Autism in the Church

[drummerboy_dave]

Originally Posted by Flutecrafter

Ah yes....
What to do with the Spectrum kids....

Depending upon their needs, having a special ministry is a great help.
Offering support to the parents is beyond priceless as well.

For any reading this who are dealing with an S-Kid I offer these thoughts:
Diet is important, if they are reacting to something that they are eating...
(and they most likely are) then you can help them by removing the offending
substances.
things to look for: corn, wheat, ARtificial food Colors, milk (cow).
Yes there can be some complications from vaccines also, but I suspect it
is limited to those who have a genetic predisposition that makes them
vulnerable to it.
Sensory issues abound in the Autism Spectrum, btw.
Tactile, audible, visual...
these are smart kids, but they have an input/output problem and anything
that we can do to help them is a good thing.

Mark

Crafter:

You sound like you may be a psycologist or work in the field. What is your background, if you don't mind sharing.

My son has sensory issues as well. His school has a sensory room and he gets to go there nearly everyday. It helps him a lot. I'm interested in your comments about diet. You say they most likely are affected by something. Can you give examples of how we can spot an offending substance? What are they and what behaviors do they cause?

[GraceAmazing]

After watching some of the videos posted, I was amazed by Jenny's constant reference to God and that she prayed and asked God for direction! So often you hear about Hollywood's departure from spiritually...it was refreshing for me to hear her talk about praying for direction!

I know, I know, totally sidebar, don't want to hijack the thread!

[Flutecrafter]

Originally Posted by drummerboy_dave

Crafter:

You sound like you may be a psycologist or work in the field. What is your background, if you don't mind sharing.

My son has sensory issues as well. His school has a sensory room and he gets to go there nearly everyday. It helps him a lot. I'm interested in your comments about diet. You say they most likely are affected by something. Can you give examples of how we can spot an offending substance? What are they and what behaviors do they cause?

Actually, I am an Electro-Mech.
I chose long ago to work on machines because they were easier for me to deal
with than people were.
I've got two Aspie kids, and leave it to you to guess which parent they got their
wiring plan from. :P

Now, food issues, for some, including my son, the wrong substance can
induce a tendency to violence. They also can bring on systemic pain and
photo- sensitivity.
Milk causes pain in my daughter.

Some things, like food additives, bring on hyperactivity as well, making it
extremely hard for them to focus on things.

[drummerboy_dave]

LOL Yeah, working with people is the worst!

In an early meeting with our child's psychologist, we laughed because he made the comment that most of the time when he explains to the parents about AS in their children, one or both of them usually tell him that they too have a "little bit of aspergers". My guess is, that just as with ADD and ADHD, they will begin on an increasing level, making diagnoses of AS in adults who've never before been diagnosed.

Any suggestions on books or websites to read on diet and it's effect on behavior?

BTW, thanks for the invite to write you. I will take you up on the offer.

[Flutecrafter]

Originally Posted by drummerboy_dave

Any suggestions on books or websites to read on diet and it's effect on behavior?

for websites.. you could drop by ancientcrossroads.org
we have a mostly private folder for discussing Spectrum issues.

for books.. I'll take a scan through my lady's bookshelf and get you a list of titles.

[commonsense]

I've also heard the connection of vaccines and autism.
Thirty years ago they were just beginning to connect the dots. In his reading my dad told me to avoid vaccines but by then my kids had all of their shots...

I'd probably avoid vaccines today.

[commonsense]

In SD we had a neighbor with twins. One was autistic. He started special classes at three.
The school system started mainstreaming and he went to regular classes in high school.

Needless to say, this family had lots of challenges.

[commonsense]

Current job, great gal in next dept; we chat from time to time...
Her husband has aspergers and most of the time does well...works, etc.

Youngest child ,of her 5, also has aspergers. They constantly adjust his meds.

His mother missed work Wed because her son was having one of his angry days....wouldn't go to school and basically fighting with his mother. He's 14.

The entire household is disrupted from his outbursts.

[Flutecrafter]

Originally Posted by commonsense

Current job, great gal in next dept; we chat from time to time...
Her husband has aspergers and most of the time does well...works, etc.

Youngest child ,of her 5, also has aspergers. They constantly adjust his meds.

His mother missed work Wed because her son was having one of his angry days....wouldn't go to school and basically fighting with his mother. He's 14.

The entire household is disrupted from his outbursts.

Then odds are good he's ingesting something that his system can not tolerate.
Again, my usual suspects are corn, wheat, artificial food colors, etc.
with this it is helpful to keep a food log to see what the correlation is.

Oh... and meds have some of the nastiest artificial color combo's in them.
(we learned the hard way)

[drummerboy_dave]

My son was just "bein' himself" the other night when someone asked me out of the blue if he was autistic. No one's ever done that to me before. I've been places and seen kids who I thought were on the spectrum, but I doubt I could just go ask that of their parents. I slowly said,"yeah, he's an aspie". We talked, and he said he had an aspie too. It was kinda cool. I wish we would have had more time to talk. It is difficult enough being a parent, but boy these kids can really put you through the ringer.