This site is in no way endorsed by any Military branch of service or DoD
For advertising information
CLICK HERE or email sherry@epmilitarylink.com
Advertisement
FAMILY/LIFE/RELATIONSHIPS
Living With Autism
Fort Bliss Life ... El Paso's Military Link
tm
This site is in no way endorsed by any military branch of service or DoD
Military Spouse Owned & Operated
Suggest a link:
Debbie Hendrix knows firsthand the affects that autism has on a family. An Army Wife, FBL came to know Debbie from our Fort Bliss Connect social networking site. Not yet a member of the El Paso/Fort Bliss community, Debbie posted a question in the Fort Bliss Wives group on the site about autism. Informing the group she would be arriving to the area due to a PCS move, her concern was one that many have—available support and services. One of the group’s members posted the question on twitter and Health.Mil responded with a request to speak with Debbie about the possibility of her contributing an article for their Autism Awareness Month on their blog. Though Autism awareness month was in August, for the Hendrix family, their minds are aware every day. If you know of any organizations or services available in the El Paso area for those with autism, please let us know by sending an email to info@fortblisslife.com.
Debbie blogs at:www.talesofanarmywife.blogspot.com/
Create or join a group...public or private
Share/upload photos, videos, music and information
On April 7th, 2002, my family’s lives were changed forever. We had just had our second son, and our adventures with autism would soon begin. My second son was different from his older brother, but I wondered how different could brothers be? I knew enough that no two children were the same, but my mother’s intuition told me something just wasn’t right.
From the time my son was about a year old, I was constantly telling the doctors I was concerned about his development, but they wouldn’t do anything. The doctors kept telling me he’s ok, he is developmentally on track, and boys talk later than girls. I couldn’t I get a doctor to listen to my concerns. I was concerned about more than my son’s lack of speech. At two and a half he lacked speech, did not like being touched, was not affectionate, would not look you in the face, lined things up, had no fear, and wouldn’t respond to his name. It wasn’t until I changed my children’s primary care manager that I finally had someone listen to me and tell me that my son was different. Soon thereafter a pediatric neurologist diagnosed my son with pervasive developmental disorder (P.D.D.), or high functioning autism. My suspicions had been confirmed now and it was time to figure out how to help my little boy.
The one thing that has helped my son the most is therapy. He receives speech, occupational, physical and ABA therapy in school. He receives additional speech therapy outside of school. He would receive other services but in our area service providers are few and far between. At home we do a lot of repeating, constantly saying “use your words” and modeling. Practice makes perfect, right? With therapy my son has gone from being non-verbal to having fifty percent speech intelligibility at seven years old. His skill level is improving as well. He is developmentally at the same level as his five year old brother. It takes time but when you see your child doing or saying something new it is the best feeling in the world.
Routine is very important in our house. We have a schedule taped to the fridge and rules taped to the walls. If we need to break from the schedule without thoroughly explaining why in advance, meltdowns occur. Meltdowns are not fun, so if you can figure it how to avoid them, you do. My son gets anxious in crowded places and starts humming jingle bells, a song I really do not like anymore. He may even bust out with a funny dance too. He doesn’t play with other kids, only near them. He doesn’t understand the difference between doing something on purpose and what an accident is, no matter how many times we explain it to him. I can go on and on, the list seems endless. Things that are normal to me would puzzle most people.
My son, like other children with autism, has his “quirks,” and no two kids with autism are the same so what works for one child may not work for the next. As parents we learn what we can do to improve the quality of our child’s life. Above all we learn we are our child’s number one advocate, if we don’t fight for our children who will?
This article first appeared on the Military Health System blog at health.mil"
Living With Autism
by Debbie Hendrix
