New member

[Guest guest]

Hi Pam and welcome to this group. I find sharing and reading others

challenges and experiences with OCD really helps to break down the

isolation living with this disorder can create. It can be a relief to

be with others who " get it " without having to explain.

You say you are having trouble communicating with your son. I find our

son will talk more easily with his psychologist about some things, and

with us about other things, but most of the time he prefers to not talk

about it, or anything else for that matter. Does your son have a good

relationship with his psychologist?

Our son is 16. They can be pretty invested in keeping things secret,

especially some of the " bad thoughts " . I know in the beginning our son

would say he couldn't tell anyone about his thoughts. Now he tells me

things I would rather not know about. Probably better knowing than

not, in general, I guess...

It is hard to get through this without the support of family. We did

not tell anyone for three months (our son did not want us to) and I

found that really difficult. Telling and trying to explain is another

challenge. Some family and friends are helpful and others hurtful, it

can be another challenge in itself. I think most of us here understand

this aspect. Not sure if this is what you mean, or rather immediate

family members are not helpful? It can also put a strain on a marriage

and family in general as everyone is affected and tries to cope with

this " new normal " .

You will find from reading posts that although the story may vary, many

of the challenges are the same and we share and support each other

through these.

BIG HUG to you!

Barb

Ontario, Canada, 16yr son, OCD, LD

>

> Hi! Just wanted to share what I have experienced with my son in the

> past year. He is 11 and has GAD along with some OCD. I am having

> trouble communicating with him. I am at a loss for what to say at

this

> point. He is getting help but for me without support from other

family

> members it makes it that much harder as time goes on. I'm glad to

share

> with you and to be a part of this group.

>

> Be Well

>

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone! I just wanted to say hello to the group and I am looking forward to speaking with others who have a child/children with autism. I am a divorced mother with a 9 year old and 2 1/2 year old. My 2 1/2 year old was just recently diagnosed with it. Although I have heard somethings from another parent I know who has deals with this, I am still learning more and more about it. I appreciate giving and receiving support from others. Thanks a

lot. DeeDee

Poole

[Guest guest]

yes a very warm welcome to u dede. my name is

To: autism-georgia Sent: Tue, October 20, 2009 4:49:49 AMSubject: RE: New member

Welcome to the group DeDe! Sorry that you are here – none of us “want†to be, but it is a wonderful place for information. My son is 5 and was diagnosed w/ PDD NOS right when he turned 3. The best advice I think I could give someone newly into this is EARLY INTERVENTION! Speech, OT & ABA is what we did/do. My son has made great strides (I feel) because of these therapies.

Please feel free to email me off line – kgb5bellsouth (DOT) net if you want more specifics.

Than you!

Krista Brown

From: autism-georgia@ yahoogroups. com [mailto: autism-georgia@ yahoogroups. com ] On Behalf Of DSent: Monday, October 19, 2009 2:31 PMTo: autism-georgia@ yahoogroups. comSubject: New member

Hello everyone! I just wanted to say hello to the group and I am looking forward to speaking with others who have a child/children with autism. I am a divorced mother with a 9 year old and 2 1/2 year old. My 2 1/2 year old was just recently diagnosed with it. Although I have heard somethings from another parent I know who has deals with this, I am still learning more and more about it. I appreciate giving and receiving support from others. Thanks a

lot. DeeDee

Poole

[Guest guest]

We have cool things going on down in Fayette Co (20 miles south of the city).

Though, it's a lot tougher for all schools in general on adolescents than

elementary kids. There are a couple of people who relocated due to the NW

Airline/Delta merger who have chosen our communities (have younger kids), but

I'd be happy to answer specific questions for you if needed.

You also may want to check out Navigator Teams in counties you are interested

in. From the Parent to Parent of Georgia Website, you'll click a couple of times

to get to the Navigator Team pages of the county you are interested in. Please

note that some of the metro ATL counties are NOT represented fully yet. There's

also a database for services that provides a pretty comprehensive overview of

where stuff is.

Email me if you have any questions and welcome to the state!

Raissa

>

> Hello everyone! I just joined the list today and thought I'd introduce

> myself. My name is Shauna and I'm from Atlanta, GA, but currently attend

> school at Auburn University. I have a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood

> Special Education and am currently in my Masters for Autism/Emotional

> Conflict.

>

> I have worked in the field of Autism, more specifically Applied Behavior

> Analysis for 6 years....since high school! I'm currently working at a clinic

> for one of my professors. The clinic is for Autism, Emotional Conflict, and

> Behavior Disorders. We are doing Discrete Trials with the 9 children with

> Autism and using Direct Instruction for the other children at our clinic.

>

> I have been working with a child with autism/Fragile X all summer long (when

> not at clinic) 9am-6pm. We spend 6 hours a day doing discrete trials. I was

> trained from 2 different consultants in Lovaas, one of those consultants is

> one of Dr. Lovaas' students. I also currently oversee 1 ABA program in

> Memphis, TN for a child diagnosed with PDD-NOS.

>

> I have also attended a conference given my Dr. Vince Carbone on Verbal

> Behavior. I plan to attend his workshop for consultants when I finish school.

>

> My end goal is to be a Certified Behavior Analyst and be a consultant for ABA

> programs. I may go on to get my Ph.D. in Special Education, but I'll wait

> til I'm done with my masters first!

>

> I joined this list because I would like to talk with parents/professionals in

> GA who work or have children with autism. I will be moving back to GA upon

> finishing my schooling and would like to network with people in the state.

> Plus I'm not far from GA right now anyways. The state line is about 20

> minutes away from me. I'm 2 hours south of Atlanta and 25 minutes northwest

> of Columbus, GA. I hope to receive and contribute lots of information to the

> list.

>

> Shauna

>

[Guest guest]

Shauna- I am the co-c oordinator for Muscogee County Navigator Team, and the parent of two kids with forms of autism ( aspergers and pdd nos) and a third with kidney disorders and a possible processing disorder. My husband also has aspergers. We have tons of stuff going on here in Columbus now and big plans for the future. We have an art show at the museum showcasing about 200 kids artwork- all kids have a disability of some sort. Very cool show. We also have a parenting/marriage seminar for special needs parents coming up on nov 7 from a nationally known speaker from the screamfree institute. We are finishing a project working to educate doctors on families with special needs, and soon we will be working with the school district to educate teachers who do "specials:" like art, gym , music , etc. We meet with parents 1 on 1 for support, go to IEP meetings,

create events and try to help support fmailies in any way we can. We would love to meet with you personally or online/phone and share with you and of course if you want to be involved you can. I think we have a few volunteers from Auburn, and I know the Autism Support Group here is v ery active and has good relationships with suburn as some of the students volunteer, and I have talked briefly with the professor in charge of ABA programs over at Auburn when I thought I might go to school for ABA but have decided to stick to getting /finishing my phd in public policy administration and non profit management. Feel free to email me at mcnt_mindy@... so I see it right away, as this email is a general one and sometimes I delete alot of mail. Looking forward to chatting with ya! Mindy Pace

Melinda -Pace

Muscogee County Navigator Team

Parent of 3 wonderful kids, two with awe-tism!

Wife of an amazing husband!

Subject: Re: New memberTo: autism-georgia Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 7:54 AM

We have cool things going on down in Fayette Co (20 miles south of the city). Though, it's a lot tougher for all schools in general on adolescents than elementary kids. There are a couple of people who relocated due to the NW Airline/Delta merger who have chosen our communities (have younger kids), but I'd be happy to answer specific questions for you if needed.You also may want to check out Navigator Teams in counties you are interested in. From the Parent to Parent of Georgia Website, you'll click a couple of times to get to the Navigator Team pages of the county you are interested in. Please note that some of the metro ATL counties are NOT represented fully yet. There's also a database for services that provides a pretty comprehensive overview of where stuff is.Email me if you have any questions and welcome to the state!Raissa>> Hello everyone! I just joined the list today and thought I'd introduce > myself. My name is Shauna and I'm from Atlanta, GA, but currently attend > school at Auburn University. I have a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood > Special Education and am currently in my Masters for Autism/Emotional > Conflict. > > I have worked in the field of Autism, more specifically Applied Behavior > Analysis for 6 years....since high school! I'm currently working at a clinic > for one of my professors. The clinic is for Autism, Emotional Conflict, and > Behavior Disorders. We are doing Discrete Trials with the 9 children with > Autism and using Direct Instruction for the other children at our clinic. > > I have been working with a child

