The Autism Society of America has announced that registration is open for their 38th annual national conference. The conference will be held from July 11 - 14 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Highlights of the conference include six pre-conference workshops, over 110 educational workshops, 120 companies represented at the conference exposition, respite onsite childcare, and many more features!
Early bird registration runs through May 1 at a discounted rate of $225 for full conference registration, $120 for an individual with autism, and $150 for a speaker. For more information please check out the secure online registration form.
“I wanted to do this show because I wanted to show people what autism is.”
Those are the very wise words from 10 year old Max from Cherry Hill, NJ. Max was one of four children featured on Monday night’s episode of TLC’s “My Life As A Child.” Max has a 15 year-old brother, Anthony, who has autism. Max’s segments of the show focused on how living with his brother affects him. He starts off by saying “being autistic, Anthony has weird quirks” then goes on to show some of the things Anthony collects including lawnmowers and light bulbs. Max, Anthony, and their family received a lot of air time and I think they did a really good job showcasing what living with a person with autism could be like but also emphasizing that this is a normal part of life for them.
One part that was particularly touching for me was when the Max asked how the future would be different for him compared to Anthony. His mother’s answers were a reality check for me. For her son Max she wants him to grow up and get married when he’s ready to get married. For Anthony she said that he will probably live with his parents until they are no longer able to care for him and then perhaps he can move into an apartment with others and have a caretaker but that she wants his brother and sister to still involve them in their lives.
This is part of a reality for many parents of children with autism. No one knows what the future holds for your child. If you think about it you don’t know the future for any of your children, whether they have autism or not, but the reality sets in when you think about your child with autism. For my son we have a college savings plan. For my daughter we are going to look into a special-needs trust. We don’t know what level of functioning she will have at age eighteen; she may need assistance or she may be able to go out into the world on her own. These thoughts were really difficult to me in the first few weeks post-diagnosis. I have now come to move on from the “what does the future hold” thoughts and focus on the present. What do I have to be thankful for today.
Well the short answer to what happened last night is this: the weighted blanket didn’t help. Last night was just a horrible night, my dear sweet husband took the brunt of it. We tried our typical bedtime routine with my daughter and within five minutes she came running and screaming out of her room petrified of who knows what. Instead of talking her into going back in there her and I piled into my bed. Mind you she goes to bed early - 6:30pm or so; I’m not always ready to go to bed at that time. However I really didn’t have much choice, thankfully she cooperated and let me watch TV - it didn’t seem to distract her last night.
I managed to get her to sleep and after about an hour in my bed we moved her to her bed and under her nice, new weighted blanket. Within two hours she was up and out, absolutely petrified. My husband was still awake and put her to sleep on the couch (he was working on his laptop). He moved her to her bed at one point and then he went to sleep. Something caused her to wake up and she broke into the refrigerator and ate one of my son’s cups of super pudding (homemade pudding, special recipe, lots of calories). Something must have caught my husband’s attention because he got up; evidently there was a bit of a chocolate mess that needed to be tended to so he did. He then crawled on the couch with my daughter and tried to cuddle her back to sleep.
Being the sweet man that he is he let me get some sleep last night as I haven’t been feeling well (I got a nasty sunburn on vacation and am still sunburned five days later). I don’t know what it is about children with autism having sleep issues but egad this is wearing me thin. On another blog that I read (Autism - A Blog On The Spectrum) a mother has talked about how she’s been dealing with the sleep issues for seven years now…that’s a long time. I’m only going on year four and am already drained. Calgon…take me away!
