diagnosed with sid but the doc is holding off on diagnosing him with aspergers. He is are drama king. His feelings are hurt so easily and he has very anxiety which interfers with how much he interacts with his teacher event though he adores her and reads very well he tends to freeze up.

 

[disney-super-mom]

My 7 year old autistic son, Ryan, is obsessed with video games. He lives and breathes video games. First it was Spyro the Dragon, then it was Crash Bandicoot, and now it's Sly Cooper. He's convinced that he's going to grow up and actually be Sly Cooper (and he even prays, asking God to make him Sly Cooper when he grows up).

Ryan also is in LOVE with Ariel (The Little Mermaid), and proceeded to tell me last night that when he grows up, he's going to be Sly Cooper and his wife is going to be Ariel Cooper.

But much of what all of you have said, about the stimming, echolalia, and superb memory, yep...we go through that too. Ryan likes to rub his cheeks on soft things (carpet or a blanket) and eventually his little cheeks look red and raw - like a sunburn. Thankfully he doesn't do this very often.

 

[BeckyScott]

Hi, I'm new here, and looks like I found the right spot!

We're planning our first WDW trip summer of '08 and I'm starting to scout out info.

Anyway, DS6 is newly obsessed with the dictionary! It's a kid's dictionary, with photos, but definately higher than a 1st grade reading level. His most favorite thing to do is to go camp out on the toilet, with the dictionary. He'd probably stay in there all afternoon if we let him, but we only have one bathroom, dude, you gotta get out!

He was already obsessed with how things were spelled-- always asking me how to spell something-- so the dictionary seems a natural next step. And the upside is, he has yet to miss a single spelling word at school. I think this has great potential, the child is going to need to get a job some day, you know?

The funniest thing he's done lately... my DH takes the boys to school in the mornings and has marked on the calendar which kid gets the "good seat" that day. Sibling thing, fighting over the "good seat". Last week, they were getting ready to head out, and DH said "Let me look at the calendar and see what day it is. Is it Thursday?" And DS said "Yeah, it's Thursday, you need to take out the trash, a******." Whoops! Don't know where he heard that before! And you know, Thursday is indeed trash day, so the kid was right. But I was about to bust and had to leave the room so he didn't see me.

 

[disneymom3]

I love all of these stories and hearing the joy so many of you have in your kids. I worked with kids with Autism/PDD while in colllege. That was the only diagnoses at that time. That was such an awesome experience adn someday I would really like to get back into the field.

I had one little boy I worked with one on one for 18 months, a group class I co-taught and hten just other kids I knew from being there so long. One of my very favorite memories of my little "Frank" was an argument we had of sorts. We used a picture card system to communicate and when we transitioned from one room to another I would show him the card of the place we were to go next. Now, he loooooovvvvvveeeed the computer room. Well, one day we were leaving the gym and I showed him the card for our classroom. He took the key ring with the cards on it as he usually did and would carry it to the next stop. This day though, he changed the card to the computer room, tapped it and started to head that way. I stopped him, said, "No." turned the card back and said "room 2" and tapped that picture. We did this three or four times and it was such a breakthrough. He had never expressed his own desires before other than to have a tantrum. I finally took him to the computer room to show him it was closed. He stomped his foot, turned the card back to Room 2 and off we went.

Another little guy we worked with used to hold a Tracey Chapman cassette tape up to his ear and then mumble what we thought to begin with was jibberish. One day, another therapist caught a word that she recognized and got the idea to tape him. After she did that, she listened to the tape on a slow speed and sure enough he was singing the Tracey Chapman songs. In the order they were on the tape!

 

[MN Dis Fans]

I haven't posted a story about DS 11 in a while but do have one to share. My son's inability to relate to other people's feelings came in handy recently.

From 1st thru 4th grade, DS had the same teacher in the autism resource center. This teacher helped the boys in this group achieve so much. When DS reached Middle School age he no longer had contact with this special teacher, but we saw her from time to time in our community.

Recently, this teacher's husband lost his long struggle with cancer. The funeral was held on Valentine's Day. DS goes to Catholic school and weekday funerals at the church enlist our students for altar servers. I suggested to DS that he might be able to serve at this funeral, something his former teacher might appreciate. He nonchalantly volunteered and did a great job. This was a huge funeral with lots of tears. He was a well liked man and I'm sure it would have been very difficult for me to maintain during that funeral service. DS on the other was not affected by the crying mourners , simply did his job - one he loves to do. I would have been crying.
His teacher sent a card saying how touched she was that he could be there. I am so glad that he could perform such a service for someone who has shown so much love and kindness to him. I truly believe that her care and teaching helped him reach a place where he could repay that.

 

[Christine43]

If echolalia were a class, Perry (HFA, 10) could teach it. Actually, it's been a bit of a problem lately as he really does it too much. One funny story though was something that happened in school. Apparently, the teacher said something he didn't like and he said (from Shrek) "Donkey, two words, shut up." I was horrified at the time and we discussed rudeness when the teacher told me but I did think it was pretty funny because I didn't like her either.
His twin (AS) loves Harry Potter to the extreme and struts around in his Gryffindor costume a lot. He got obsessed with the movie The Little Vampire prior to this when he was three and insisted on dressing like a vampire with a cape and fake teeth and hissed at a woman in the supermarket once. He's been very creative and for book character day (the first time he hasn't dressed like Harry Potter in years) he went as Sir Tristan, a knight of the Round Table and got very descriptive about his undying love for Isolde. Christine

 

[mtnprotracy]

I've really enjoyed reading the posts. It's so helpful to share stories. Since we live in a rural area, there aren't many people I can swap stories with. Thanks for creating this thread.

Our son, Zeke, is almost 8--former 29 weeker. He is mostly non-verbal...has about 15-20 words most people can understand and about 100 his close family understands.

Zeke's thing is humming. He knows 100s of songs (kiddie songs, Christmas songs, Top 40 songs, and DOZENS of 80s songs) If he hears it once; he knows it and sings it in perfect pitch and tempo so that anyone could understand it. You'd need to hear AC/DC's "You Shook me all Night Long" to fully appreciate his talents

Anyway, when President Ford passed away we were all watching Headline News when a segment came on from his memorial service. Zeke watched for about 30 seconds and belts out, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"

We all know he has terrific receptive language, but this was great evidence!

We're heading to WDW in April and he's all excited. DH and I are taking just Zeke. My mom and dad are taking our older two boys on vacation. We're so excited that we can focus the entire trip on Zeke. We've had great experiences with the parks the last two times we've gone.

We're staying at Carribean Beach...any tips? We've not stayed there before.

Anyway, sorry I've rambled so much...just good to have converations with those who understand!

Tracy in NC