/autism

March 8, 2006

Hi ,

I saw your Roll Call and noticed that your boys have autism too. Both

Conner and Hayden have been diagnosed with autism, both are considered very

high functioning at this point and I would suspect that they may not even

meet the criteria any longer. What kind of therapies have you been doing?

What are their biggest issues? Conner's biggest problem was sensory

defensiveness, Hayden's was auditory processing (this is now complicated by

his recent hearing loss). Anyway, both boys are mainstreamed with support,

they still have some social issues (not much interest in having friends),

but they are doing amazingly well. When they were little I never imagined

that they would be doing as well as they are at this point. I thought that

Conner would self-stim for the rest of his life! :-)

Anyway, I hope your boys will do as well! If you ever have any questions

about what worked for us, feel free to email me privately.

Mom to Conner (11, Asperger's, mild CP, partial seizures, asthma, GERD,

Hashimoto's disease, hypogammaglobulinemia, complement deficiency, antibody

deficiency, NK cell defect, and resolved adrenal insufficiency),

Hayden (11, PDD-NOS, IBS and moderate hearing loss/aided),

Evan (11, asthma and mild hearing loss/unaided),

and Kelsey - (10, asthma)

Please visit us at www.caringbridge.org/in/connersmith

>From: " JULIA DREHER " <julia_ken@...>

>Reply-

>< >

>Subject: Lurker - Roll Call

>Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2006 19:36:05 -0600

>

>Another lurker coming out of the shadows. I've been on the list for a few

>weeks, and am trying to learn more about what's going on with my kids. I

>know I'll eventually have questions, but right now, I don't even know where

>to start.

>

>Name:

>Location: Missouri

>

>PID Pumpkin: , 5

>Diagnosed at age 4 with IgG def., low numbers of NK cells, and more that I

>don't understand at this point.

>Additional Health Concerns: has ulcerative colitis, and autism. He

>takes bactrim daily as a prophylactic as well as risperdal and

>sulfasalazine for his other issues. He's been sick for the last 3 weeks,

>but had been pretty healthy for about 12 weeks before that.

>

>PID Pumpkin: Connor, 2

>Diagnosed at 16 months with IgG deficiency. They've screwed up his blood

>work a couple of times, and at this, we don't have a clear picture of

>what's going on with him.

>Additional Health Concerns: Connor also has autism and has been treated

>since infancy for severe reflux. He just had an endoscopy last week that

>was beautiful, showed no signs of reflux, but he still seems to be in pain.

> He's taking Omnicef as a prophylactic and Nexium and carafate for the

>reflux. They want to keep him on the reflux meds despite the perfect

>endoscopy. He has tubes and will be getting his second pair in a few weeks

>when they take out his adenoids. They are talking about IVIG for him.

>

>I've learned a lot just hanging out here. Thanks so much!

>

March 8, 2006

Hi ,

Both of my guys are doing pretty well. They each have classic autism, but

is higher functioning than Connor. Between the 2, we do OT, SLT, ABA, RDI,

therapeutic listening on top of the special ed services they receive. will

be in regular kindergarten next year with resource room a couple times a day.

Connor was in an integrated developmental preschool program but had to be pulled

out due to the immune issues. Right now he's at home, and learning best with a

combination of discrete trial and verbal behavior ABA. They're both sweet,

sweet boys and we couldn't be prouder of them.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

, 5 IgG def. and more

Connor, 2 IgG def. and maybe more