There are many questions behind the term "autism." At present, autism effects 1 in 100 births, yet these are numbers populated from last year so the numbers are bound to change. Autism is a neurological disorder that affects each individual in different ways. Some are affected slight while others severe. Hence the term "Autism Spectrum." This term allows a vast window of diagnosis that can actually umbrella other disorders. While some say the diagnosis is too broad, right now we have what the "specialists" are giving us.

The irony behind it all is that with all the technology and scienctific advances we have made, they still can't tell us what is the cause of Autism. Some say the cause is genetic, some say it is environmental as we have polluted our environment with perhaps an unrecovering affect, and some truly believe that the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is the cause. Yet still after all these years it is stil yet to be determined what IS the cause of autism.

 Today my husband and I spoke to a sixth grade class about Autism.  I was concerned about their ability to grasp all the things we wanted to share or their interest in the subject.  I was surprised to find a very interested class. 

We shared with them what autism is, the various degrees of it and I think they warmed up when we spoke about our autistic son.  I believe any time you speak on a subject, your closeness to that subject gives you that passion that draws people to listen to your experiences.  For sixth graders, I was happy to see the level of their understanding and the questions they asked were excellent.

What is most exciting for me is that speaking about our son and the things he has accomplished in the last two years such as going from non-verbal to having a vocabulary, being abe to communicate through faciitated communication, PECS (picture exchange communications,) and visual cues, I realized how much we can accomplish as long as we don't give up.  I work my son hard I know but the realization is that he IS going to grow up.  I want him to be able to do the simple tasks we do without thinking about, like brushing our teeth or combing our hair, getting dressed.  Fine motor skills play a huge part in the ability to accomplish these tasks.  I want him to go beyond the boundaries the doctors and the world may have set for him.  Then  I realized I want that for all of my children, all of your children, for myself and for others.

I also felt how amazing it was to have sixth graders asking what they can do to help.  That was incredibly awesome!  Its starts with touching the world around you.   I have figured that out.  My husband has a saying which is the "motto" for our foundation we started; "Always believe, never lose faith and keep moving forward."  I need to remember that so I can be inspired and to inspire others.

Yesterday was a rough day. I picked my boys up from school and I usually speak with the teachers to see how their day went. For the most part they have good days. Sometimes my seven year old has ants in his pants and can't sit still. My autistic son generally does okay. Not yesterday. He was hitting the kids in his class. And he hit the teacher! Now you have to understand that because my son is non-verbal, his communication is not so refined as yours or mine. But upon dissecting his day, the fact he refused to eat any breakfast before school, would not eat lunch or any snacks, I came to the conclusion he was hungry and nothing any of us offered to him was anything he wanted.

We have tried the gluten free diet(no wheat), casein free (no dairy) and found these changes had no effect on his autism. Now some children with autism have great changes in behavior and even speech, our son however, had no impacting affect of these dietary changes.

With autism in my sons case, he has texture issues. He doesn't like a lot of things and most times he will go on what I call autistic eating binges where he will eat the same few items for days in a row. Then when he burns out, he won't eat until he figures out what he wants to eat. It is difficult now because he loves fruit. Just not the fruit in season right now. His eating habits get frustrating for us because with his frustration, he tends to rebel against any form of communication. His PECS book, letter board, nothing. Just attitude. And its funny because my seven year old seems to find a glimmer of equality when his brother has a "bad" day. I do not refrain from time out with either of them.

When the teacher told me of his behavior, he stood right there and I told his teacher he wouldn't get his computer when we got home. He proceeded to squeeze my hand as if to tell me no. I said "No hitting." He looked at me then his teacher and just pressed himself against me. He's a schmoozer thats for sure. But I find the less I give in to his "moments" and try to effectively communicate how things go, I feel I am building that foundation for him to listen and communicate in an effective way.

I had spoken with the aide in class and she said that my son was seemingly over stimulated by the other kids. She also said the weather change could be throwing him off. Change in Barometric pressure actually affects all of us but again, we can say my head hurts, my ears are stuffed of I just don't feel well. Its definitely a challenge but in these challenges it make me want to learn more about the things I can do to help my son and others by researching things that affect their autism. Diet is a huge factor but believe it or not, the changes we have made just by educating ourselves on all the different options to explore to improve his abilities to be a part of our word has made him better.

I clean with all "green" cleaning agents, change our airfilter every other week instead of once a month, using perfume free laundry soap and buying him cotton clothes. I have found organic t-shirts which he likes because they are soft. They also contain natural dyes which amazes me how much can actually be affecting all of us.

Then we look forward to the next day and the new discoveries we make with one another with hopes we can share these discoveries and help as many people as we can.