Halos And Rainbows

Autistic Angels

This page is for those of us who are privaledged enough to live with a young person who comes under the umbrella of Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Goat was diagnosed with this when he was 3, so I know some of what you may have experienced or may be going through.

I have put some links on the links pages that may be a help but just for a bit friendly Fairy Support, please feel free to pop any comments. strategies or questions here, I'm sure there's someone else here who may have something to suggest.

If you would like to talk to other families who live with Autism please click the link below to join in on our message boards, you'll get a warm welcome from our Fairy Friends

http://www.halosandrainbows.com/fairychat.htm

There seems to be no agreement as to what actually causes Autism, genetics, problems during pregnancy, home circumstances etc, unfortunately there seems to be a huge range of charactoristics which get put under the umbrella of Autism and with an older child Aspergers Syndrome.  I've listed some of them here:

Extreme difficulty in learning language.

Inappropriate response to people; a  child with autism may avoid eye contact, resist being picked up or cuddled, and seem to tune out the world.

Inability or reduced ability to play cooperatively with other children or to make friends or  understand other people's feelings.

Need for a rigid, highly structured routine -and being very distressed by changes to routines.

Extreme hyperactivity or unusual passivity, and extreme resistance to change.

Repetitive body movements including pacing, hand flicking, twisting, spinning, rocking or hitting oneself.

Insensitivity to pain or lack of response to cold or heat.

Impulsive behavior and no real fear of dangers.

An unusual attachment to inanimate objects such as toys, strings or spinning objects.

Frequent crying and tantrums for no apparent reason.

Peculiar speech patterns.  An autistic child may use words without understanding their meanings.

Abnormal responses to sensations such as light, sound and touch.  At times an autistic child may appear deaf. At other times the child may be extremely distressed by everyday noises.

Some of these symptoms occur in children with other disabilities.  Symptoms can change as the child grows older.

Call Your Doctor If:

Your infant or child resists cuddling and doesn't respond to his or her environment or to other people.

By about the age of 1 year, your child is not pointing to objects, bringing items to you or engaging in simple interactions such as "peek-a-boo."

By the age of 18 months your child is not using any words or attempting to communicate.

Your child bangs his or her head or demonstrates self-injurious behavior or aggression on a regular basis.

Your child demonstrates unusually repetitive behavior, such as repeatedly opening and closing doors or turning a toy car upside down and repeatedly spinning its wheels.

Your first contact is your GP who will put you in touch with a peadiatrition, because of the wide variety of differences withing the Spectrum, treating your child is an ongoing work of art with the peadiatritions help.  As a mum I try to treat Goat as capable of most things other kids his age can do, I find if I do things for him, he gives in so I give lots of encouragement, but it really does depend on the abilities of your little one.  Your peadiatrition and GP will help you make decsions and find workable strategies.