Autism Everywhere
October 5, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
A secretary notes that one of her long-time friend’s daughters is an autism consultant.
There’s an autistic child just around the corner from our house (I only found this out this week).
I hear of a child just diagnosed…….
Autism is everywhere—-but that does not mean, as an article today (Ped Med: Debate mounts over autism counts notes) that there is an “autism epidemic”?
It does mean, I do not feel alone.
Hi to all families all over the world who has autistic children, now I know I am not the only one , the only mother with an autistic child!
I sent you all my love and support from Greece, Athens!
With respect
Angela, mom of an 3 and half year autistic boy!
Angela, it’s wonderful to hear from you! How is your son doing?
http://trans.otenet.gr/systran/box
Hallo from Greece,
well, just, 4 months ago,we learned that little Nektarios, who is now 3 and half years old, suffers from autism and does not speak at all.
By the above website you can find,(translated in English from computer translation), the story of my boy Nektarios and some of my fears about his future .
If you have problem to read and understand any item do not hesitate to ask me to try to write it again in English !
Have a nice day
Lots of greetings from beautifyl Greece
Angela
http://www.noesi.gr/blog/angela
sorry, this is the correct web address!!!!
It is written in Greek! if you can automaticly translate it in English by Yahoo translate ok , if not just inform me and I will write you the Nektarios story from his day of birth until today!
Sorry for my bad English!
With respect to you
Angela
This is the story of little Nektarios
======================================
Three and half years ago little Nektarios came into my life!!! He came after my health problem of thyroid cancer! He was growwing up physiologically, he walked, he spoke and just one evening when he was one and half years old something bad happened! The time he ate his dinner he choked, he got blue and could not breathe and we took him immediately to the hospital!After a four hours operation the doctors said that everything went well, but did it?
Nektarios did not speak again!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, two years later we went to the hospital again for examinations this time, and the diagnosis was autism!
Now I am afraid alot for his future!
In the beginning I did not know what autism means. So I tried to find an answer to my question in Internet, and I not only found out what austism means but also found other people most of them parents of autistic children and now as a member of an internet website (noesi.gr) I feel stronger!!! Now I know I am not alone!!!!!!!
Here in Greece the state does not help us at all,
everything, the treatments, the doctors specialist for autism, and the spacial schools, are private whitch means we have to pay them by ourselves!!!!!!!!!!
I jealous all you, who live in other countries and the state helps you as much as they can!
I make a wish every night before I go to bed:
“I wish someday is found the therapy for the autism and my little angel Nektarios becomes a normal child again”
I sent you all my love from Athens
Angela
Υειασου Αντζελα,
με λενε Λωρα και ζο στον Καναδα με τον ανδρα μου και τον γιο μου, Ο οπιος εχει κι’αυτος Αυτισμος. Διαβασα την ιστορια σου και καταλαβενω πως αισθανεσαι. Λυπαμαι πολυ που δεν εχεις βοιθεια απο το Κρατος. Εδω εχουμε λιγη αλλα και παλη δεν φτανει με τιποτα.
Τελος παντων σου ευχωμαι το καλυτερο για ολη την οικογενια σου. Don’t give up.
Laura
Hi everyone,
I live in Vancouver, Canada. My son is two and half and was just diagnosed with Autism last month. We have known much longer though but the referral process takes a long time. It was only because we kept insisting to go to Sunny Hill for the diagnosis that we eventually got in almost a year after we were first concerned. Alex is a beautiful boy. He is nonverbal. He is becoming increasingly frustrated that he can’t communicate. We are in the process of beginning therapy. We live in a place where we get some funding but it is not nearly enough. And we have to basically have to do everything ourselves. We have to hire consultants and interventionists speech therapists OTs etc. We have to submit all receipts to the government or we’ll get cut off from funding. My complaint is that everyone makes a big deal about early intervention yet we can’t use the funding for certain therapies until after age 6. Naturopathic medicine for example has been a huge benefit for our son. Not covered. Extremely expensive. Anyway hope to hear from some of you soon.
