Bridges4Kids Logo

 
About Us Breaking News Find Help in Michigan Find Help in the USA Find Help in Canada Inspiration
IEP Goals Help4Parents Disability Info Homeschooling College/Financial Aid Summer Camp
IEP Topics Help4Teachers Homework Help Charter/Private Insurance Nutrition
Ask the Attorney Become an Advocate Children "At-Risk" Bullying Legal Research Lead Poisoning
 
Bridges4Kids is now on Facebook. Follow us today!
 

 

 Article of Interest - Autism & Parenting

Raising Justin
For the parents of an autistic child, coping is an ever-changing challenge.
by Irene Sege, Boston Globe, 5/1/2003
For more articles like this visit https://www.bridges4kids.org

 
The imaginary play that comes so effortlessly to Faith is anything but instinctive to Justin, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 and had not yet begun to talk. The stimulation he seeks helps him cope with a chaotic world of sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that his brain cannot easily separate into foreground and background information.

With anecdotal evidence suggesting that there are growing numbers of children like Justin in Massachusetts, the state has launched a study to document the incidence of autism. California recently found a threefold increase in the number of cases there between 1987 and 1998. "I suspect we'll find the same thing that's been discovered in California," says Dr. David Urion, a neurologist at Children's Hospital.

Autism spectrum disorders are not apparent at birth and not detectable through simple blood tests, which makes prevalence difficult to pinpoint, Urion says. Recent estimates of autism's occurrence range from once in every 125 people to once in 5,000. Despite the conviction of many parents that the disability is linked to vaccinations, most scientists believe its origins are genetic. Autism costs school systems about $50,000 a year for each child sent to a private day program and $100,000 for each child placed in a residential one. This year, Massachusetts began funding 26 autism specialists to help communities educate as many of those children as possible within public schools.

For Allison and Michael Daigle, raising Justin is a painstaking process. Every new experience entails preparing him first with pictures and a written schedule. Teaching him to brush his teeth took two years of gently touching his sensitive mouth until he could tolerate 10 strokes of a toothbrush. "You think, `Good job,' " Allison says, "but you do get worn down, and you do think, `My God, how can this possibly be?' "

This winter the Daigles faced a more harrowing challenge that left them feeling they had been naive to think that patience and persistence would be enough to ensure steady improvement. Suddenly, after 18 months of progress in everything from Justin's speech to his ability to be included -- with the help of an aide -- in a regular kindergarten to his capacity to navigate life without tantrums, Justin woke screaming most mornings and remained agitated through the day. He sometimes hit himself in the head. For 10 weeks the Daigles didn't know if the change was permanent or only a phase.

Justin slowly improved after Presidents' Day, and by April he was back to his regular schedule, but not before his parents, teachers, and therapists had tried a smorgasbord of strategies. Justin's smile returned, but not before his mother relived the anguish of "losing" her son that she experienced when he was diagnosed.

"Every day I grieve," she says during the crisis. "When he was younger and he had periods like this, he hadn't proven he had any kind of functioning. Now we've gone through 18 months of consistent progress. Learning to read. Learning to write. Inclusion. Is this neurological activity? Or is it that this is what autism looks like?"
 

Visit http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/121/living/Raising_Justin+.shtml to finish this story.

 

Thank you for visiting https://www.bridges4kids.org/.

 

bridges4kids does not necessarily agree with the content or subject matter of all articles nor do we endorse any specific argument.  Direct any comments on articles to deb@bridges4kids.org.

 

© 2002-2021 Bridges4Kids

 

NOTE: (ALL RESOURCES PRE-IDEA 2004 ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL/HISTORICAL RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY)