hello everyone! and happy father's day to all the daddies in the world. they are very special people, especially sir dantes' and ms. maxie's. just being a bit bias!

anyway, the other day i came across an interesting article about genes and autism. it was on the usa news week site; "researchers find autism related gene".

now quoting from the article:

"THE RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT AUTISM ENVISAGED DOZENS OF GENES AND SEVERAL COMBINATION S OF RARE MUTATIONS. THEY ALSO FOUND THAT EACH PATIENT MAY HAVE A UNIQUE FORM OF MUTATIONS."

Follow up:

the article went on to explain that the mutations could be either a genetic code being repeated several times, or being skipped altogether; and that these codes could vary from family to family according to that families particular genetic code. wow! that would explain the saying "if you met one child with autism, you have only met one child with autism". for those of you that may not be familiar with the expression, it basically means that while the criteria for a child being diagnosed with autism has only three major classifications the way each particular child displays these characteristics vary greatly.

well, that of course got me thinking.

the three main criteria that a child has to show to be considered to be on the autism spectrum are 1) developmental delays in the area of cognition, 2) developmental delays in social interaction, and 3) a display of repetitive actions. i will let you know that is my wording and i did not just look up the official definition before typing that sentence, but that is the general wording. it is, of course, much more complicated than that. my wording is just a quick summery. taken simply, could we all be autistic? that would be just silly. the delays have to be significant, very significant. it is not as simple as just being a little behind your peers or a bit introverted. which only adds to the confusion. now add in that we have to look at the genetic coding from child to child; family to family. how many variations could there be?

i know i have my own little quirks which are on the verge of o.c.d. i have some repetitive actions, such as twirling my hair when i am tired. i know i have some cognitive issues; i have never considered myself the quickest on the block. my husband can rattle off facts about sporting events like a trivia book and lines up his personal items. could it be that our genetic coding added together was just enough to make sir dantes autistic? should we add in the other strange things our relatives do/ did? i have a first cousin who is so germaphobic that he shaved his head, wears gloves, and everything in his apartment is white and stainless steel. should i consider that? after all, we share the same grandparents. and the confusion and fascination of the autistic person gets even deeper.

the general population has a vague idea of what an autistic person appears to be: a person sitting and rocking, a person who flaps their hands when excited, a person who appears to have little emotion, or a person who is just absolutely brilliant. many people also think of dustin hoffman's portrayal of an autistic person in the movie "rainman". while all of these particular actions can be true of an autistic person, it is so much more than that. sometimes the signs are very tricky to recognize.

first of all, autistic children do not look autistic. they look just the same as most people do. i say this only because some developmental delays, such as down's, can be easily recognized by sight alone. some children with cognitive disorders have a glazed looked about them or their skulls are misshaped. but an autistic child has no physical deformities that jump out and label them. but, if you watch closely when they are babies you can pick up on a few of the signs.

sir dantes never made much eye contact. newborn babies have difficulties within the first few weeks of being able to focus in on objects or see long distances, but after those few weeks their eyesight is as fine as anyone. long after sir dantes' abilities to focus and see normal distances passed, he still never appeared to look at us much. he seemed much happier to look at objects than at us. this is not normal behavior for babies. most babies are fascinated at others faces and reach out for them. babies normally love to be held as well. not sir dantes. he squirmed and fought being cuddled unless he was nursing. it was as though he couldn't wait to be away from us. he cried and cried until we put him down. this was also alarming and not normal behavior. basically, we wrote it off to him just being a fussy baby. these are just a couple of things that could clue you in early that the possibilities exist of your child being autistic.
some of his fussiness i now know was the result of sensory issues. sensory issues are a huge part of autism, but not necessary clear when dealing with the three major classifications. this can be very tricky because an autistic child does not feel, see, or smell things the way most people do. we all have them; how many of you cringe when someone scrapes their nails on a chalkboard? well, what if you had the feeling because the light was to bright or the water was running, but to everyone else the light was fine and running water is just a part of life. you can drive yourself nuts trying to figure out what is causing your child to go into a frenzy. so you try a variety of things...lower the lights, change the temperature in the house, lower the volume and so on. for sir dante some of the things he did (and still does from time to time) was to walk on his tippy-toes and constantly undress. and, as i stated, he hated to be held. most of his issues do with how things feel against his skin. he still walk on his toes and wears shoes to bed, but he doesn't mind clothes so much anymore and he will give hugs and sit a cuddle for short periods of time. he use to hate the feel of lotions, but he still hates the way a shower feels on his head. so pay particular attention to what is going on if your child goes into temper tantrum mode for no apparent reason.