with autism/Fragile X all summer long (when > not at clinic) 9am-6pm. We spend 6 hours a day doing discrete trials. I was > trained from 2 different consultants in Lovaas, one of those consultants is > one of Dr. Lovaas' students. I also currently oversee 1 ABA program in > Memphis, TN for a child diagnosed with PDD-NOS. > > I have also attended a conference given my Dr. Vince Carbone on Verbal > Behavior. I plan to attend his workshop for consultants when I finish school.> > My end goal is to be a Certified Behavior Analyst and be a consultant for ABA > programs. I may go on to get my Ph.D. in Special Education, but I'll wait > til I'm done with my masters first! > > I joined this list because I would like to talk with parents/professiona ls in > GA who work or have children with autism. I will be moving back to GA upon > finishing my schooling and

would like to network with people in the state. > Plus I'm not far from GA right now anyways. The state line is about 20 > minutes away from me. I'm 2 hours south of Atlanta and 25 minutes northwest > of Columbus, GA. I hope to receive and contribute lots of information to the > list.> > Shauna>

[Guest guest]

WOW...that was an OLD post of mine listed below this email that Raissa responded

to! LOL!

Shauna

> >

> > Hello everyone! I just joined the list today and thought I'd introduce

> > myself. My name is Shauna and I'm from Atlanta, GA, but currently attend

> > school at Auburn University. I have a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood

> > Special Education and am currently in my Masters for Autism/Emotional

> > Conflict.

> >

> > I have worked in the field of Autism, more specifically Applied Behavior

> > Analysis for 6 years....since high school! I'm currently working at a

clinic

> > for one of my professors. The clinic is for Autism, Emotional Conflict, and

> > Behavior Disorders. We are doing Discrete Trials with the 9 children with

> > Autism and using Direct Instruction for the other children at our clinic.

> >

> > I have been working with a child with autism/Fragile X all summer long (when

> > not at clinic) 9am-6pm. We spend 6 hours a day doing discrete trials. I

was

> > trained from 2 different consultants in Lovaas, one of those consultants is

> > one of Dr. Lovaas' students. I also currently oversee 1 ABA program in

> > Memphis, TN for a child diagnosed with PDD-NOS.

> >

> > I have also attended a conference given my Dr. Vince Carbone on Verbal

> > Behavior. I plan to attend his workshop for consultants when I finish

school.

> >

> > My end goal is to be a Certified Behavior Analyst and be a consultant for

ABA

> > programs. I may go on to get my Ph.D. in Special Education, but I'll wait

> > til I'm done with my masters first!

> >

> > I joined this list because I would like to talk with parents/professionals

in

> > GA who work or have children with autism. I will be moving back to GA upon

> > finishing my schooling and would like to network with people in the state.

> > Plus I'm not far from GA right now anyways. The state line is about 20

> > minutes away from me. I'm 2 hours south of Atlanta and 25 minutes northwest

> > of Columbus, GA. I hope to receive and contribute lots of information to

the

> > list.

> >

> > Shauna

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Mimi,Welcome to the group. I just want to tell you that I have the utmost respect for someone like you. I have 3 boys but only my oldest one is on the spectrum. It's hard sometimes and I complain about it. I can only imagine how hard it must be for someone like you and no matter how wild my imagination goes, I am pretty sure I am far away from your reality.This group is fantastic. You will come to this realization fairly quick.All the best,EddieSent from my iPhone

Hi, I just joined last night and thought I would introduce myself. I have 5 children, all on the spectrum. My 23yr old daughter has PDD-NOS with bipolar and is not medicated by her choosing. My 21yr old daughter has Down Syndrome (cog age of 4-6), hydrocephalus, and PDD-NOS and acanthosis nigricans. My 15yr old daughter has mild cerebral palsy, Aspergeres Syndrome, bipolar disorder w/psychosis, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and ADHD. My 10yr old son has PDD-NOS, borderline intellectual functioning (cog age of 5), apraxia of speech, a mood disorder and encopresis. My 9yr old son was born with Fetal Valproate Syndrome, suffered static encephalopathy from a traumatic bith, he's diagnosed with PDD-NOS, encopresis, and a mood disorder.

I'm a stay at home mom and part time college student working on my Social Work degree. I'm married to my best friend Jon, who is 100% disabled Desert Storm vet. I'm also caring for my 81yr old father who is dying from end stage cardiac disease and end stage renal failure.

I'm happy to be here. :-)

Mimi

[Guest guest]

Hi Mimi, welcome!

