Sunflower by Jacob. Nice.

This post was originally about some data and my desire to see changes in how parents who choose to keep their children with ASDs home instead of placing them in group homes.. are treated compared to group home services rendered.. after reflection, I wanted to change the post and keep it more geared towards the loveliness of my severely autistic child, Jacob.. 

I want to keep this blog about the sweet nature of my son despite a the rare/not so rare meltdown here and there.. and to focus on the things that bring him joy and us joy through him.  As I poured through the countless sites on autism.. I noticed there were lots of parents that feel overwhelmed, exhausted, isolated and "imprisoned" by their children.  I want parents to know, this is NOTa sentence of busting rocks for the rest of their life.. but you will bust rocks.. that I can promise ( and he/she will too ), in reaching milestones and surpassing hurdles in their life. 

 When I am ill, he runs and gets pillows and blankets.. and in his strange garbled tone say's "lie down, lie down" pronounced (lie dowel lie dowel).. what a sweet sweet boy.. There are days, I scratch my head at the end of the night and wonder, "how did I get through that?" (meltdown days).. I'm still standing thats all that counts.

  I will leave the trained people to discuss the heartbreaks and debilitating pain watching day in and day out.. someone like my son suffer-trying to communicate, trying to connect with the world and people around him OR suffering consequences from not connecting.. there are countless services parents are not receiving.. countless changes in the system that needs to be made including insurance availability for autism needs.. but I have to challenge myself to show you how wonderful my son can be...  I like to refer to it as, the constant terrible two's.. its exhausting, but you wouldn't trade that cute guy for nothing.

 There is  a lot of science data on ASD's (autism spectrum disorders).. I could pour through pages on this stuff.  One page I cannot find.. How disheartening.. is the page that led me to Jacobs therapy.  I saw a study 3 years ago being done at a Georgia hospital.  They were forcing ASD's to "create"  I discussed this in my previous post.  Today I was going to share that with you on this page and could not find it.  I did find many sites discussing art and autism and therapy but this was a particular site that gave me much hope.

Because of how the autism mind works, and how it is lit up under MRI it was discovered that forcing autistic people to create "new" things.. forced them to deal with parts of the brain that were not very well lit under mri. This means taking away the coloring books(it is structured artwork) and forcing him to 'create' as this opens up normally 'dim' areas of his mind under Mri.. therefore, I like to bring subjects up to Jacob and ask him to "draw his "own", Canyonlands.. or Mcdonaldstm arches.  I sometimes just sit back and let him start painting something and then ask him, "whatcha drawing Jake?"..and he surprises me.. a Legotm house?.. but yes, now I can see.. a Legotm house..hm. Thought I'd share this photo of the finished "Legotm House" painting, in the last post he was still painting it. - "Lego House" by Jacob: 

and finished!

 A moment of reflection or introspection.. Jake sitting so quietly on a farm tractor tire while I water the garden and snap pictures of sunflowers (I have a fascination with sunflowers) but who doesn't right?

(Beautiful Sunflower for you to Enjoy!)

and Jacob enjoying the sunflowers!

Boy Howdy, does he bring me joy! Maybe tomarrow I will ask him to paint me a sunflower..hm Sunflower by Jacob. Nice.

Sharing Good News in Autism

                 His Brain Works Just Fine!

As a mother of a severely autistic child, I am blessed to say, this is NOT the horrible news everyone has been told that it is.. Truly, there are not enough good things to say about a family member with autism.  First and foremost  their honesty is far beyond the technique we mere "normal" humans exhibit, on our best day.. These guys, wow, where do I begin.. They are so honest in their character, their behavior and even their social life.. they are cautiously optimistic and enduring once they trust you.  



You have someone, who will do anything to bring you joy, if you give them the same respect.. My son is severely autistic.. We THOUGHT that he could not communicate.. but we were wrong.. everything he does is communication.. just because he doesn't use his ABC's to speak.. doesn't mean he's not communicating.. as what is seen in body language, the sharing of toys, and little signs they leave around, about... what they want, what they don't want.. and so on.  (like if they don't like dinner.. they go get the whole pot of it and throw it in the trash.. do you laugh or scream?) (he has learned now to just set the plate aside)..

Once we get past what "our normal" is.. we begin to see the openness declared by them in their daily processes.  Like my son, sings, sings, sings.. all the time.. sings.. maybe its echolalia or maybe he's talking..hmm.

My son, I just didn't care if he hugged me or not, or called me momma, or said, "i love you", i just grabbed him and hugged him all the time.. and it "sunk" in to his mind.. LOVE.. now he is the best hugger.. in the world.. Because their senses are so overwhelmed by just simple daily activities.. their focus is different than ours.. I have found, artwork DOES help.  

In Atlanta, Ga., a dr. is studying and working with the results of an MRI study, that suggested alot if not all autistics use one part of their brain all the time.. (the mathematical part).. the other side of the brain had no "light activity" during the MRI's.. so he suggested having autistic people "create".. to light up that part of the brain.. and in time.. maybe equal out what was going so strongly and taking over the other part of the brain, (You know the part that say's "stack everything you see").. so I decided, to take away the coloring books (which seemed to bore my child to death anyways).. and I handed him bottles of Crayola finger paints and a large artist paint brush.. and I asked him to paint.. on poster board.. WOW, his first paintings were.. "garbles of color" in time though he developed the concept to speak with the paints.. he started telling us what he wanted with the paints.. He would paint and say the WORD.. for instance, "Canyonlands!" (he had a magazine with Canyonlands he looked at and he really wanted to go) suddenly he was saying this word so clearly.. as I gazed into the artwork.. I realized.. YES it is Canyonlands!  He now paints Legotm structures, and Mcdonaldstm signs... and characters from his favorite movies.. they appear to be abstract works of art, but definetly have the figures and colors appropriately.. I have asked a few people what they think and have been told, they see lots more in those paintings.. hm.. 

I handed my son a toy horse and asked him to "name him" thinking that this is "creating" and so.. he looked at that horse, and he looked at that horse and he looked at that horse... and 2 days later.. he comes to me and say's... "Neah!"  (like Leah) but Neah.  It occurred to me.. he may have been searching his brain, for a name he had never ever heard before.. something that tied into the figurine.. a horse.. sooo not sure if Neah is the name due to a horse neighing or b/c he searched the far reaches of his brain.. to come up with this name? But the lesson.. His mind works JUST FINE! sorta.