Laci/Sara

[Guest guest]

<<When I hear about all of these things, and see some even, that other

Ds-Autism kids are doing, I have to stop and question myself as to

whether or not I've contributed to the " retardation " (I hate that word)

of my own child. He doesn't function by himself at all save for eating

and walking. He's anti-social and does not like to even leave the

house unless it's a car ride or school. He knows his ABCs and his

numbers and can even read road signs. But he's so low functioning on

all other aspects, that I just have never put him in certain situations.>>

Hi, Everyone....Laci...if he is reading and doing numbers, then he's not

that 'low functioning'. You have to remember that there are 'degrees' of

autism....just like DS. Some kids are higher in some areas than others and visa

versa. I don't believe it has anything to do with you. I know that Gareth

stays home most of the time......it's only when I am alone and have to go

somewhere that I 'force' the issue and make him go with me. Like Sara, we have

a

wheel chair.....makes life sooooooooooo much easier!!! Also.....Gareth is on

meds and I truly believe that helped him. You're a great Mom....don't let

anyone tell you otherwise.

Sara.....so sorry to hear about your Mom passing away. Prayers for you

tonight.

Take care, Everyone.

Margaret

[Guest guest]

Sara,

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. I remember the chaos when my own

mother died, I can't imagine going through all that with in the picture

- I'm glad your husband could stay with Elie. I hope you and your family are

able to sit and take a moment to remember all the great times with your mother -

those are the times my sisters and I just laugh together - our Mom was quite a

character - she did the best she could with the tools she had!

Thinking of you,

Jayne

sara cohen wrote:

As Landon gets older, there will be situations - even if he has a 24/7

person- where he will be asked for ID. Social Security is one, but now that

random security checks are being done in any public venue, it could happen.

As to you contributing to his lack of abilities - who am I to cast the first

stone???? We all can only do what we can do and need to arrange our kids'

lives so that we too have a life.

We take Elie every place we go because it is either that or one of us has to

stay home with him. Since we are not willing to forgo life, he has to go

with us. It isn't always easy - sometimes we take a w/c because his refusal

to move or his discomfort in certain venues is a well known thing- but we

go. We take him on airplanes because we want to see his sibs. HE goes

'cause I am not always willing to leave him. We do drug him to fly - to the

point of easy of movement using a w/c. He can stand and walk with asistance

but he is too lethargic to argue or refuse. Over years of time, he has

gradually learned to either tolerate going with us or even to look forward

to going. It was over years Laci - and not easy- but way better than having

to stay home.

I am currently in FL - without Elie or my dh- because my mother died last

Thursday. My husband for many reasons did not come with me so Elie stayed

with him. Now all my sibs and cousins, and Elie's sibs and cousins are not

happy that I didn't bring him - this was one time where there was too much

going on to cater to Elie in anyway I thought - food needs, isolation, too

many animals, noise, etc. Plus school just reconvened on Thursday from Xmas

and he couldn't wait for school to start again.

Sara - Choose to make lemonade, not complain about the lemons.

>

>Reply-To:

>To:

>Subject: Re: Re: Laci

>Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 08:47:18 -0800 (PST)

>

>Laci ~ Don't question yourself about contributing to his disabilities. I

>know we all go through that, I know it's crossed my mind, but it's not fair

>to us.

>

> Landon sounds a bit like Dylan, begs to stay home when we go places &

>very unsocial. He is writing his letters though, I've waited so long for

>that. He won't do it when we ask him, but on his own, alone, he will write

>them. It's so awesome to see this.

>

> take care,

>

> Becky

>

>Laci Richter wrote:

> Landon does have a medic alert bracelet, but he won't tolerate

>any of

>that stuff on him so it's in my truck. His medicaid is also in the

>truck, but I keep that there because I lose things very easily. As far

>as the ID, I will probably go ahead and do that. However, Landon is so

>low functioning that there won't ever be any reason he would have to

>show it, he wouldn't even carry it on him unless it was in a backpack.

