Hi, I am new, and I have an ambitious goal.

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Hello everyone. I am the mother of an 11 year-old with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) (missing the mid-section of the brain that connects the two hemispheres, that grows millions of connections well into the fourth decade). I believe it is similar to Asperger's as well as fitting into the Autism Spectrum disorder. It presents, and it treated symptomatically, with O/T, P/T, SLP, D/T, and nutritional therapies. Around 3rd to 4th grade, while other children are rapidly developing social skills, these children's developmental age does not keep up with their chronological age, and the gap widens as they grow older. However, they can have normal intelligence, as my son does, so he is well aware of his differences, and is teased and called names.

My goal is to have IDEA's catogories widened to include a catagory for these Asperger syndrome, autism spectrum and PDD, and ACC diagnoses to be recognized and given the academic services they need. My son presents with all the symptoms of a TBI child except the traumatic injury portion. I feel his corpus callosum failed to continue to develop due to ant poison I inhaled by accident at that time of gestation. My son was literally kicked out of developmental pre-school, and we went through due process (and lost), since there was no legal provision for ACC (a congenital defect) to be provided services for.

I hope this is a forum where parents can unite and work towards changing the legal language of IDEA. I don't know if this is the right place to introduce myself and my mission, so please let me know, either privately or on this thread.

Thank you.

Welcome to Wrong Planet. Didn't the late Kim Peak have no connection between the two sides of his brain? I know he was supposed to be the model for Rainman.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

(unfurls welcoming banner)

Ok, now that we have the pleasantries taken care of: Don't worry about the whole label thing. To be honest, autism is nothing more then a fancy way of saying 'something about his brain doesn't work the normal way'. Its basically an open diagnosis that doctors give when something weird is going on, but they dont know what exactly (somewhat similar to IBS). Some people, like myself, have problems with the base of the brain (such as the cerebellum) which results in poor motor coordination. Others may not have that problem. Some have problems with the right side of their brains resulting in difficulty with speech. Others may have problems with the left side of their brain resulting in difficulty with understanding mathematics and visualizing. Others may have damage to the front of their brain resulting in difficulty making decisions, and understanding cause/effect. Some people might have more difficulties, others might have less. This could be caused by genetics, or a brain injury, or infection, or a bad reaction to a chemical, etc.

But whatever the specific cause of the difficulty, this website is all about helping people figure out what works best. So feel free to peruse around and see if there is anything you can find helpful.

[quote="Aimless"]Welcome to Wrong Planet. Didn't the late Kim Peak have no connection between the two sides of his brain? I know he was supposed to be the model for Rainman.[/quote]

Yes, he had the same condition. However, his cerebellum was split into about 8 sections, his father believed, as I discussed this with him back in 2001.