Laura
Dear Laura
thank you for your answer in Greek!!!
I try not to give up but some days it is just too difficult not to! Especially the nights.
When I am thinking about his future without us,then I can not help it and I am crying.
Thank God he is doing better everyday but he still does not speak!
The only thing I can do is praying for a miracle to all autism childen to become better.
Αγαπητή Λάουρα,
σε ευχαριστώ που μου απάντησες και μάλιστα στα Ελληνικά.Προσπαθώ να μη το βάζω κάτω μα μερικές μέρες είναι πολύ δύσκολο αυτό, ειδικά τα βράδια.
Όταν σκέφτομαι το μέλλον του δίχως εμάς, δεν μπορώ να κάνω αλλιώς και κλαίω.
Δόξα τον Θεό κάθε μέρα πάει και καλύτερα αλλά εξακολουθεί να μην μιλάει.
Το μόνο πράγμα που μπορώ να κάνω είναι να προσεύχομαι για ένα θαύμα ώστε όλα τα παιδάκια με αυτισμό να γίνουν καλά!!!!
Lots of kisses to all your children
Angela from Greece
Hi Angela, your English is really good! Bravo.
Thank you for your kind wishes. I know it’s so hard. I cry alot too because you just don’t know what is going to happen. It is very stressful on everyone in the family and especially on the marriage. It’s hard because our sons look so beautiful and normal but they just don’t talk. Are there any support groups in your area for parents with Autistic children? Even here in Canada it’s hard to find support. I’m always trying to find other parents with Autistic children because I feel more comfortable talking to them. Is your son doing therapy? We are just starting and it’s really hard. Just trying to get him to sit still at the table is a major accomplishment. Everything seems so hard for us when they don’t understand and can’t speak. Anyway I am staying positive that he will get better with therapy. My husband is heartbroken that his only child has this problem. I don’t know if we will have more children now. I heard that you have higher chance to have more children with this problem if you already have one. Plus I have a heart problem that makes it more difficult. Ax Aman!
Anyway, I’m glad I found this website and you to talk to.
Laura
Dear Laura,
I agree with everything you are saying!!!
All autistic children are beautifull and …clever!!!
I am sending him in a special school for special need kids in the morning and every afternoon we make ergo and speech therapies and Sundays we go for swimming in a pool but with our own therapist.
We need more than a salary just to pay all these and I can not go to work because I must drive him to all these different places which are very far away from our home.
We also do not think to have another child because we are afraid that… autism will find us again!!!
We find support only from other families who have the same problem with us. Otherwise we have to pay a psychologist by our own!
Αχ αμάν!!!
My e-mail address is: angela@noesi.gr
You can write me whenever you like, I would be very glad to … talk to you and find support from each other…
Consider me like your friend…
Να είσαι καλά καλή μου φίλη
να έχεις κουράγιο και
περιμένω νέα σου
Angela
Angela,
thank you. Consider me your friend as well. I also feel more comfortable talking with other parents who are in similar situations. It’s hard for me to talk to my other friends who have “typical” children. But they try to support us too. I’m sending you an invitation to join “facebook” if you want. I don’t know if you know what that is. It’s like a personal webpage you can add pictures and join all your friends. Anyways, my email is arilaura@hotmail.com
kalo vradi,
Laura
Angela, thanks for sharing about your son here, in Greek especially, and thanks too to Laura. My son also likes to swim; he is also our (much loved) one and only—–things are not always easy, but my son has made my life not only good, but better than it could ever have been.
