Angelus' take....

Interview Angelus about himself, Faith....and things in life.

1.) What is something people say to you a lot?
 -- A lot of people call me An-jill-is

2.) What's your favorite thing to do?
-- Play video games, Little Big Planet

3.) What makes you happy?
-- Me, sister, and everyone in our family playing together.

4.)What makes you sad?
-- A lot of things, like movies--the movie where Darth Vader died lots of other stuff.

5.) What are you really good at?
--Weird flips and jumping off of stuff.

6.) What are you really bad at?
--Finding a club house.

7.) Do you like being a big brother?
--Yes. I like helping take care of and play with my sister.

8.) How are you and Faith the same?
-- We're related.  We like to play games together sometimes.

9.) How are you different?
--I like watching television and and she HATES it.

10.) What makes her happy?
--Me and her playing with each other, and her looking at pictures in books makes her laugh a lot.

11.) Describe your sister-- She laughs a lot, hates Dora, but likes some cartoons. Has blue eyes, likes to look at books and the pictures in them.  She laughs a lot and wears dresses sometimes.

12.) What makes you laugh?
--Watching funny stuff...like "Wipe Out".

13.) If you became famous, what would you be famous for?
--Being a hero.

14.) What are you really good at?
--Front flips and back flips.

15.)What are you not very good at?
--Not crying.

16.) IF you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
--Spiderman.

17.)What would you want people to know about you?
--My name is An-gel-us

18.) What would you want people to know about Faith?
--She laughs a lot and sings, AND I think she should be a singer when she grows up.

19.) So...Faith has Autism, how would you describe Autism?
--Have a hard time talking.

*There we have it, the way Angelus sees some things.  Maybe in the next one or two, Tommy will "weigh in" and give us his take on life and the family and such, 'cause he's a fairly good writer and I imagine it'd be some good reading.  BUT we will see...as he has his own super busy blog that he isn't having the easiest time keeping up with because of someone's erratic sleeping patterns.  :) 

Is verses Has

Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Autism is a physical condition linked to abnormal biology and chemistry in the brain. The exact causes of these abnormalities remain unknown, but this is a very active area of research. There are probably a combination of factors that lead to autism.
Genetic factors seem to be important. For example, identical twins are much more likely than fraternal twins or siblings to both have autism. Similarly, language abnormalities are more common in relatives of autistic children. Chromosomal abnormalities and other nervous system (neurological) problems are also more common in families with autism.
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Boys are 3-4x more likely than girls to have Autism, and there appears to be a genetic component...so, the thing I've wondered for a long time now is....how'd it bypass my son and my daughter get it?  Not that I'm complaining ('cause I am certainly not), just the numbers seem like they'd be "stacked in his favor" to have it.  

I was just thinking earlier today...Is Faith Autistic? Or does she have Autism?...I'm not really sure which one she'd prefer to be referenced as.  I know some people who are very sensitive about this topic.  I'm generally not one way or the other, but something to think about.  So, as I was thinking about it and "referencing" it in my own head.   The thought struck me, what if she had Downs Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson, or something along those lines.  I would say "she has Downs Syndrome, M.S., or Parkinson's".  Not "she is Downs Syndrome, etc."  She is Faith who happens to have Autism.  Although I really think Autism vs. Autistic comes down to the words conjugation, for the most part. 

Oh and I've discovered another "slight pet peeve" of mine now. People saying that they don't play with toys "appropriately".  Who's to say lining up different objects and staring at them repeatedly isn't appropriate?  That's her way of playing.  I mean Angelus and other kids make-shift their toys do all kinds of things that weren't their original intention...and they're said to be using their imagination.  I do believe that's exactly what they are doing.  Maybe this is Faith's imagination too, she could be having people do train rides or something (A LOT).  As long as she isn't throwing things  (generally speaking, I make exceptions for balls and stuff of that nature) I consider that her normal play.

After my pretty black eye got all cleared up, it only took about a month...yesterday after I got her out of the tub she whacked me in the head again...but this time I got a goose-egg right above my other eye.  At this rate I *may* be blind before I'm 40ish.  

 

A little bit of Everything....All Rolled into one.

The school year is winding down, and now we are left at the stage of re-writing the IEP for next school year.  Faith will Pre-K bound and Angelus will be in 2nd grade.  Man time sure flies.  The plan for Faith right now is to have her go next year to get kind of adjusted, and then do Pre-K again but the second time around to REALLY do Pre-K....ya know, after the trial run.  Heh.

We're looking into the SonRise program at the moment.  I've heard great things and I like how it meets them where they're at.  Also, I tend to just let Faith do her behaviors as long as they're not hurting anyone (including herself).  I figure she has a good reason for it, I just don't always know what it is.  Tommy and I try to do ALL we can for her and make sure she gets all the services and help that is out there for her, but a few months ago I started a retirement account.  In it, it asks who the money goes to if something were to happen to me.  Obviously Tommy and then the kids.  As I was reading it, the thought struck me...what if she needs additional help (essentially a guardian) if something were to ever to happen to Tommy and me, Angelus would be it.  While he seems more than enthusiastic about this (at the old age of 7)...it made me want to do even more for Faith as Angelus didn't have Faith and that's an awful lot of responsibility for someone who may want to have their own family with wife and kids one day.  Crazy to be thinking of this when they're only 3 and 7, but I just want the absolute best life  for them.  Whatever that may be.

I guess we're going to ask for extended services for Faith from the school so she can continue Speech and Occupational Therapy throughout the Summer. Then she will need a para for school when it will start back up, but I'm not all together sure as to what will need to be done for that.  The principal, Speech therapist and I have been talking a lot and we are all in agreement that is what will need to be done for her, I'm just not sure what that means on my end for me to do.  The therapists think she may also have something known as "apraxia" it has something to do with "motor planting" in your brain.  The OT thinks she may have more than a (little) bit of it with her Gross motor skills.  I think she probably has some of it with her oral communication because I see her try to form words [sometimes] and they just won't come out.

At the end of the month I'm going to go to Dallas and listen to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and the man who wrote the book "The Horse Boy".  I'm VERY excited about this since I've never been to Dallas before.  It is gonna be an adventure.  I like those.

Well...since it's April, it's Autism Awareness month and since Faith is my daughter, that's something very important and close to my heart. It is Child Abuse Awareness and Sexual Assault Awareness month.  I think neither one of those last two need to happen EVER.  I've never experienced them either.  My main reason for going into that field was because it hasn't ever happened to me and I firmly believe it should never happen to anyone...with the way the world is, I just wanted people to see it does happen where people are treated right in their lifetime and it could (and should) happen more and more often.  At least, that's my prayer.