April is Autism Awareness Month. While I normally don't give a lot of credence to "finding a cure," I do think it's important to make the public aware of what autism is and isn't. Especially when it's in the news so much and many people's only perception of autism is Rain Man. It's a spectrum disorder, meaning there is a very wide range of symptoms and no one individual is affected the same way.
I hope you'll watch this video. Much of it could have been written about our daughter.
I hope you'll watch this video. Much of it could have been written about our daughter.
As you know, I have a daughter with a spectrum disorder too. I watched this video and thought that I am blessed by how high-functioning Eldest is. I do KNOW that is a blessing. But I just don't know how or where to separate this high functioning disorder from what is currently a fundamental unpleasant, nasty person who is underachieving at absolutely everything except being a loner.
ReplyDeleteNot only a moving tribute to the families and children who struggle, but also so sad and really confounding that all these children and families -- the stats are astounding -- are being left out in the cold in terms of accessing the help and knowledge they need.
ReplyDeleteLaggin - We also feel so lucky that our daughter is very high end. Yours definitely has completely different issues than we deal with, but it's frustrating nonetheless, no matter the issues. We are united in just wanting our kids to be happy and to live a normal of a life as possible.
ReplyDeleteFlutter - It's frustrating to be turned down by insurance for something as basic as speech therapy. We have always had good coverage, but they won't provide speech unless the child has been injured in a car accident. How dumb is that?
A beautiful tribute to all the families struggling with this disease.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, Cocotte. . .
ReplyDeleteA couple of our friends have kids in the autism spectrum - pretty high-functioning for the most part, but not at all easy. . .
I have a niece with a spectrum disorder and it is heartbreaking and exhausting to see first-hand how hard it can be to fight for services on their behalf. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeletethe importance of early intervention cannot be overstated and it is heartbreaking to see people forced to wait.
ReplyDeletei have a friend from church with a son on the spectrum. he was identified very young and also told there was a long waiting list for services. 4 of with education backgrounds got trained in the interventions specific to this boy so we could do SOMETHING while the family waited for the agencies and insurance companies to get off their asses.
oops...in case that wasn't clear, the 4 of us went to the house several times a week to volunteer our time to work with this little guy for a couple of years.
ReplyDeleteLime - That is so kind....how is he doing now?
ReplyDeletehe is 10 now and while he speaks very little and mostly only in whispers he has gained far more independence than i think was predicted for him. he is not high functioning but he has really come so far. he's really a sweet kid.
ReplyDeleteWhat a touching video & post, Cocotte.
ReplyDeleteThank-you for sharing this personal issue with us. I'm sorry the insurance companies play such hard-ball. Do they not have a heart?
*big hugs*