My name is Ann. I am 27 years old and have three boys. Two of my boys (the eldest two have an ASD dx)
Kolby is 9 years old and he is smart as a whip, just has a lot of issues being still and staying on task. When you can keep him on task he makes strait a's. He LOVES the computer, has a bit of a fascination with YouTube and enjoys playing super smash brothers brawl on the wii. Though I limit the game since i ONLY let them have the wii if they will play the more active games each day because I can't stand for small children to sit on their behinds all day. he can only get away with playing SSBB and not playing the others first if we do a bike ride, or jog in the morning first. But he is a sweetie.
Krishtian is 7 years old. I truly believe he is smart but he is so much more delayed it is hard to tell. He can say Bye bye, juice, outside and Mama but we can't get other words out of him yet and using image books hasn't worked very well either nor has teaching him signing. I just want to be able to communicate with him better so that I know what he wants/needs. This boy is the most loving little man you would ever meet. He is a big huger and just loves to cuddle up with a book and have you read it to him.
When they boys were both diagnosed people treated me like I was some idiot. Because i truly don't mind at all that they are Autistic. People kept on telling me how sorry they were for me... I was astounded. my babies are HEALTHY!! ! healthy as race horses. They will live LONG happy lives. With so many things that can go wrong in life I just couldn't ever understand why people felt my boys being autistic was such a tragedy???
Now not to say I don't try to educate them and make sure they have every opportunity to learn. Both boys have been in speech and occupation therapy for years. Kolby started both therapies at 20 months and Krishtian started at 15 months. Here we are many years later and the therapy is still very much a part of their weekly schedule. They take therapy at school as well. And the younger is in a CBI class in school because of the lack of speech. The older is partially mainstreamed. He spends 1/2 a day int eh resource room in the resource groups and 1/2 a day in his home room class. I read a lot that some people don't prefer their child be in a class with all NT children but Kolby does pretty well. He has a one on one para professional and the kids in the school love him to death. We've been very blessed that he has never once been made fun of or picked on in any way. When I walk him down the hall to breakfast each morning he gets hugs from 1/2 the little girls in his grade LOL. Everyone in the school students and teachers alike know him and he gets along well with them. The other kids last school year even fought over whose turn it was at recess each day to get him in a game. They never make Kolby socialize but if a kid grabs his hand and says hey lets go swing or slide he is always up for it.
I am also blessed that I own my own business and therefore can arrange my work days to always be on all the fields trips, and to be able to be reached by phone anytime of day. A few times the little monkey (kolby) has refused to take a test but if I come sit by him and ask him to he complies without trouble. I think he just likes making me have to come sit at the school. LOL
It's nice to find a forum where everyone's entire goal isn't cure autism, beat autism, I want my child to just learn to live in this world and be happy and learn to cope with the parts that upset them because of theri autism. I don't want to CHANGE who they are!
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Mother to three beautiful boys
Kolby 9 ASD
Krishtian 7 ASD
Khayman 5 NT
29 Jul 2009, 11:25 am
