What does "autism" mean to you?
The more I think and learn the more it seems like autism is this broad category covering a vast amount of processing issues and that the kids (and adults) are as varied as any human beings. I wonder if in 10 years they will even use this label/term anymore...thoughts ladies????

I agree, it is a very broad spectrum with many different traits, talents, etc.
To me, autism means that my son thinks in a different way than I or his NT siblings do. It doesn't mean that he's strange or weird or really all that different, just that he has a different way of doing things, learning things and speaking. It means that his interests are more intense and his dislikes are more intense. But, I also wouldn't have him any other way.
Autism doesn't define my son, but it is a part of who he is.

Exactly!
Autism doesn't define my son, but it is a part of who he is.

Even though it is a broad spectrum there are still common charateristics throughout. They are the dianostic crieria. When I think about autism and the future I hope that they will have learned a lot more then they know now such as causes and any gut connection. There is so much out there in terms of treatment and everyone thinks they have the answer that is what can be frustrating. Who do you believe?

I know, you don't want to waste your child's time on something that won't help but you can't help but hope there is something out there that will make a difference. I do hope they start to doing more research and figure out what is causing this and what actually helps for sure. Thanks for the support.
Quoting philipmommy4834:Even though it is a broad spectrum there are still common charateristics throughout. They are the dianostic crieria. When I think about autism and the future I hope that they will have learned a lot more then they know now such as causes and any gut connection. There is so much out there in terms of treatment and everyone thinks they have the answer that is what can be frustrating. Who do you believe?



I think that they will find that there are more quirks than fitting in the box. I love it, it reminds us that individualism is something that we cherish. In 10 years, I think people will have wished that their kids were on the spectrum, because of so many miracle stories.
In 10 years, my son will be 16. I hope that by then, differences are celebrated and less bullying.

Autism is just ONE word that describes all the little quirks my son has:) Nothing more and nothing less:)

I am lucky to have grown up in a family where we always celebrated our uniqueness and so I had a good foundation for this.
I am heading up an awareness project at school this year with some other moms and the PTO, to see what we can do to get the kids to stop being so mean to one another. It is unacceptable. We are going to have a series of guest speakers who have impairments and a wonderful speaker to talk about what is legally unacceptable. I am very excited about it.
Quoting Macphee:I think that they will find that there are more quirks than fitting in the box. I love it, it reminds us that individualism is something that we cherish. In 10 years, I think people will have wished that their kids were on the spectrum, because of so many miracle stories.
In 10 years, my son will be 16. I hope that by then, differences are celebrated and less bullying.
- lucasmadre
on Jul. 27, 2013 at 3:18 PM