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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Autism Walk

I know it has been awhile since I have updated my Blog. But the last time I was here, I was telling you about my new job atThe On Demand Global Workforce - oDesk
Well since that and my school job has left me so so busy, getting on to write my personal blog has been like at the end of the list of things to do.

But with only about 17 days to raise money for the Austim Walk
I realized I better do some serious fund raising. I know that you all have heard me talk about my 4 grandsons with Autism. This is a cause that is very dear and near to my heart. You don't understand the differences in the children that have this disabling disease until you see it first hand. My first thought when we discovered that our gchildren had this disease, was Rain Man.
There is so much that we didn't understand. Well we still don't understand it, but we have discovered the many layers that make up this condition. My Grandkids seem to have all the symptoms, but none of them make that perfect match that you assume is Autism. I don't believe we have a Savant. That is what the RainMan was. But for the highest functioning to the lowest, we have it. Our Ryan is highly intelligent and even though he is in special classes at school, his work is that of his grade level or higher. Billy Michael, on the other hand, has learning disabilities that has kept him working on a lower level. But his every accomplishment is so special and unique. He has learned to tie his shoe. Now that was huge. He can read and tell you anything you ever wanted to know or don't want to know about animals. He will be in the 5th grade next year, but his work level is not there.
Ashton they say is under the Autism specturm. His biggest challenges are his speech and being able to stay focused on his work. Also these 3 have social challenges that they are working on.

Noah, he is our lowest functioning and he has no speech. He is nonverbal, but oh so smart. He is also very coordinated and has great dextirity. There is nothing we own he hasn't climbed.

All 4 of the boys suffer from the Sensory Intergration. This is the definition that I copied and pasted from Wipedia: "Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID, also called sensory processing disorder) is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with processing information from the five senses (vision, auditory, touch, olfaction, and taste), the sense of movement (vestibular system), and/or the positional sense (proprioception). For those with SID, sensory information is sensed, but perceived abnormally. Unlike blindness or deafness, sensory information is received by people with SID; the difference is that information is processed by the brain in an unusual way that may cause distress or confusion."

My Daughter Inlaw made a video a couple of years ago. This features her 4 boys. 3 of them suffer from Autism. The baby, Brody, seems just fine. We hope so.
My 4th Gson with autism is my daughter's child. We don't know why we have this in our family. The Genetics people say that it is surely genetic, but they have not found what it is with their testing yet.

So if you have an interest in helping me with my goal, visit my site at Autism Walks

I promise I will be back to post again soon.
Thanks

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