Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize; how this occurs is not well understood. It is one of three recognized disorders in the autism spectrum (ASDs), the other two being Asperger syndrome, which lacks delays in cognitive development and language, and pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (commonly abbreviated as PDD-NOS), which is diagnosed when the full set of criteria for autism or Asperger syndrome are not met.[4
What I saw was a little boy who used to smile and laugh and make eye contact but somewhere along the line, that stopped. Exhausted all the time after having a newborn I couldn't think straight. My son would be up all night long while the baby slept; it was a vicious cycle. There are even times when my husband I will talk and I can't even recall chunks of time or an event. We used to fight. We never left the house. We were in a constant fog. The definition was great but who had the time to read?
We eventually went for help, which wasn't easy. Here is Our Path to a Diagnosis.
We have come a long way from that time. Constantly pushing forward and not looking back, progress has been made by everyone. Here is a blog about Our Therapies. Past-Present-Future.
My son is very sensory so the beach is his favorite place to go. This is a simple blog I put together using his words, Desperately Holding On.
Life is full of changes. You need to change in order to grow. After struggling for many years he has learned how to read. This night brought me to tears. In His Own Time.
By reading the above blogs, you will have learned more about our personal journey with autism but more importantly, autism is much more than a definition it's our way of life.
|His favorite thing to do....|
sit back and watch Lucky Penny Shop
on the iPad.