next, the repetitive behavior is another sign to watch for. not all autistic children sit around rocking or head-banging. although sir dantes has banged his head, it is not something he does a lot. he had gone through phases of this action. he has never been a "rocker". he was a jumper. one day we sat in his room and watched him jump up and down, straight up and down, for fifty counts while in his crib. the main thing here is that you try to notice any behavior that they just "do" over and over. sir dantes would do this while watching cartoons. he was completely engaged in the show, but he just couldn't sit back and watch the show. it could be hair-twirling, rocking, head-banging, jumping, spinning, hand-flapping, or basically any movement a body can make.

by the time he was 10 months old, i knew. some still doubted, such as my mom, because none of his behaviors were "severe". but, when we took sir dantes for his one year well baby check-up, his pediatrician also noticed the signs. especially the big one...no verbal language. most babies are starting to say simple, one syllable words before they are a year old; mama, dada, hi, no, and so on. but not our son. he cried when he was upset, giggled when he was happy, and babbled. he still does not talk to this day and he turned three in february. finding a way to communicate is so important. we started using sign language. he picked up on it fast! he signs very well and has about thirty that he uses very regularly. and everyday, he seems to pick up new ones. this week it has been "help". he also is forming sentences using signs, for example "i want cookie". that is one of his favorites. he may never speak but he understands everything we say. at first we wondered if he may be deaf. we even tried some test around the house such as turning on the fire alarm to see if he would turn his head. sometimes he would and sometimes he wouldn't. about the only way to test for this is to take them to the audiologist. autistic children can tune you out and other sounds when they become engrossed in an activity. but, if your child understands what you are saying but not talking that is a huge sign.

i know this is a long post, but there is one more area i would like to address and that is social delays. some days when i am watching him i wonder if he is playing or just arranging things. he has a tendency to put things in order. yes, sometimes this is lining things up. he lines his pillows up, his trains, his blocks, and so on. sometimes he puts things in the order in which he sees them. one time he arranged his teddy grahams to match the picture on the box. but besides the lining up of things, look for the arrangement of patterns. he put the magnets on the refrigerator in a color order; two blues, one red, two blues on top then two reds, one blue, and two reds on the bottom. he does this with colored blocks as well. outside he always wants the wagon behind his daddy's gray riding lawnmower. he is not happy until it is parked there. once he has decided where something should go and you move it and he sees you...he will put it right back the way he wants it. sometimes it becomes a battle of wills. but autistic children do play and explore. usually they play alone so get them out there. he has become a lot better at playing since he's gotten older, especially since ms. maxie demands him to play. she has forced him and i am so glad she has. we have seen a huge change in him this summer. between the slip-n-slide and his sister he has really progressed in this area.

i know some this may appear as just rambling, but there are so many little things that vary from child to child. they are not all severe and they are not all geniuses. i think this perception comes from the obsession these children have with certain objects or subjects. so, they learn everything about them they can. but most have a fairly normal intelligence level. but if you think your child may be autistic, think outside of the normal thinking about what an autistic child does or acts. they are very wonderful children and with time and patience many of the "odd" behaviors decrease or disappear altogether. sir dantes still occasionally will bang his head, but not that often anymore. he still occasionally does his happy dance, but not as much as he use to. he cuddles more and give hugs and kisses. he plays more even though he still arranges items quite often.

what i can maybe learn from the article i first referenced is to pay more attention to the things i do, or his father, or even second cousins and learn from them. how do we deal with the behaviors in ourselves that are odd. can i take that experience and help him. looking inside ourselves may be some of the best therapy there is.

good-night.