I would love to know who wrote this.  (Update: Thanks to Tahni and Karen, found out that Cindy Waeltermann of Pittsburgh, PA wrote the poem).  A fellow ASD Mom that I’m friends with on Facebook, sent this to me today via direct message.  It really hit home, and I’m sure will do the same for some of you that are living with Autism.

Autism The Night Before Christmas by Cindy Waeltermann (Pittsburgh, PA)

Twas the Night Before Christmas
And all through the house
The creatures were stirring
Yes, even the mouse

We tried melatonin
And gave a hot bath
But the holiday jitters
They always distract

The children were finally
All nestled in bed
When nightmares of terror
Ran through my OWN head

Did I get the right gift
The right color
And style
Would there be a tantrum
Or even, maybe, a smile?

Our relatives come
But they don’t understand
The pleasure he gets
Just from flapping his hands.

“He needs discipline,” they say
“Just a well-needed smack,
You must learn to parent..”
And on goes the attack

We smile and nod
Because we know deep inside
The argument is moot
Let them all take a side

We know what it’s like
To live with the spectrum
The struggles and triumphs
Achievements, regressions. .

But what they don’t know
And what they don’t see
Is the joy that we feel
Over simplicity

He said “hello”
He ate something green!
He told his first lie!
He did not cause a scene!

He peed on the potty
Who cares if he’s ten,
He stopped saying the same thing
Again and again!

Others don’t realize
Just how we can cope
How we bravely hang on
At the end of our rope

But what they don’t see
Is the joy we can’t hide
When our children with autism
Make the tiniest stride

We may look at others
Without the problems we face
With jealousy, hatred
Or even distaste,

But what they don’t know
Nor sometimes do we
Is that children with autism
Bring simplicity.

We don’t get excited
Over expensive things
We jump for joy
With the progress work brings

Children with autism
Try hard every day
That they make us proud
More than words can say.

They work even harder
Than you or I
To achieve something small
To reach a star in the sky

So to those who don’t get it
Or can’t get a clue
Take a walk in my shoes
And I’ll assure you.

That even 10 minutes
Into the walk
You’ll look at me
With respect, even shock.

You will realize
What it is I go through
And the next time you judge
I can assure you
That you won’t say a thing
You’ll be quiet and learn,
Like the years that I did
When the tables were turned.

Thanks for stopping by My Mama Drama!

Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Twas the Night Before Christmas, Living with Autism

My goodness!  It has been wayyy too long since I’ve updated.  We finally moved!  Yippee! Since I last posted, we were planning to move in March, but we had another set back and ultimately decided to wait until the end of the school year.  And we are really glad we did that now.  We’ve been here for about 3 weeks, and we are loving it!  My MIL lives only about 2 miles from us, and has already been a tremendous help to us. The school district is awesome here, and I’ve already got Christopher and Allie registered for school.  This school is grades K – 5, so it’s nice knowing that they will be there for a while, and so that means in the mornings we will have only one school to go to.  This past year, they were at 2 different schools on differents sides of town. From what I understand, they’ve got a great special ed program, they are completely aware of Christopher’s special needs and have copies of his IEP.  I hope to have a meeting with the Special Education teacher right before school starts.

So….look like everything seems to be falling into place.  We still haven’t sold our house yet.  We still have some cleaning to do before we put it on the market, and plan to do that next week.

Well…just wanted post a quick update!  Hope to keep this blog updated more often!

During my process of researching schools in the area we are moving to, I met Leah through a Yahoo Group for parents in Mississippi who are dealing with Autism.  She has two children living with Autism.  Her 6 year old daughter, Addison is primarily non-verbal.  And for about 3 years now, they have not made any strides in new language.  After attempting since last school year to obtain a communication device for her, she and her husband have decided to raise the money and purchase one for Addison themselves.  To help them with the cost, the Southern Belle Store has agreed to make a shirt specifically for Addison’s fundraiser.  Here’s the info:

The shirt will say:  “Southern Belles know not being able to speak is not the same as having nothing to say”

There are 2 different colors light blue and orange and they come in both long and short sleeves and in adult and youth sizes.

Short sleeve shirts are $20 and long sleeve are $22 regardless of size.

These shirts are not autism specific and reach all disability groups.

I’m planning to get one ASAP, and if anyone is interested in purchasing one of the t-shirts please just contact me through my contact link at the top of the page or leave a comment here, and I’ll send you an order form.  I know I’ve got plenty of proud southern readers out there, and if you aren not interested in the T-shirt, but making a donation, that can be arranged.  Just let me know.

And to put faces with names, here’s an awesome video Leah made of Addison and her son McKade.

Technorati Tags: Autism, Living with Autism, Southern Belle T-shirts, Speech Communication Device

The other day, when I spent some time with Allie’s little friend’s grandmother.  She had lots of questions about Christopher’s Autism.  She wanted to know my opinion about vaccinations and my belief as to what causes Autism.  I told her that I wasn’t really sure and to be perfectly honest, I hadn’t done much research on it.  I guess I felt a little embarrassed about that.  Many parents of Autism are so involved in “the cause”.  Not just what causes Autism, but meaning they are involved in spreading the word about it, and finding a cure, etc.  For me, from the beginning when we found out about Christopher’s Autism, I was all about just getting him the therapies he needed to thrive and progress.

