Unfortunatly, my cousin has autism. I dont know alot about him. My family doesnt like too talk about it.
Do any of your family members have autism?

the reason why some people don't want to talk about stuff like autism is because it's a very sensitive subject and families with autistic children might get offended easily. and it's sad because these kids are usually the subject of scrutiny among its peers. they get laughed and and teased with mental retardation, which is so unfair since it's not their fault that they acquired such disability.

i have a distant cousin who is autistic. i think he's already reaching highschool now. i haven't seen him in a while since i haven't gone to any of our clan reunions. when he was a kid he was so energetic and he and his other cousins would run around the place and play.

i think they should be treated the same way as other kids and they should get all the love they need so they could grow up well despite the condition.

Well theres two kinds of Autism:

1. The kind that causes you to be an extreme intravert.
2. The kind that makes you super bouncy off the walls.

Its so sad people have to put up with this. One of my old friends is autistic. She has Aspurgurs Syndrome (I'm sorry i cant spell.)

First i want to sai that i have an autistic son and i am proud of him. i am proud to be his mom and h cannot embarres me in any way or in any situation, he sees the world not like we see it. i am proud of the way he can handle himelf in spite of his autisme in this sometimes verycold world. i take him everywhere, i donnot hide him or denie him. like i heard some do. he is a better person than the people that dont accept him. i must correct you here, there is not two sorts of autisim, no autistic person is the same as another.
my son is autistic, classic autistic. and he is not the introvert type or the bouncing of the walls type. he is a really nice wonderfull kid.
and yes they deserve a normal life like any other person. i also want to say that autistic dont mean that you are < i am lookin for words her since i am not english or american> mentally challenged. my son is really smart.
he can point out all autobrands, he can read a few words. he can solve puzzles very well. and he can count. he can dress himself and when he wants something he wont stop trying till he succeeds. he is four years, and goes to normal school with a coach. he is normal intelligent to smart.
when he goes to see the doctors, he was very sick last year, he is scared like any other kid.but the communication problem makes it hard to explain that the wont puttubes in his nose this time. he likes chocolat and icecream. he likes to ride a bike, and where other kids like to see cartoons he likes to watch commercials or introducingtunes from shows like friends. with his autism he likes familiar things.
new situations are scaring him at times. not always like the books say , but it can.
like goin to a public toilet. he thinks it is a hospital, all white and waiting people. at a moment like that i cannot get trough to him. he is lost in his fear. that is his main problem. the thing with autism is that the inormation we take in , arrives diffrently i their heads. they say that it comes in in bits and pieces. where we see the wole thing they get fragments.
there are autistic people that can function very well in society. but some cant. a part of the problem is also accepting. cuz you ussually dont see in ther faces that they are autistic, unlike down syndrome.
mainly autism is a communication thing. and well it is so annoying that when i walk with my son stare, not oncebut turn their heads like three times, who looks like a normal kid, but he behaves diffrent behaviour. like he flaps his hands and screams when he is happy. he cannot speak words, understand language very well. communicates with symbols and sounds.
autism is a word for loads of diffrent things. it is like an umbrella for a neurological communication ( i dont want to sai the word dissorder) diffrence. the are no less at all. some know things or understand thing we have no knowlegde off. did you know albert einstein was also autistic?
and one period in history autistic kids were seen as a kid with a close connection to god. there are also loads of negative explanations, like refrigiratormums, and changelings. which were allowed to be killed. any questions? ask. i cannot speak for all autistic people i know that. but i am an expert when it comes to my son.

This post has been edited by puck: Jul 1 2007, 09:28 PM

As a person who has a form of Autistic Spectrum Disorder known as Aspergers Syndrome.

People who have an ASD aren't necessarily extroverts or introverts, and personally I don't see my Autism as a bad thing.

I feel extremely blessed to see things from the point of view I have been given, as it has made me who I am today.

Also, MB, could you kindly refrain from using words which contain the word "retard" I am aware that it is a word that has recently become a part of American and English culture, but it is also a word with a highly disablist background.

I don't agree that people with ASD only get fragments of information. Autism is all about attention to detail, and often we will pick up things that others don't notice.

I wasn't aware that Albert Einstein was autistic, however I did know he was Dyslexic, and failed both math and science in school.

Ironic, huh? For a physicist at least.

Actually autistism is getting more widely-known. In the past, people feel embarrassed about it because they are ignorant and think it's something rare and shameful to have. Now treatment can be sought for the child, depending on the severity of the condition. There are child psychologists, therapists and psychiatrists that can help treat autistism. I believe it is easier for autistic patients to seek help at a younger age.

My second son has moderate autism. It was diagnosed before he turned three and he is now ten, and I must say it has been an interesting life. He is smart and observant, clever and artistic. His favorite subject is dinosaurs and he will call them by their proper names instead of diminuatives. But one of the most important things we learned over the years is that the most important contact for most autistics is physical, hugs and kisses and so forth. Because their visual peception is like seeing all the picture all the time it is easy for them to get over-stimulated and distressed or excited and the personal contact helps to cut through all the other stimuli vying for their attention. When our boy was little and still having trouble communicating verbally (and sometimes even now) what I did was to give him my hand and say, "Show me." And he would lead me to what he wanted and some patience, deductive reasoning and a few yes/no questions later and his wants were understood and his need to communicate met. Don't get me wrong, he is still one of the most stuborn kids I have ever had to deal with, but he doesn't strike out just because he isn't getting what he wants.

In our efforts to help our boy we even went to a local parent support group... once. We found we had nothing in common with the parents or their children. The parents were more or less unanimous in their complaints about their autistic child's temper tantrums, bad behavior and simple violence. My husband and I quickly realized that they were not adressing their child's frustrations but trying to get on with their own lives. Much later when we were contacted by a counselor and we explained our son's idiosyncracies she noted that we had not mentioned any problems with temper tantrums or violence. We could only explain that we had experienced no such problems with him. After further questions about our relationship with our son, mostly concerning how much we hugged him, she revealed that, in her experience, the autistic kids who lack violent behavior are the ones whose parents always take the time to express to their autistic child that they are loved by holding them and hugging them.

I saw a thing on mtv about autism. At a young age, they can build amazingly with lego blocks and stuff and actually come across as very smart. I think it's interesting, because I don't know much about it.

Well I was going to relate with you guys about how my nephew has Aspergers Syndrome. He is very active and loves to hang out and have fun. he is only 6years old now as well. He does though, however, have an extreme temper and is very hard on himself for the differences he encounters while playing with others at the school. I have found though that when he was in a private school, believe it or not, that he behaved a great deal better. I would like to think it was due to the extra focus he had from teachers and peers.

A side from that, the last strange garden said that autistic children played with Lego a lot, and were good at it. Well as I've grown older I've found it more and more challenging to have a 'grasp' on reality, but I use to play Lego all the time and I was tested as being gifted. However my levels of verbal competency weren't as high as my mental/intellectual abilities. It's strange to think that the way you see the world isn't really the way it's seen.