How Autism benefits from Social Media

Today I wanted to share about dealing with Autism. The statistics are high, that one in every five children is born with Autism. I have met families from all over the world that have Autistic children, and they all have one thing in common-how to best take care of and deal with their children’s Autism.

First, lets talk about Autism….

Autism affects children in different ways. There are those children that have severe disabilities, social interaction, learning, language, sensitivity, mood swings, rages, OCD and the general everyday struggle to navigate their lives.

There are those children who can learn and are very smart, but socially are tuned out to those around them, struggling with language, communication, sensitivity and general socialization in everyday life.

Then there are those who communication is present, but struggle in everyday expectations of life, what is expected of them and living within those expectations.

Identifying Autism

How do parents identify Autism? My grandson Joey was born quickly eleven years ago. My daughter almost didn’t get to the hospital in time. He was a big baby and everything progressed very quickly. He was a beautiful baby, but I noticed from the beginning that something was different. Joey didn’t seem to make eye contact as often, and he wouldn’t always notice you when you spoke to him. In the different degrees of Autism, there will be different flags with each child that has been well documented. The most important thing is for parents to acknowledge the differences because early diagnosis and early intervention is critical. By the time Joey was 15 months old, my daughter knew something was not ok. She had Joey evaluated at Children’s Hospital here in Columbus Ohio. The evaluation showed that Joey was Autistic, he was very smart, but his ability to use language and have social interaction along with other issues would have to be dealt with.

Resources available for Parents and Autistic Children

Joey is the second born in a family of six children, so one of the best things in Joey’s life is his brothers (2) and sisters (3). His oldest sister Audrey is a great advocate in his life, he learns from her, and she has spent time assisting Joey with difficult times. My daughter in the very beginning of Joey’s diagnosis began researching therapy, one on one help to work with Joey to develop the difficult things, his language and communication and his social interaction. It is not an easy road, Joey doesn’t always want to cooperate, and finding the right people to work with him is often a daunting task.

I will never forget the first time Joey looked at me and said, “I love you Grandma”. Everyone in an Autistic child’s family is affected by Autism. His siblings can struggle with adverse feelings trying to understand the differences in behavior. I have spent time explaining to my grandchildren the issues they struggle with about Joey’s behavior, which we never give up helping him to learn, change, and grow. I also point out to them how different their lives are and the things they get to do that Joey often does not. As grandparents, we work with Joey whenever he is with us, one on one to encourage and help his behavior.

My daughter has found that some of the most valuable support has come from other parents with Autistic children. How do they find each other?

This is where social media has made a huge contribution! Facebook and Twitter have proven to be a great resource of friendships, advice, and notices for conferences, information and support for parents with Autistic children.

As Business owners we can help spread the word that there is help in our community, parents, you are not alone!

Visiting Old Age

My brother and I have been handling health issues for our parents all this week. Our Mom has dementia, she has no short term memory and her long term memory varies by day and hour. My Dad needs to be evaluated since he seems to not be able to make decisions which affect life and death let alone everyday decisions.

Last Friday my Dad started to feel ill, he had been to the Dr. the day before for a follow up checkup, but didn’t alert anyone that he didn’t feel well. We keep in touch with them, but if they tell you they are fine when they really aren’t and you are over two hours away, this causes definite problems.

By Sunday my Dad was seriously ill and I could hear it in his voice, he had denied sickness up to this point. My brother (who had been out of town also) and I rushed to our parents house to get Dad to the hospital since he refused to call anyone. He is now recovering from the life threatening infections that he has, I had to bring my Mom home with me which caused her great distress since she has no short term memory. I patiently answered her constant questions-why am I here, where am I, where is Dad, why is Dad in the hospital, what is wrong with him? She didn’t want to go to bed, I would have to gently prod her to please lay down Mom, I think you are tired. She was by my side morning to night, asking, searching, trying to understand her plight while my brother was with Dad.

Mom and Dad were reunited yesterday, I stocked the refrigerator, fed them and made sure of food for the rest of the week, answered questions and encouraged them. My brother will stay with them for a few days, then it will be my turn again. There are so many things that need to be decided, they really are not able to take care of themselves, but think that they are. It breaks my heart to watch my Mom struggle with trying to figure our what she doesn’t know and not know why she doesn’t know. Dad is stubborn and doesn’t want to listen, he only wants to talk non-stop.

So my brother and I are going forward together, slowly dealing with what is, looking for what is ahead and praying for wisdom to make good decisions to take care of Mom and Dad and let them have as much of their lives while we still try to deal with our own.

This is not going to be easy, but we are committed.