Autism

The word Autism is Drama.

I don't mean it's all bad Drama but if you know or care for someone with Autism you can relate.

Searching for Doctors to help you help your child.
Finding the "Right" programs and therapists.
Running through the maze or better put by a fellow Auttie friend Mom of mine "Jumping through the hoops" to secure services for your child in the school and community setting.
These are just some of the daily issues that come along with Autism.

For me it's just plain frustrating.

There are constant roadblocks for Autistic children and their parents.

Autism is a lifelong disability.

I can't change that fact .. nor can anyone else at this time.
It is what it is.

This is where the "hoops" come in.

The Drama of late has not come from my Autistic child it has come from the very agencys which claim to be "helping" him and providing those services.

Mention lifelong disability to any state agency and the first reaction they will have is "How can we dump this kid off on somebody else".

Autism costs money. LOTS of money.
Services and therapies are not cheap.
That said I am a firm believer in pay now or pay later.

If the state agencies holding the purse strings would realize that supporting these kids and their parents now would actually save them money later, one would think they would embrace the spending.

Many Autistic kids have the ability to be job holding, tax paying, independent members of society if given the skills to be. Some supports may always be needed, there is no magic bullet here, but they could be minimal in comparison to full time support.
If not given the chance or the skills to be independent the state and government agencys will support that child for the rest of his life through SSI.

This is not to say that it is possible for every Autistic child, there is a wide spectrum out there, but I do believe many kids are going to be forced into those situations later in life on the principal of saving a few bucks now.

Many of my Drama blogs will deal with the frustrations that Autistic parents and their children deal with on a daily basis, but it will also deal with the accomplishments and the fun things about Autism that you rarely get to hear about.

In the meantime we will just keep Jumping !

(ps .. I reserve the right to include typo's in all of my posts ! )