Now, I feel like I need to get a little more involved.  I really would love to know, what could have been done to prevent this, if there was anything at all that could have been done.  I am very interested in learning more about vaccinations, possible genetic links and special diets that have been known to help children with Autism.  There are so many ideas and theories about what “causes” Autism.  I feel a little out of the loop, and so uneducated about Autism.  This is why when we move, I plan to join a support group and I’m going to sign up for some upcoming conferences.  There is one located in the city that we are planning to move to in the next few of weeks, and I plan on being there.  This one in particular, discusses Social Communication Interventions for Children with Autism.  I’m really looking forward to going to this, it’s in 4 weeks and I hope we will be moved by then.

I think this is a huge step in becoming better educated about Autism.  Hopefully I will gain the knowledge I need that will help me understand why this has happened to our son, and help me to get a better and more clear vision of what the future holds for him.

Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Diagnosis, Causes of Autism, Social Communication Interventions

I hate that this is the first I’ve posted about this.  We’ve just had so much other stuff going on.  Christopher’s inclusion teacher spoke with me after school today about getting together on Friday with her, his teacher and the Director of Special Education.  Christopher has had some behavioral problems ever since the beginning of the school year.  We had this problem last year too, but things eventually got better.  He has trouble staying seated, and sometimes he just absolutely refuses doing any school work.  And today was one of those days.

So we will meet and hopefully the director will have some input as to where we will go from here.  We will be developing a behavioral plan.  The director is new this year, so I look forward to meeting her.  I’ve spoken with her on the phone, and she seemed very encouraged about him.  They rave over how smart he is, but this behavior issue is hindering him, and needs to get under control before he goes any further in school.  An I completely agree and look forward to getting together with them.

Technorati Tags: autism spectrum disorder, behavior problems, special education

Wow! Both kiddos had a great first day of school yesterday!  I took Allie first, and of course, as always, she hops out of the van, without even batting an eye.  Doesn’t even say goodbye to her Mama!  Then off we go to Christopher’s new school.  The day before he met his teacher and after explaining to her that he wouldn’t be eating breakfast, instead of him going to the cafeteria, she agreed to meet us in her classroom.  Well…I get there and wasn’t sure where to park, so I pull into the drive where everyone is dropping off the kids.  One of the ladies, helping with the drop off said that he had to go to the cafeteria, so I reluctantly let her take him.  So as I was driving off, I realized that I hadn’t pinned a name tag on him, and I started to panic.  I immediately called Steven asking him if he thought I should go back, he said I should if it would make me feel better.

So I whipped the van around parked on the street and walked towards the cafeteria where I saw Christopher sitting outside looking very alone.  I walked up to him, and I said, “Christopher, who are you suppose to be out here with?”  And there was a group of ladies standing off to the side.  One of them turned around quickly and said, “Oh…he’s with me.”  I told her that I was his mom and was just making sure that he got to where he was suppose to go.  She said that it was kind of loud in the cafeteria and he was covering his ears, and asked if he wanted to step outside.  She introduced herself, and said she is his Inclusion teacher.  She works with the SPED kids that have been placed in the mainstream classes.  So he will be working closely with her.  She seemed very nice, and I’m really glad that I got to meet her.  She did say that when Christopher was asked his name, that he said that it was “Thomas the Train”. LOL But when asked who his teacher was, he knew exactly what her name was.

Later that day, I was speaking with his Occupational therapist, and she asked who his teachers were and when I told her, her eyes lit up, and she kept going on about how wonderful they were, they have many years of experience, and that he was in the right place.  So that was really good to hear and when I picked him up, they said he had a great day.  So, I really feel optimistic about this year.

Technorati Tags: Autism, first day of school, special education

Being that it is the last day of Autism Awareness Month and as part of Blogging for Autism Awareness, I’ve decided to close it with an amazing update that I’ve received about my son, Christopher, during the IEP meeting I had with his teachers last week. I want people to know that I’m not trying to brag about my son, I am just so happy about the progress he has made, and I feel the need to share it and hopefully Christopher’s story will give hope to those parents out there, that are dealing with a similar situation.

First, these meetings always make me nervous. This time, I had a feeling it would turn out good, because of the wonderful progress reports that were being sent home. There was no doubt in my mind. But at the beginning of the year, things started out quite rough.

Christopher was having trouble adjusting to the schedule and his teacher, and I have to admit, I was very discouraged. You see…when Christopher was first enrolled and evaluated, it was recommended that he be placed in a 4 to 5 year old preschool class, that would allow him to be in a more restrictive environment. Whatever that means, but upon hearing this, my husband and I were not very happy about this placement. I wanted him to be placed into a regular Kindergarten class. Given, my son had issues, but we knew how smart he was, and we strongly felt that this was not the correct placement for him.

So, after discussing this with the SPED department, they agreed to put him in an inclusion Kindergarten class (a mainstream class, consisting of typical children and children with special needs). First day of school wasn’t too bad, but after going one day, Christopher started refusing to go, crying and pleading for me not to leave him. Now remember, this is my first child, on top of that, he has special needs, so I didn’t know what to do, but to just bring him home with me. I immediately called the school and arranged for a meeting to discuss our options. I was feeling like I had made a mistake having him placed in the Kindergarten class. The meeting was held, and although the topic of moving him back to the pre-school class was discussed, it was ultimately decided that he just be switched to the other inclusion class. The teacher in this class had a different teaching technique and her class was not as structured and a little more laid back. And I’ll admit the minute I met this woman, I took one look at her and immediately knew that she would be the perfect teacher for my son.

(more…)

Technorati Tags: Autism, Autism Awareness, Blogging for Autism, IEP Meeting