The delicate world of Autism

PJ goes over his little friend's house once a week. He has been going over there since first grade. It is a good thing for him to get away from his brother for a little while, and it is good for Joshua too.

PJ and Joshua are the same age. They have been friends since Kindergarten and occasionally Joshua will come to church. Joshua has 2 brothers, Micah is 5, Elijah is 28 months.

Micah is autistic. He is trapped in his own little world. And I can imagine that it is very hard on the entire family. But I wonder how it is on Joshua, a very smart, perceptive little boy. He, of course, knows what is going on. But for him to grow up with his brother different from him, has got to be hard. And Elijah is just too young to play with Joshua. But Joshua can't play video games or just sit down and play with Micah.

I had to pick up PJ the other day. Micah was outside playing in the rocks, so I approached slowly, turned off the car, closed and LOCKED the doors (he will get in). He was crying and screaming, ran in the house, screamed some more, slammed the door right as I was entering, would not let me in the house, and screamed some more. I finally wedged my way in, and he pushed me. Not hard, just unexpectedly.

Mom apologized to me about it, he started school, and it is stressful for him, he is not sleeping, and he was really wanting a nap.

I feel sorry for this family. He is a contractor, self employeed, she is a stay at home mom, no insurance. So there is no help for him.

They can't afford to shop just for him. I know that if you start changing the diet that will help some. Vitamins and natural stuff helps too. But when you have more than one child, it makes it difficult. The others don't want to eat the non processed stuff, and the child looks as if he is being singled out. Damn if you do, damned if you don't.

There was a little boy at the church that we attended, and only child. He was autistic. His obsession was drums, he loved them. But when the parents found out that he was autistic, they started doing research on what to do to help him. They looked into what the insurance would cover, and where they had to go to get him help.

They eventually had to travel to Richmond VA to a specialist. And they found out that they needed to change his diet completely. They also realized that the chances of him having autism increased when he got his vaccinations.

His cholestrol was sky high for a 4 year old. So out goes the eggs, the flour, the processed foods. Everything! Change the way they cooked. Everything! But ya know what, it helped. The screaming stopped, the obsession stopped, the language skills were coming in. They worked with him everyday, they took the time with him to do things with him to help him.

It is sad that the people that don't have insurance can't help their child. It is sad that the Government helps other countries, but they fail to see the need in their backyard. It is sad for parents that can't help their chld, and they have to spend their life savings to help them. It is not fair that people can't afford to help their children escape that very delicate world they are in.