Swapna, Updates on the Kids - Page 4

Yes, my brother is going to a public school and everything even though I'd rather him go to a private school. My parents can't really afford it though. It would give him better attention though. At his old school he got a lot of one-on-one help with the special needs teacher, so he was doing fairly well there. Now it's really hard because my brother is very talkative and normal otherwise. He just has a lot of memory retention and handwriting problems.

Varsha, have you guys tried asking the school to evaluate him? Also, you could go to a pyschologist privately to have an ADD/ADHD (or whatever the Dr. recommends based on his/her observations) evaluation done, and armed with that document you can make the school do an eval., they will have to by law then if the parents insist on it. You could also threaten the school saying that you'll bring a parent advocate into the meetings if they make it a difficult process for you all. It's really hard getting services for Sp. Needs kids in TX, and I'm obviously speaking from personal experience. Unless you fight for your kid over there, they are quite content to let things slide, since it means less work for them and they get to use their budget dollars for something else.

No, I really do appreciate the advice! Thanks a lot! 😊

Hi Mahi, Swaps and Varsha.......................

Thanks for the input, Swapna. I will see what we can do. His eval is next week; at least that should be covered...

Tulip, That has to be so hard for your mom. When I see the kids who have autism plus ADD, I feel so much for the parents as well as the children. ❤️ It's appalling that we still have to fight so hard to get services, though I suppose, with autism on the rise, insurance companies must be stunned by the costs of treatment too, plus these are longterm treatments in many cases, so the monetary burden is endless.

There are days when I brood too much, and wonder how we are going to live like this for years to come. But I try to snap out of it and see that he is basically a happy kid who makes sense of things in his own way. His cute little personality is why we are doing all this.

Mahika.

Thank, Mahika for the sweet words!

Oh sorry, doh, my bad. 😳😳

Mahika.

No, it's really okay....😆

The whole 'trying to pretend that Antara is normal' thing has been so grating. As these kids get older, it becomes so obvious that they are not the same as others. So what is the point of even going there?

One thing I have noticed in real life with people's reactions, is--they are very quick to latch onto something my son does, and exclaim, "There! He looked at me, or he smiled when I waved, so he cannot be autistic." I used to wonder why they were so invested in there not being a label on him. Then I realised--a) they feel there is a stigma, so they are trying to reassure me he is normal; and b) they are showing that they have certain misconceptions of autism, and their eagerness to find normalcy in him shows me that they don't fully grasp that there is a spectrum of symptoms. Also, they must be under the impression that these kids are screaming and carrying on all day long. So it's sort of a mirror of their own lack of exposure.

I know they mean well, so I try not to go 😕, but it gets tiresome to hear the same tired theories recycled over and over. We live with it every day; don't you think maybe we have developed some instincts about what works? Or maybe we look too dumb?? Heh heh.

I kinda prefer the people who offer prayers or suggest what yagnas we can do. At least they come across as non-judging, and aware of our need for higher guidance.

Mahika.

I think people are just closed minded! Like, they are always wanting unity and sameness, so when something challenges or changes their perception of normal, they get scared almost. I don't think they're reassuring you that your child is normal more than actually reassuring themselves that there's nothing wrong with being different.

I don't know if that made any sense, but I was trying to say something good...just not sure how to word it. 😆 Made a lot more sense in my mind...🤔😆