JustinAutism

We have known Justin has had Autism from age 3. At the age of 2 1/5 he wasn't talking. We were worried that he wasn't putting words together or even saying anything. He just spoke his own language. We were told at age 2 1/2 when we were getting him ready for pre-school that they believed he showed signs of Autism. So, we were only about to get about three months of early intervention, before he turned 3. He still wasn't talking and he had serious moods. We also realized that he wasn't playing with normal toys and didn't want other people bothering him getting in HIS SPACE. He would play with string, cards, and other items that made no sense to us.

We decided to get him tested this year in May. He is now 5. The doctor diagnosed him with Autism. We were told he was very smart, although he had other issues. He still isn't talking great and he will go into his babbling a lot of times. He is now in Kindergarten. He had a really good teacher and a teacher's aide. We love her. Thank God there are people who can handle him. She is really good with Justin. He still has his moments of tantrum throwing. He was giving us a really hard time when we took him in public always throwing fits.

He knows all of his alphabet and can count pretty high. He can recognize his alphabet and write them. He is on the honor roll. I was worried about him being in a normal class, but it seems to be helping him. We're told that all the other kids are very attentive to him always wanting to help him. He gets speech therapy. He's doing rather well we are very proud of him. He is reading which he loves. They get new stories each week and he loves reading them. He carries it around and reads to people when they come over to visit. It's very cute.

Justin still shows speech problems. He had behavior problems. Sometimes it's worse than others. He still tried hitting Jacob at times, which I worry about. I pray that he will quit the tantrums and all soon. He isn't fully potty trained, but he does rather well with not wetting himself with his big boy underwear on. We're hoping by the grace of god he will be fully potty-trained. That would be a major blessing in our lives. We're working on it.

He has problems with PICA for a while now. (Pica is eating nonnutritive substances longer than a month.) He tries to eat dirt, sand, and he has even been known to try eat Christmas lights or light bulbs. Yes, you read it right. We had started some therapy with that tried a few things. He hated to brush his teeth, so after episode we were making him washout his mouth with Mouthwash and making him brush his teeth. We have tried giving him pop rocks (candy) to help him get that grindy texture he's after. (Special thank you to Melissa-that was the best idea I had heard.) She also is helping with his behavioral plan. We are trying the time-out method. We have to sit there with him during his six minutes, but I suppose he will get the idea eventually and sit still on his own.

He loves his family. He's always hugging and kissing on us. He can tell us his name. He can tell us he loves us. He also has begin using yes mam and no mam. He's trying hard to use his good manners. We love him so much. Everyone is always telling us how cute and smart he is. I pray he continues to do better. We are so proud of him for doing so well in school. He tries really hard to be loving and caring. I guess he can't help, but be in a bad mood sometime.