Feb

19

The Big, Fat, Scary Disease

Posted by Little Miss Know it All

February 19, 2007 |

No, not Cancer, not Heart Disease, not Diabetes.  Autism.

In my house, this is a very personal thing.  Our oldest son is 6, and a year ago was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome.  We’d known for years things weren’t right, but it takes a lot of time and the collection of symptopm diagnoses before they will diagnose Autism.

Its a word no parent wants to hear.  Even when you know that the diagnosis will help, that it will open doors to treatments and therapies for behavior that already exists, help for behavior that you’re already struggling with day in and day out, there’s a large chunk of you that screams out, please, Lord, no, not my child!

But it is my child, and if it isn’t yours, its likely that you know someone whose child it is as well.  Autism occurs in 1 out of every 150 children.  Autism isn’t something that can be cured, but it can be treated.  And its confusing–there are a million and more opinions on what treatments work–sign language classes for the non-verbal (worked for us.)  Special gluten-free casein-free diets (very expensive and sometimes work), sensory light shows, physical therapies, sound therapies, play therapies, food therapies, vitamin supplements, avoiding immunizations….its a crazy world out there for a parent of a child with Autism.  No one can agree on what needs to be done–for each child with autism is different, has different behaviors, different needs.

This is an epidemic that is not limited just to the families of autism.  This affects schools, as they must find ways to integrate children with reactive behaviors and no social skills into schools that are already overcrowded, overburdened, dealing with every need in society.  Schools are social nightmares for kids with autism–threats lurk around every corner.  Yet they are bright, often brighter than neuro-typical children, and deserve a great education.  However, they often lack the social skills to survive in classes of children–they play out of rote patterns, memorized games.  They are often the child hiding under the table, eating off on their own, or avoiding other kids because they don’t know how to interact.

This affects the workplace, as these children grow, they need jobs, and they need the social skills to interact with co-workers.   Their parents must have good healthcare coverage, as the average autistic child receives 2-3 therapies a week, at a cost of $115 an hour.  Most insurace policies will cover only a third of that, leaving parents to shoulder approximately $10-15 thousand dollars a year in basic therapy bills.  That’s not for experimental therapies, that’s just for the basic, run of the mill therapy course.

So what does Little Miss Know it All want you to do?  Well, there’s a lot you can do, but the one most parents of autistic children would appreciate is this–when you see us in the store, at the park, at a restaurant, and you see our child “melting down” (meaning they are throwing the mother of all fits) don’t assume our child is spoiled.  Autism isn’t something you can often recognize at first glance–what may look like a spoiled brat could very well be a child who is suddenly melting down after hours of being alright.  If you know someone with a child with autism, offer to take the other child out to the amusement park, to the park, to the normal kid stuff that they often must miss because of their special needs sibling.  Listen.  I know, you couldn’t understand the difference between fine motor skills and gross motor skills, casein versus lactose, but to us, these are important concerns and we need the time to express them.

And get to know about Autism.  Its close to you, and until we find the cause, the likelihood is it will only continue to grow.

Here’s a few places to learn about Autism.

60 Minutes Story on Autism

Autism Speaks

Autism Everyday


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