Greetings from Greece. It was nice to find another Greek mother in a foreign site about autism (hallo Angela). My son is 3 and a half years old and, yes, he has autism. It was devastating for me and my husband to find out that our precious little angel will never be the way we dreamed about him. Now, hope has taken the place of frustration, as we watch him gain ground to autism every day. He speaks, he is potty-trained (our recent achievement), he participated in his kindergarten summer-fest (danced with the rest of the children and even sang his poem while holding the microphone!) and is described by his occupational therapy as the best kid she has ever worked with. We stil have a long way to go, especially in the feeding field, as he insists to eat the same food everyday (any suggestions on that?). I pray for him every day as we have no other children and he will probably be on his own when he will grow up. I feel so close to all parents with autistic children and I’d love to hear from you. Be strong for your children. Good parenting does make a difference!
Hi from Greece again
Our latest news are very good. A year after diagnose little Nektarios is going much better!
I wish you all to have a very nice summer and I pray everynight all children to became better!
Welcome to our site Athina, have you seen the Greek website of autism, noesi.gr ???
Angela
Thanks so much for the link—-I don’t know modern Greek but I can read some.
Very good to hear about Nektarios is doing—-very best wishes in the summer!
My name is Litsa Kamateros from Montreal ,Quebec Canada. I along with my co-writer Lea Schizas are embarking on a writing project which will bring you a detailed researchf the heart-wrenching bureaucratic “long tape” on getting a child assessedd treated for autism. throughout the upcoming book you”ll read personal accounts from parents and teachers from across Canada and the world,and how they’ve fought to try to get funding for their children. Their stories need to be told and heard . Change is not only needed in Canada but also throughout the entire world.”Autism Epidemic”:Shaking the System ” dedicated to all who have physically and mentally challenged their governments to bring at a quicker assessment time for their child, and help defray the costs for therapy that ensues. Our intent is to bring about awareness and a voice to help battle this indifference by many in the higher ranks. The cry of the parents of autistic children:Help us help our children. Think of “Autism Epidemic” as your “Personal Reelections of the Autistic Soul.”We want your stories told ,we want to help you bring your voice to the world ,we want our readers to hear what you have to say and possibly unite in a greater voice for change across theworld. We invite you to visit our website:www.theautismepidemic.com There you will find two questionnaires to download,answer and send to us via email. Our e-mail address is autismepidemic@yahoo.com
Hello,
Angela I must admit that your story surprised me so much!!!I am working with ASD children and adolescence and I have never heard a sotry like yours before. Meaning to develop autism after a bad dinner or lunch time…It might be the case of the condition to be expressed at that time, bad timing, but certainly not to be developed because of this incident.
Please dont pray your child to change and shift in the situation he was before. You say you every day hope to turn and become normal again. If he has autism (which sounds strange to me to developed autism due to bad meal time but as I said before it might only expressed at that time meaning that he born with autism anyway) and you wish to be “normal” again (how we define normality anyway?) you actually wish to have another child!!!!!Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the way the brain function. Therefore, the only way to find a treatment or change an autistic child to a neurotypical one is either by replacing your autistic son to a neurotypical one (!!!!) or perform a brain transplantation (impossible!!!!)
The son and all ASD children and adults are unique individuals as all human beings, thinking and performing with their own way. Try to understand him rather than wish his change. Studies have shown that autism severity is positively correlated with parental behaviour. So try to be happy and be in his shoes and you will see a marvellous improvement of his behaviour.
In few year time is very likely that most people in the world will be diagnosed with ASD, we (therapistis, clinicians, and general people in the area of autism) are not talking about autism epidemic. Autism is not a disorder is a different way of thinking and not necessarily negative but just different. Black people differ from White ones, Chinesse also differ from Europeans, they are not “bad” or “abnormal” because they are not white, they are just different. Nevertheless not many years ago they were considered as problematic and massive murders have occured.
If I can help in any way please email me, Greece has many problems with special education need support but there are some really worth visiting organisations and people caring about ASD children
me ektimisi, sevasmo k katanoisi gia tis duskolies pou efere auti i diaforetikotita sti zoi sas
elena