Saturday, December 11, 2004
Who I am and why I'm blogging
I live in suburban Seattle and I have two children, both of whom have autism. My wife and I talk about writing a book--our children give us lots that we could write about. I wanted to start writing and sharing some of those thoughts now, and I thought a blog would be a good way to do it. In order to preserve our children's privacy, I will be using psuedonyms, but the stories and thoughts here are taken from our daily life.
Jason is 7 years old. He's very bright--various clinicians that we've taken him do have diagnosed him with High-function Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Delay--Not otherwise specified). Our interpretation of this is that he clearly belongs somewhere on the Autism spectrum, but at higher levels of functioning it's tough to get people to agree on exactly what the different diagnoses mean. Jason has a difficulty with social interaction, and doesn't like any changes to his daily routines. If you know what to look for his impairments are easily apparent, but to a casual observer Jason seems like a typical kid, at least at first.
Timothy turns 4 in couple of weeks. His autism is significantly more severe than Jason's. His receptive language is good; he seems to understand a great deal of what we say to him, but his expressive language is extremely limited. He doesn't speak. We've trying to teach him to sign, and he does occasionally use a couple of signs. His various therapists and teachers are trying to teach him to use PECS . Timothy doesn't sleep well and he has an extremely limited diet. Physically he is very healthy, for which we consider ourselves fortunate. But behaviorally he has very challenging.
That's about all I can say for my first post. Timothy is pulling on my sleeve. I think he needs something to eat.
Jason is 7 years old. He's very bright--various clinicians that we've taken him do have diagnosed him with High-function Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Delay--Not otherwise specified). Our interpretation of this is that he clearly belongs somewhere on the Autism spectrum, but at higher levels of functioning it's tough to get people to agree on exactly what the different diagnoses mean. Jason has a difficulty with social interaction, and doesn't like any changes to his daily routines. If you know what to look for his impairments are easily apparent, but to a casual observer Jason seems like a typical kid, at least at first.
Timothy turns 4 in couple of weeks. His autism is significantly more severe than Jason's. His receptive language is good; he seems to understand a great deal of what we say to him, but his expressive language is extremely limited. He doesn't speak. We've trying to teach him to sign, and he does occasionally use a couple of signs. His various therapists and teachers are trying to teach him to use PECS . Timothy doesn't sleep well and he has an extremely limited diet. Physically he is very healthy, for which we consider ourselves fortunate. But behaviorally he has very challenging.
That's about all I can say for my first post. Timothy is pulling on my sleeve. I think he needs something to eat.
