Autism / Autism Spectrum Support Group

I know what you mean. Sometimes I get laughed at or told "No, you can't be autistic".

I totally agree with you. I think it is wonderful to educate on Autism, but lets get the FULL SPECTRUM in there as well.

I agree with you on this, but also because it's like I can't ever get autism out of my mind for even a few minutes now!! It's bad enough we have to live with it every day! Now, every time there is an autism commercial on TV, it's like a slap in the face!HOWEVER, I still want the autism awareness in the media. Most people will need to be hit over the head with a brick before they will truly understand what autism is. I get so tired of the stupid questions ("Is your son really good at art or math or something?" My favorite reply to this one is "Yeah, he does my taxes." I think it's better than screaming "he's only 5, you idiot!") or all the "advice" about things I SHOULD be doing for my boys. My mother just can't understand why my boys aren't potty-trained yet! However, they DO need to do a better job of showing why this is called a "spectrum disorder." As the saying goes, if you've seen one child with autism, you've seen one child with autism! People also need to understand that "high functioning autism" still isn't a GREAT diagnosis! My kids may be HFA, but my youngest son isn't verbal at all and my oldest son can't have any kind of meaningful conversation! OK.....now I'm off my soap box! Thanks!

smoochiesmommy...I like your soapbox :)
I agree, now that I know more about autism I wonder how many children/people there are out there that are on the spectrum. Adams sister has signs that if she were my daughter I would have her at Vanderbilt first thing in the morning to get a dx. I wonder about other kids as well, I knew nothing about autism until I met Adam, crash course actually was a good experience for me, if you can believe that, it really was. You must live with it to truly understand it, that is for sure.

Oh Yes I dont know if I shoukd laugh or cry.
These post hit the nail on the head!
I am tired too of people asking me..
"oh what is his special talent"...can I scream here? AUGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Or I say he has Autsim.. the reacation lately has been Nods and a slight smile.. Like yes I know ...
so its good people are more aware, but it has not stoped the stares, but i finally figured out why people have stared all these years. Its cuz Steven is so damn cute!

We're in the middle of trying to have my son diagnosed with HFA, one of my mates (who is really intelligent!) said "well he can't have it he looks too normal!" I too am sick of having other people (who don't know my son well enough to comment) feel it's ok to have an opinion.

I agree with you and which is why I stick to my lil world of adults that are higher functioning and not being heard just thrown in the back burner... money talks right?

I don't get involved in all this jazz... seems to just make ppl miserable and these amazing autistic people frustrated

I have to agree all we see on these talk shows are kids that are really bad, not all our kids cant talk not all our kids are that severe, I wish they would show all aspects not just one..

Until we can educate people that it is a spectrum we will have those who think autism means spins plates in corners or we are all Einstein. HFA gets unrecognized and autism with more behavior issues gets the kid labled "a brat" (ala Michael Savage).
I get "You can't be autistic" and a boy I knew who still used a pacifier at 5 and was not toilet trained at 5, frequently had people tell him mom he was "too old for a pacifier and to be in a pull up". Its just crazy.
I hate being asked "what are you good at?". What am I good at? I don't know. When the road is icy and its hard to walk I can fall down in a spectacular way but no, that is not a savant skill. I don't have a savant skill. The sad fact is that many of the so called professionals don't recognize it either. We have to do a better job of educating people. In the Jr in September we will have two boys entering 6th grade. One will do poorly academically but fairly well socially. The other will do great academically but socially I worry about him. They are both labled autistic. They are both very different. I wonder, will the school understand enough to explain it to the typical kids.

Ya know I got so frustrated that when autism was a focus of a show, there was NO mention of the damn 5 hour marathon tantrums. NO IT ISN"T THE F'ing Terrible twos....or threes or whatever. I did try to discipline my children....and HELL NO MY KIDS ARE NOT SPOILED....anything but. (too poor to spoil their buts especially since nick the autistic one has expensive tastes in electronics and video games and toys).... So sure they get now that yes some autistics can talk and they all don't drool or make strange sounds constantly. But they need let it be known about the behavioral issues. I did see a small kudos to the behavioral when Oprah did a show about autism. Okay I also want Jim and Jenny to propose a telethon just like the stand up for cancer one the other week....Autism needs a celebrity telethon. I wish that all parents had the ability to get FREE ABA training and FREE autism materials. Free books...Free movies... (libraries don't carry them all and we need to be able to highlight and refer back to them)...We should not be paying out of our asses to help our children. They don't want to provide us with services that we can afford then they should give us the tools to do it ourself. I could have taught my son ABA...I was a stay at home mom. It is only 15 hours of training. There is a position in the paper for a line therapist to do lavaas with an autistic child in his home. No degree required..10 dollars an hour...work 6-12 hours a week. Okay well if I had a car I would totally do that. Then I'd have the training so if Jordan (my 16 mth old turns out to be autistic I don't miss MY F'ing window. Okay sorry about the anger. But that got to me. Reading Jenny McCarthy's book and realizing how we were so badly NOT informed about anything. I didn't have a computer at the time of his DX. No car...etc... I missed his window. And I am so friggen mad. Because the books were too expensive, the school was all he doesn't need that...BLAH BLAH BLAH. I am calling for FREE or DIscounted materials, training everything for all parents of ALL disabilities. FREE BOARDMAKER PROGRAMS....OR AT LEAST VERY VERY AFFORDABLE.... Yes I will say I was on welfare when my son was dx'd. had NO money to get anything. The autism society wanted me to pay a membership. I was like I dont' have any money. oh well. I am working on it now. I am living wiht my mother and that way I can afford some of the books I want. Afford the board maker stuff. Afford some sanity and piece of mind.