An insight into autism.

[Deleted member 30535]

A touching story.

Autistic girl expresses profound intelligence. [VIDEO]

I had two cousins who were severely mentally handicapped and both died young: 24 (girl) and 10 (boy). At no time did my Aunt and Uncle even think about a care home for them. You've just got to admire the strength of parents who have severely ill/handicapped children.

Sort of puts my issues into (the correct) perspective.

 

[Semiskimmed1976]

Nice film, great to see the message "don't judge a book by it's cover" never being so true!

 

[Deleted member 63670]

Nice little video, shows whats possible and to never give up. Have to totally agree with the care home thing, alot of the docs etc that we are involved with seem to always press us to seriously look into care options and various respite situations for Owen, I always just brush it to one side as its just something I can't ever imagine doing, mrs emporer has approached the idea of overnight respite care in a hospice to give us a night free but I just cant see the point, i'd never willingly do that as Owen is who he is and i'm pretty sure he wouldn't like to be palmed off to strangers for a night. It might work for some but certainly not us.

It is difficult but as a parent in the same situation you just get on with it and enjoy every minute as we always get just as many highs as we get lows.

 

[andrew markwort]

It is a nice film, but can I just point out that the parents have had a team of therapists working with this girl for (literally) years. Although mom and dad's efforts have, I am certain, been heroic, they haven't been doing this alone.

It only goes to show what can be achieved with truly intensive therapy. But alas, how many could afford this or be lucky enough to get state aid of this magnitude?

BTW, full marks emporer on handling a situation like this by yourself, but speaking as one who has been in the same situation (albeit in our case with an older relative) please don't think that respite care is a sign of 'failure' or betrayal. But, if you want to do this alone then I salute you for it.

 

[Deleted member 63670]

I don't see it as a case of failure but there is something in me that thinks its just not right for us, I just couldn't do it, Owen is severely mentally and physically disabled and requires 24 hour care which is all done by us and a little help from family, to let other people look after him just doesnt somehow compute with me, i'm not kocking this particular service though as they do provide a very important service to alot of disabled people. We do have respite nurses that give us some home help care which is alot better for us. I suppose as Owen is a little boy (almost 4), and has a treminal condition its very difficult for me to seperate from him as Owen and his little sister are our whole world.

 

[andrew markwort]

We do have respite nurses that give us some home help care

Ah, understood. And in many ways this is a far better option, I would guess.

 

[Pincho Paxton]

It's very interesting. All of this data input that can't be controlled. I'm sure that the information will lead to a cure eventually.

 

[Deleted member 30535]

It's very interesting. All of this data input that can't be controlled. I'm sure that the information will lead to a cure eventually.

Yeah, it was interesting and fascinating to hear her explain what it's like to cope with autism. She said she can't look at people because she takes a 1,000 "photos" all at once, and going about daily life just overloads her sensory inputs. She "controlled " the inputs by going into "output mode" (head banging, screaming etc) which blocked the inputs. Poor girl.