>he wouldn't know to pull out a wallet and show ID if he was even

>asked. Basically, he's total care. I doubt he'll ever go to a bank. I

>have an account for him, but it is not checking, it's a savings, and

>he's never even been inside of a bank.

>When I hear about all of these things, and see some even, that other

>Ds-Autism kids are doing, I have to stop and question myself as to

>whether or not I've contributed to the " retardation " (I hate that word)

>of my own child. He doesn't function by himself at all save for eating

>and walking. He's anti-social and does not like to even leave the

>house unless it's a car ride or school. He knows his ABCs and his

>numbers and can even read road signs. But he's so low functioning on

>all other aspects, that I just have never put him in certain situations.

>

>

> >

> > <<I would still probably obtain an ID for him, he'll be 16 in

>August, but I

> > doubt we'd ever really need

> > to use it for much.>>

> >

> > Hi, Everyone...Laci....you would be surprise how often Gareth is

>asked for

> > ID now that he is older. Even the guy from MH/MR wanted to see

>'ID'. Gareth

> > had to have an ID card for the bank when him and I went to open a

>joint

> > checking acct. when he started SSI. Since Gareth's speech is so

>poor and many

> > have a hard time understanding him, he has pulled out his wallet to

>show them

> > his name whenever they can't understand him. It has his address on

>it, too.

> > Also.....Gareth is VERY proud of the fact he can whip his ID out of

>his

> > wallet!!! Take care, Everyone.

> > Margaret

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Landon doesn't necessarily " write " anything. He won't hold pencils or

pens. He matches. The schools have developed some matching and sorting

things that he does. One is the entire alphabet, laminated, that he

matches. " A " to the " A " and so on. He also can match people's

laminated names to their picture. He does this same thing with

numbers, only a bit less accurately. He's starting the road signs now.

And is doing them with about the same degree of accuracy as the

numbers. All of his spelling and things is done with matching, but he

can not spell out a sentence unless he's matching it.

It's also not that he asks to stay home, we keep him here because of

how hard it is to get him inside the door of many, many places. For

instance, Wal Mart. He won't even step through the door now, he sits

down on the ground and refuses to move. The " stop, drop and flop " .

Restaurants. No way, he won't even go through the door. This is what I

mean by, I doubt he'll ever enter a bank, or travel much. He loves the

truck, but we'd be stuck in a motel room because of the fact that he

doesn't like to leave the house. And that would only be IF I could get

him through the motel room door. if it's an outdoor place, he's pretty

fine except for the people. He can't stand alot of people so he bolts,

and runs.

I call it low functioning out of sheer habit, that's what his Docs

from Wyoming called it. But then again, these were the same quacks

that called me paranoid when I brought up Autism about 4 years ago.

>

> <<When I hear about all of these things, and see some even, that other

> Ds-Autism kids are doing, I have to stop and question myself as to

> whether or not I've contributed to the " retardation " (I hate that word)

> of my own child. He doesn't function by himself at all save for eating

> and walking. He's anti-social and does not like to even leave the

> house unless it's a car ride or school. He knows his ABCs and his

> numbers and can even read road signs. But he's so low functioning on

> all other aspects, that I just have never put him in certain

situations.>>

>

> Hi, Everyone....Laci...if he is reading and doing numbers, then he's

not

> that 'low functioning'. You have to remember that there are

'degrees' of

> autism....just like DS. Some kids are higher in some areas than

others and visa

> versa. I don't believe it has anything to do with you. I know that

Gareth

> stays home most of the time......it's only when I am alone and have

to go

> somewhere that I 'force' the issue and make him go with me. Like

Sara, we have a

> wheel chair.....makes life sooooooooooo much easier!!!

Also.....Gareth is on

> meds and I truly believe that helped him. You're a great

Mom....don't let

> anyone tell you otherwise.

>

> Sara.....so sorry to hear about your Mom passing away. Prayers

for you

> tonight.

> Take care, Everyone.

> Margaret

>

>

>

>

>

>