Living With Autism

Pat Harris
Pat Harris

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development, according to Autism Speaks. These disorders can be difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. Most signs of autism become obvious between 2-3 years.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently stated 1 in 68 children fall under the autism umbrella with 1 out of 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls being diagnosed, which means more families are living with autism.

Asperger syndrome falls under the autism spectrum disorder. Children with Asperger syndrom are considered to be on the high functioning end of the spectrum.

I am very familiar with the Asperger syndrome because my 12-year-old grandson was diagnosed with it.

Jordan was diagnosed when he was 4 years-old, although there were signs of something being not-quite-right earlier but his parents nor doctors knew what might be wrong. Finally, his pediatrician said he should be tested for autism.

He was slow to crawl, slow to walk and slow to talk to sentences. However his slowness to crawl and walk was just chalked up to different children start at different ages. He wasn't lagging that far behind what was considered normal.

As he became older, what really stood out was his language skills. When most children were talking in sentences, he was using one word to say what he wanted -- such as the word, water, when he wanted a drink of water; the word, truck, when he wanted to play with his toys trucks.

He loved the Weather Channel on TV for some reason and wanted to watch it all the time. Nothing else would do. This was odd but cute to us.

All of this his parents found out was due to Aspergers.

What helped was therapy -- speech therapy and occupational therapy, plus for a while certain medications for children with the disorder.

Within a year, Jordan was talking in sentences. He started to school and did fine in kindergarten, first and second grade except there were still some problems with his not understanding other children's space and not interrupting their play.

Our biggest worry was social interaction as he grew older. And it has been tough at times.

Today, anyone who doesn't know my grandson probably would not guess that he has any disorder problems. Where he once was totally opposed to any kind of change, he now accepts it. One can hold a conversation with him. And he's super smart especially about what interests him, but that is due to the same issue that once had him glued to the Weather Channel. If he's interested in a topic, such as the oceans and fish in the oceans -- he focuses on that for months at a time. Then he can tell you all about it, name all the fish, where they are found and their characteristics.

Right now he's into sports and he can name all the winning teams and what year certain teams won championships -- mostly basketball but baseball and football are included. He's a big Razorback fan and was before he started to school. His other grandparents take him to a lot of Razorback games and have for years.

What has helped Jordan most of all is the fact he's been around a lot of people most of his life. Though there has continued to be some problems with social interactions with other kids he doesn't know, and unfortunately, there has been a few cases of other kids bullying him due to his being different. This, of course, is a worry to us.

He's a very smart boy and for the most part copes very well with almost everything. He's learned most of the life skills children his age have -- except -- he just cannot seem to learn to tie shoelaces. It's things like this that remind us he has Aspergers. Thanks to Velcro, he doesn't have to worry about the shoelaces.

In general children with Asperger syndrome can have problems focusing on things that aren't of interest to them. And the disorder can be confused with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) due to their inability to focus their attention.

Autism is the fastest growing serious development disability in Arkansas and the country, according to Autism Speaks and the CDC. April is Autism Month and it is a good time to learn more about the issue.

For anyone who wants to know more about the disorder, go to www. autismspeaks.org for research, more information, family services and autism events.

Autism Speaks was founded in 2005 by Bob and Suzanne Wright, grandparents of a child with autism.

Locally, there is NWA Center for Autism in Fayetteville, which offers therapeutic programs, educational programs and family support for area children with ASD. The website is nwacenterfor autism.com.

PAT HARRIS IS THE MANAGING EDITOR OF THE WASHINGTON COUNTY ENTERPRISE-LEADER.

Editorial on 04/16/2014