Autism
Saturday, May 12, 2007
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Well, I guess I should have typed this last month, but I missed it entirely. However, it doesn't matter, you can still help year round. According to the Cure Autism Now web page autism is characterized by the following things:
Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder of development that lasts throughout a person's lifetime. Because persons with autism exhibit different symptoms or behaviors, ranging from mild to serious, autism is a "spectrum" disorder, or a group of disorders with a range of similar features.
Children with autism have difficulty communicating and interacting with others. Many individuals with autism seem to retreat into isolation , or fixate on a word, an object, or an activity.
Sometimes symptoms are seen in infancy, while other children develop normally for a year or more before they begin to slip into their own private world. At best, a high functioning person with autism may simply seem eccentric, a loner. At worst, a person with more profound autism may never learn to speak or care for themselves.
You are never prepared for a child with autism. You will gradually come to believe it, but never fully accept it, get used to it, or get over it. You put away the hopes and dreams you had for that child - the high school graduation, the June wedding. Small victories are cause for celebration - a word mastered, a dry bed, a hug given freely.
My buddy Maeve understands this all too well. Her son, Pudd'n (aka Cutie Pie) has autism. One day she had a healthy, happy baby and the next her whole world came tumbling down. They will have a cure one day, please try to donate as much or as little as you can. With a child being diagnosed with Autism every 21 minutes it will most likely hit you close to home before you know it. Let's fight this illness, k? If you'd like to post something similar on your blog, just copy my graphics, my words whatever. And give what your heart tells you, you may be helping Maeve get her happy, healthy, well-adjusted child back.
Labels: autism
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