Autism / Autism Spectrum Support Group
Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder which manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. Although the specific etiology of autism is unknown, many researchers suspect that autism results from genetically mediated vulnerabilities to environmental triggers.
I just want to tell people here not to give up. Both our kids have autism. Our youngest also has bipolar. He just turned 18. Both of them are doing okay. Are their lives wildly successful in all the ways one wishes for their kids? Nope. Do these two young adults make dumb mistakes, do odd things, and struggle a lot? You bet. But they both have lives, friends, interests, and are functioning adults. There are literally millions of people who do not live typically successful lives in this world. And many of those people are quite happy for the most part. My kids fall into that category. And that's okay.
We worked really hard to teach our kids independent living skills by the time they turned 18. That made a BIG difference for them.
One last thing: Neither of our kids live in our home. Our daughter doesn't because she is 22 and has her own life. Our son does not because he can often be violent towards us and we felt it was not safe to have him in our home. To suddenly be living in a home without autism is almost surreal. We are still getting used to it. Still getting used to not having to be another person's executive functioning! But it is nice, having a more normal level of stress around here. And I find I am more able to appreciate my children when I am not having to manage their lives. That's a great gift: to be able to enjoy the good things about your kids again.
We worked really hard to teach our kids independent living skills by the time they turned 18. That made a BIG difference for them.
One last thing: Neither of our kids live in our home. Our daughter doesn't because she is 22 and has her own life. Our son does not because he can often be violent towards us and we felt it was not safe to have him in our home. To suddenly be living in a home without autism is almost surreal. We are still getting used to it. Still getting used to not having to be another person's executive functioning! But it is nice, having a more normal level of stress around here. And I find I am more able to appreciate my children when I am not having to manage their lives. That's a great gift: to be able to enjoy the good things about your kids again.
We used to joke that our school district HATED us, lol, because we demanded that they give our son the services he needed. If a teacher didn't get it, we made them find one who DID get it. We are polite people, but we would not back down. If your son is falling apart at school he ought to have an aide to help him stay organized and on-task. That should be in his IEP.. Before you decide to home-school your son, push to make the school district do right by him. Honestly, you have to FIGHT for this or they will happily let you do all the work. Make a case for your son having a personal aide at least part time and also he should get some social work time to help him with social skills. One more thing: We found that speech teachers and occupational therapists in schools can be your BEST friends! Often they can help autistic kids with conversational skills and ways to fit in socially through their respective specialties.
Schools have a lot of people who can help your son . . .but the squeaky wheel really does always get the grease, so you have to squeak A LOT to get him what he needs.
Good luck!
I can't even imagine living in a house without autism. My oldest has aspergers and while we hold on to hope that he will be self suficiant and lead a somewhat normal life, we have more of a challenge with his younger autistic brother.
We never give up hope but our youngest son will probably always need to stay with us.
We've been lucky enough to have a school that works with us and both boys are doing well at school.
I hope someday I can make a post about our successes like this.