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All right, 4strong, you've got an attentive audience here! What do you think are the most important things for people to know about autism? What are the biggest misconceptions? Here's your chance to educate us!

Lol I love a captive audience!

I will give you a list of all my favorite websites and books that can explain in a lot better than I can!

I think the the biggest misconception out there is that children with autism are all the same, when in reality no two are alike. That's why the awareness symbol is a puzzle peice, each child is another peice of the puzzle. Every family has a different story, there are some people out there that are like rain man, Miah has a lot of OCD tendencies, but has learned how to handle them a lot better.

Alot of parents have different views on autism, I have a friend who will do anything and everything to "cure" her son, sometimes at the expense of the rest of her family. She tries all the newest and latest therapies, diets and suppliments. I am not that kind of parent. I have Miah in a limited amount of therapies, and I have him there because I want to help him learn the skills to make his life a little easier. I don't want to change him, I love my Bub just the way he is, although he can be VERY trying at times. Now I am not saying that my friend is wrong, we just have different ways of dealing with autism.

Jeramiah was diagnosed with PDD NOS (pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified) and sensory integration disorder. PDD means that he shows some of the syptoms of classic autism but not others. A lot of people can't really tell that there is anything different about him unless they spend a lot of time with him. He tends to cycle a lot with his behaviors. He will do really good for a couple of weeks and than the next two weeks, he will have a really hard time and we both cry a lot! With his sensory issues, he doesn't handle bright lights or loud noises very well (we always bring his MP3 player and sun glasses to the store) he can't stand having his hands or feet dirty (the kid wont go with in 100 ft of finger paint lol!) and he won't touch anything that is wet. But these are things that they are working on in therapy and he has really come a long way!

I do have Bub on a GFCF diet, he is completly casein free and I have cut back a lot on the gluten (that stuff is in EVERYTHING!) and it has helped improve his speech and his stomach problems have improved a lot! (a lot of autistic kids have stomach problems) I have debated on giving him something to help him sleep because he is a sleep walker and tends to wake up every night around 3 and be wide awake. But I have decided against it, it just never really sat right with me, and he doesn't seem to be affected by it.

As far as what causes autism, that can be such a touchy subject, that I kinda hesitate to say anything! But my opinion is that vaccinations had something to do with it. Jeramiah was such an easy mellow baby until he got his MMR shot at around 12 months. Then all of the sudden it was like I had a different child, he was night and day different. Not long after that I noticed him withdrawing and not playing as much. BUT I dont know for sure that the shot had anything to do with it, it's just my gut feeling. I would encourage any parent to research vaccines and come to their own conclusion about what is right for their child. I put Abbi on a delayed vaccination schedual just to be safe. There really isn't a need to give kids so many shots at once. Again this is just my opinion!

Since I have already written a novel, I will just give ya my favorite website and that's www.autismspeaks.org it has a list of other websites and books on it too!

This is from one of my favorite books, "The Elephant in the Playroom" and it's by Denise Brodey. It's a collection of short stories written by parents of special needs children..

I Broke all the Rules Today" By, Lorena Smith

I broke all the rules today: The "be consistant" rule. The "Never give in" rule. And especially the "Always be patient" rule.
I am tired this morning. I am bone weary. I always wondered what people meant when they said that, but today I can actually feel my bones ache.
Be patient, be consistent. Don't give in. Make him say the words. Be patient
I haven't slept in two days. My eyes feel like they are on fire trying to stay open.
He cried all night; He is still crying. I have gone over every part of his body to check for a bruise, a mark, an ache.
I can find nothing wrong. The cries come from the confused ache inside of him, when his world does not make sense.
Don't get angry, be patient. Be patient. Never give in, never give up.
He is still crying as I am trying to give my daughter breakfast. His screams echo in my head until I can't hear anything else. My hips and back feel like they are going to break because I have been walking and carrying and rocking him all night trying to comfort him from an invisible pain. I don't know what is causing it and he can't tell me.
Who the **** made these rules up? Who wrote "teaching autistic children language"? Did Dr, Blah Blah Blah actually ever even meet an autistic child before he wrote a book about teaching them?
Be patient my ***!!
The refridgerator door has been open all night. There is dirty laundry overflowing into the kitchen. There are no clean towels.
He flails out with his little arms and knocks over my coffee cup. Another puddle to join the puddles and stains already under my table. I can't find where the coffee spilled though. There is cereal tracked all over my living room. He must have found where I hid the cereal boxes.
He reaches out for the gallon of milk on the table, and I try to make him say the word or make the sign. Follow the ruless, and you will have a healthy child. He will learn language as long as you are consistent. Be patient, be consistent.
He is screaming too loudly to say the word, and I break the "Be Consistent" rule and hand him the milk. Anything for one second of piece and quiet.
I decide to take him out for a walk in the stroller. Maybe he'll fall asleep.
(Maybe I'll Die)
The outdoors cheer him a little, but he still whimpers. There is an early frost on the ground, and I can hear the cows waking up and mooing at the neighboring farm.
My Daughter skips ahead of us on the road, talking to the cows and the leaves on the trees. She wears one of my sweaters because I can't find any of hers. Be patient. Breath. Breath. I feel my heart rate start to stabilize.
I hear a car drive by and automatically call for my daughter to move to the side of the raod. The car slows down beside me.
"Darling! Are you up this early exercising? Really you are too good! How do cope? I just couldn't do it! Well, got to fly! Have a great day, call me for coffee sometime! Bye!"
It's an aquaintance from church. How do I cope? Is this considered coping? What does she know anyway? I curse her. I curse her perfect makeup and her perfect children. I bet her living room is immaculate and her son doesn't step on eggs and then walk through the whole house.
I bet she has no puddles on her floor.
I don't think I can stand this one more day.
I feel tears on my face.
Then I feel something else.
My precious, beautiful son is standing up in the stroller, his hands on my face.
He is giving me a hug, and licking the tears from my face.

wow, ok, you made me cry. thank you mary.

my only suggestion is that you copy and paste what you wrote in to a new thread with autism in the subject line so folks can find it like Don suggested.

but wow - you are one special lady!!!

Wow. Crying here, too.

Absolutely awesome, 4strong. Thank you for your openness and your honesty. You are a very good source of information on this subject!

Thanks girls! I love my little boy and I love to tell people about him! There needs to be more autism awareness out there, every 20 min another child is diagnosed it's kinda scary!! I will paste this into a new subject in the open discussions!