Subject: Hello/tongue flicking stem

[Guest guest]

I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before. I will write a line now.

I have 4 yr. old twin boys w/autism. One is more severe than

the other. Speech delay is the main issue right now. I've been struggling

w/the district to get their needs met for a year. They put us through lots

of illegal moves, unbelievable disillusionment and let downs.

I made the decision to split the twins up in school, and now a dr.

had said that helped eliminate a lot of autistic behaviors in my mildly

autistic child. One twin is in an intense private school specifically for

autism and now he's moving towards half day inclusion w/an aide; the other

guy, who is mildly speech delayed and his autism is not apparent to most

people, is starting a new program I set up for him this year of 1/2 day

in sp.ed. in district w/discrete trials and speech therapy, and the second

half in typical preK w/an aide. So far I've seen a whole lot of progress

for both of them. Family members are flabbergasted when they visit

every few months and they see how much improvement is going on.

I've just started using tutors and sitters so I'm starting to feel

human again w/that respite relief.

I worried that, because my husband and I originally denied their condition,

we did irrevocable damage. Their fast progress makes us feel much

better. When the twins were born, it was one month after their older

brother, Hans, had committed suicide. We were in such a state of

grief that their arrival was not the big deal we'd planned on. We

felt they were a lot of work and took energy we didn't have. We didn't

want to be alive, yet we had to care for twins w/constant needs. The guilt

was awful. Then, the autism diagnosis came. What a horrible time.

We HAD to get right on that, but we had no idea what to do. This

is where the other parents of special needs kids = Angels, really = came

to our aid. I got a crash course in autism and all the available

services, and prayed for the right decisions to come to me. So far

so good.

Right now I'm trying to address my son's self stimulating behavior

of flicking his tongue in and out of his mouth. It seems the more

tired he is, the more he does this. He had a feeding issue and sensory

issues that have gotten better. Anyone familiar w/this one? What

was your response to it?

mom of twins w/autism

Lake260@... wrote:

Hi all,

as pointed out by one of our members the subject line for autism

is a bit long and sometimes cuts off the subject. I have therefore

changed the name that will appear on the subject line to AutBehProb.

The mailing address remains the same "autism ".

Also in order for everyone

to better scan for subjects of interest and for future email retrievals,

I was thinking it might help to put the behavior your addressing in the

subject line in general or specific terms such as: Headbanging, Self

Injurious Behaviors (SIB's), Laughing, Stimming, Blinking, Hitting, Sibling

Problems etc

Thanks all,