My brain always goes faster than my mouth and fingers, I do that quite often.

Hi, I just joined last night and thought I would introduce myself. I have 5 children, all on the spectrum. My 23yr old daughter has PDD-NOS with bipolar and is not medicated by her choosing. My 21yr old daughter has Down Syndrome (cog age of 4-6), hydrocephalus, and PDD-NOS and acanthosis nigricans. My 15yr old daughter has mild cerebral palsy, Aspergeres Syndrome, bipolar disorder w/psychosis, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and ADHD. My 10yr old son has PDD-NOS, borderline intellectual functioning (cog age of 5), apraxia of speech, a mood disorder and encopresis. My 9yr old son was born with Fetal Valproate Syndrome, suffered static encephalopathy from a traumatic bith, he's diagnosed with PDD-NOS, encopresis, and a mood disorder.

I'm a stay at home mom and part time college student working on my Social Work degree. I'm married to my best friend Jon, who is 100% disabled Desert Storm vet. I'm also caring for my 81yr old father who is dying from end stage cardiac disease and end stage renal failure.

I'm happy to be here. :-)

Mimi

[Guest guest]

Hi Mimi, I would like to welcome you to the group also. I have been

writing for a long time, am the mother to a 47 year old severely

disabled boy, Marty, I take care at home. He has had seizures all his

life, is non verbal and on a food tube and Depends, and has many other

things, one of which is autism. He's a sweetheart. Right now he has a

broken collar bone from falling down we have to take special care with.

Last year we learned my youngest grandchild Lucas, who is 7 in 2nd

grade, has Aspergers. He has always been rather quirky and moody at

times and other times is such a sweetheart. He did not do well in his

school work last year in 1st grade because he felt uncomfortable in the

large class, so hopefully this year he will do better now that they are

doing some things differently for him.

As you mention your children I am amazed at all the things they have,

but a little fuzzy on what PDD-NOS means, never did learn the jargon

suppose I should.

You say your husband is disabled, and you care for your father also. Do

you do all of this alone? I take care of my son with my husband, and it

takes two of us for all of his needs, even to walk him the short

distances to the bathroom, or to bed. Plus my husband has many health

issues, heart attack, heart surgery, knee replacement, needs another,

and spinal stenosis.

I went to college in my 40s and 50s and earned two degrees from the

University of Oregon, a BS and an MS. It was a great time in my life!

Right now I care for my son and am full time grandmother also to three

of my daughter's children. We do an awful lot together. I used to care

for them right after each was born, when my daughter worked, but she has

quit on disability so I don't have to get them ready for school anymore

so that is good for me. But we still keep pretty busy. I also have four

other grandchildren, two are married and one has a baby, making me a

great grandmother now.

Just write whenever you feel like it, I like to write to vent and share

when the mood hits me which is pretty much every day as I am at home a

lot with my son. I just wrote an article about Motherhood on my Facebook

page today. It is called; " Motherhood is like driving in the dark. " I

like to inspire and encourage other mothers as I have been through a lot

and have a lot of experience.

Well talk to you soon,

Carolyn Grandma in Springfield, Oregon U.S.A. ;o)

Mimi Fogarty wrote:

> Hi, I just joined last night and thought I would introduce myself. I

> have 5 children, all on the spectrum. My 23yr old daughter has PDD-NOS

> with bipolar and is not medicated by her choosing. My 21yr old

> daughter has Down Syndrome (cog age of 4-6), hydrocephalus, and

> PDD-NOS and acanthosis nigricans. My 15yr old daughter has mild

> cerebral palsy, Aspergeres Syndrome, bipolar disorder w/psychosis,

> anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and ADHD. My 10yr old son has

> PDD-NOS, borderline intellectual functioning (cog age of 5), apraxia

> of speech, a mood disorder and encopresis. My 9yr old son was born

> with Fetal Valproate Syndrome, suffered static encephalopathy from a

> traumatic bith, he's diagnosed with PDD-NOS, encopresis, and a mood

> disorder.

> I'm a stay at home mom and part time college student working on my

> Social Work degree. I'm married to my best friend Jon, who is 100%

> disabled Desert Storm vet. I'm also caring for my 81yr old father who

> is dying from end stage cardiac disease and end stage renal failure.

> I'm happy to be here. :-)

> Mimi

>