A Thought....

I have been thinking today about what the Autism Puzzle piece means. Many Autism Awareness and Support Organizations use the logo of a puzzle piece to signify how one piece of the autism puzzle is missing. It is a mystery. It is a very puzzling disability. You even see the puzzle pieces on the support ribbons. As much as I understand this and see this I also see the puzzle piece as signifying something else. I feel a lot of times society views all children as a puzzle piece that fits into the big picture. The problem is that the puzzle piece has to be shaped and cut out a certain way. If you are not that shape you don't fit in. When you are doing a puzzle you try to fit the pieces in and when they don't fit you put them to the side until maybe they will fit in later. I know we have come a long way in today's society compared to years ago but so many people are uneducated and lack understanding of today's children and the disabilities that have changed their "FORM".

Asperger's Syndrome

This is a video on ABC News that explains alittle more about
Asperger's Syndrome that my oldest son Dominic has. It has many challenges but I have to say that early intervention is key in helping a child with this cope. Dominic has gone through therapy for behavior and social skills. He would not be where he is today if I could have ignored it and acted like it wasn't an issue. We still have challenges with it but it is still better than it would be. I am alittle apprehensive about how the teen years will go with him. It can be an awkward stage in your atypical child but I think the challenges might be a little tougher for him socially.

Frustrated

I am not sure what to do and welcome any advice you might have. My 7 1/2 year old has Aspergers and with that comes a delay in potty training skills. Night time has been his only issue. About a month ago he wanted to stop wearing pull ups at night because he felt he could stay dry like he had with the pull up. After a week of no accidents we proceeded to let him go without it. We started out ok with a few accidents here and there. I would tell him that he could wear a pull up if he wanted to and he would get very upset and not want to wear one. Who can blame him? Lately though it has been happening much more frequently. I do not have a washer and dryer and have to go to the laundry mat and it is hard to get there everyday to wash this bedding over and over again. I just don't know what to do. We have tried waking him up when we go to bed but sometimes he still ends up wetting the bed. I know this affects his self esteem and I don't want him to feel bad. He doesn't get in trouble for the accidents and we try not to make him feel bad. I just want to help him. Maybe there is a birth history of bed wetting. I have no clue.

Day in Therapy

We spent the afternoon yesterday in our Child psychiatrists office for a hopefully successful visit. I always hate these appointments especially when we need to deal with medicine changes. Luckily I had a friend that could watch "the butterfly" while we went so I could actually talk to the Dr. We changed the dosage on one of D's meds because of the aggression he has been showing. He is a very much "got to be in control" kids. He was extremely bossy and mean to Little Rey at the office and she was quick to call him on it. He hated that and got very agitated with her for calling him on it. Luckily she got to see what was going on at home. When I asked her why he was acting like this she said that it is because of his Aspergers and she sees it in all of her patients who have it. I guess I didn't realize how the aggression was related. Reynaldo has been having such a hard time lately and Dominic's treatment of him doesn't help matters. He not only gets this from Dominic but also Kiarrah. After much discussion we decided to change Reynaldo's meds. Dr. B claims that Bipolar is always worst in the spring and after looking through Rey's file we found that he follows this same pattern. He might just need more medicine this time of year. The Dr. also strong suspects that Reynaldo suffers from many aspects on RAD ( Reactive attachment disorder) I need to do some reading on this. If any of my readers have some good book recommendations or webs sites regarding Rad It would be much appreciated. Sometimes it is just so heavy on me to take in. I just want my little boy to be happy and regulated. I am going to start the new medicine on Friday when spring break starts so that we can monitor him. Luckily the insurance covered our second option. They have gotten ridiculous about what meds they will cover. This is not a one drug fits all society. It is especially harder I think when you are dealing with a child with Bipolar. The other thing that is a struggle is the fact that Rey also has ADHD and doesn't sit still in school. He doesn't do well on stimulates that would control this. They send him into major cycling. I would much rather have a child that is happy and who can control his moods. The school is just going to have to deal with it. We need to seriously look into our options for next year. I have actually seriously considered homeschooling him next year. That will only be possible if I can get Kiarrah into a school next year full time. I couldn't do it with her home. Reynaldo and I work good one on one but not with her around. I will do whatever I have to do for him. He is my baby boy. It would be that way with any of them. The other issue that I need to take care of for him is getting him into counseling. There seems to be a wait list everywhere.