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Friday, August 5, 2011

Do you know the early warning signs of autism?

Recognizing autism early is so very important.  If you don't know what to watch for, take a look at this.  One thing I remember about Johnny is that when we'd take our walks around the block (which were RUNS, remember?) he'd stop and walk past the mailboxes several times, looking at them out of the corner of his eye.  Also after a hurricane, there were a lot of sticks laying on the side of the road and I wondered why, being a little 2 year old boy, he wouldn't want to pick up any of them.  I tried to get him to play with one.  Sounds weird, I know, but it wasn't long after that I noticed several other things pointing toward autism.  You have to know the little things to look for.  When I first suspected, I found a site that showed 19 red flags and 17 of them applied to Johnny.  Just taking that 5 minutes and finding out the signs really sealed it up for me.  I began making calls the following day.  Jump on it, don't put it off.  It's too important.  The earlier it is addressed the better the chances of correcting the autistic behaviors.  (Sorry I don't believe we can CURE our children.  I believe we can eliminate the behaviors but I don't think it ever really goes away completely.  That's just my personal opinion).
 
http://www.autismweb.com/signs.htm

Below is the picture of the twigs Johnny broke up to make the alphabet.  I think I had gotten rid of the leaves he was placing them on because it was making him too mad.  They were a little curved and the twig pieces kept rolling off.  You'll have to click on it to enlarge it to see the letters and even then it's kind of hard.

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7 comments:

  1. TrishAugust 5, 2011 at 4:53 PM

    Another great post! Especially because you were already mother to 4 kids so you KNEW it was odd that he wouldn't want to pick up sticks and things like that. Think about the first time parents that wouldn't think of such things as odd...until now anyway...until they read your blog!
    BTW I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of him!

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  2. Ridiculously RobinAugust 5, 2011 at 6:00 PM

    It's my favorite picture of him. I remember almost coming to tears saying "Look it's a stick! Let's throw it, draw in the dirt, SOMETHING!" Boys LOVE sticks. They're swords, bats, pokers, things like that. It was really strange that he didn't have any interest in them. Last week I caught him out on the sidewalk breaking up twigs and he had 26 leaves laid out in a row, and he was breaking the twigs into pieces, making them into letters of the alphabet and putting them each on a leaf. (So the first leaf had an A made out of twigs, the second had a B, etc...). I think I have a picture of that. It was CRAZY! But that's NOT the kind of playing with sticks I'm talking about. :)

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  3. AnonymousAugust 5, 2011 at 6:15 PM

    AWesome post, being with all my disorders and know a college student i love reading this. I like hearing how another mother is dealing and not just mine

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ridiculously RobinAugust 5, 2011 at 6:29 PM

    Applause to you. Standing ovation too. Care to name your disorders? I'm curious. It's okay, if you don't. Your mother must have dealt VERY well if you are now a college student. :o)

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  5. LisaAugust 5, 2011 at 7:30 PM

    I love the tone of your writing Robin. It speaks to the heart. I am totally in awe of Johnny's twig alphabet. I wish the leaves had worked as his background. That would have made an even more awesome photo.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ridiculously RobinAugust 5, 2011 at 7:48 PM

    He tried SO hard to make them stay on the leaves. Just wouldn't work. It did look a whole lot cooler when he had them that way. I love how he found one with just the right amount of curve to make the "J."
    Thanks for your nice comments! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousDecember 15, 2011 at 7:36 AM

    I remember this! I had to help him because he was getting very upset. Love my Johnny <3
    -Jillian

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