AOL News - Autism's Echoes Fill This Home

AOL News - Autism's Echoes Fill This Home

I am not really much for AOL or USA TODAY for that matter, but this article was rather interesting.
"AUSTIN - There is a quiet irony in Jeanette and Patrick O'Donnell's house, where autism has taken hold of five of their six children.

Though the brain disorder is most often associated with an inability to speak, autism has rendered this household anything but silent.

"You have to get used to the sound," Jeanette says of the crashes and pops that mean something is breaking or hitting the floor, usually propelled by small hands. The cacophony of seven older television sets, usually tuned to different channels, drones in the background, fed by a backyard satellite dish.

"We have to have TV on all the time," Jeanette, 44, says. "It's a stimulant."

It's rare to have so many children with the disorder. A database operated by the non-profit advocacy group Cure Autism Now says the O'Donnells are one of only three known U.S. families with five autistic children. Fourteen other families have four....read more here

Palm Springs Vacation

We just had a lovely visit to The Club at Morningside where we stayed with my parents. Rancho Mirage was beautiful as ususal. The pool was warm, my child was well-behaved and we ate too much.
That's what my family does... we eat too much, then talk about how fat we are

Easter Kisses

I was just about to write a few nice words about the fact that my little boy kissed me over this last Easter weekend.

My dear friend asked me if he puckered up.. I amswered "yes", becuase I guess I kind of thought he had, naturally.. but in truth, he didn't.
He did however place his little forehead against mine lean in and place his lips on my puckered lips.
Then I look around on some websites and find this paper on the web...of course I found information on the web..

In other news Jake has been biting the dogs... well we figured out what he was really doing, and it ties in to the kissing his mommy thing too. My kid loves to wrestle.. with mom, dad, the dogs, anybody. SO lately he has been wrestling with the dogs, and when they play, the dogs bite each other's ears and growl. So we think that's what Jake is doing too.

A Letter from L. M.

I received this letter from my dear friend LM. Her daughter goes to school with my son. I think hers is a voice of reason amidst those who would only sound for political gain. The italics are mine.

Terri’s Choice

Terri Schiavo’s case is a tragic family saga turned
into a shameless political debacle. I, unlike
Congress, the courts and the Bush administration, do
not pretend to know all that is involved in her case.
In my own futile stand, I choose not to read all “the
facts”. No amount of arguments from the right-to-life
activists nor the right-to-die proponents will
persuade me to believe there is one right solution.
The only one who could make the right choice for
Terri, is Terri.

The one fact I do know is Terri is mentally impaired
and cannot vocalize her preference. No question her
quality of life is nothing like it once was, but is
that reason enough to starve her to death? For some
the answer is yes, for others no. The problem is, we
do not know what Terri wants.

I have reluctantly followed this case because my
daughter lives in a comparable mental state. But
unlike Terri, she was born that way. She is now 5
years old and we still don’t know if and what she
understands. Like Terri, our daughter does
laugh, smile, and cry. Similarly she does not respond
to questions. She does not choose. She does not
communicate in the conventional manner. Is that a
life? Who is to say?

What I do know is that my husband and I have decided
that for our daughter, that is a life, if uniquely her
own life. It may be different from ours, but for her,
it is the only life she will have. We made a choice
as parents to do as much as we possibly can for our
daughter, until that privilege is revoked by powers
greater than our own government. We do not know what
life span she may have, but we are going to help her
make the most of what she does have. That is our
choice as parents and no court in the land can make us
do otherwise.

Yet.

This threat to revoke our parental choice makes us
deeply sympathetic to the Schiavo parents. On the
other hand, if I were in a similar vegetative state, I
would elect to have my tube removed. Again, that is
my choice. And I would depend on my husband to carry
it out. And this may have been Terri’s choice as
promulgated by her husband. Which makes me
sympathetic to him and his interpretation of her
preference. See? No easy answer.

Some may call me a hypocrite, but I suspect those who
profess there are absolute solutions to intensely
personal decisions about the sanctity and quality of
life are naïve. There are no clear cut decisions as
this case shows, and as we have learned from our own
daughter’s experience. But a mandate seems to have
emerged from this tragedy. We as a country must not
debate and legislate on the right to life, either at
birth or death. Instead, we must go a step further
and work to preserve our choice to make decisions for
ourselves and respect the right of others to make
their own choices. For the sanctity of our ability
to choose is what makes us different from many
countries in this world. It is not what we choose so
much as it is the ability to make that choice. So
let’s leave Terri’s family alone, move on, and work on
things we can solve. I hope she would agree.

Emails from Mom

I got this email from my mom:

HOME IS A PLACE WHERE YOU KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND THEY HAVE TO LET YOU IN
LOVE, MOMMA

That was it. She sent it to me and to my little brother... so of course, this is what I sent back (to my brother)

HOME IS A PLACE WHERE YOU KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND THEY HAVE TO LET YOU IN...then they punch you in the head and you can't tell anyone.

HOME IS A PLACE WHERE YOU KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND THEY HAVE TO LET YOU IN...then they tell you that you are a bad child for coming home so late, early, etc.

HOME IS A PLACE WHERE YOU KNOCK ON THE DOOR AND THEY HAVE TO LET YOU IN... then they ask you to please fix the doorbell becuase it's been broken for nearly three weeks, and why don't you ever come to see your poor mother.

I'm sure my momma meant it very nicely. Or else she is just tired of us and so is writing in all CAPS again trying to get our attention. Who knows. We will all be together in a few weeks for a nice vay-k in Palm Springs. Should be beautiful and fun...and dare I say it, perhaps even relaxing?

Just another Jennifer

Jennifer

...some kid in a class. What a great idea for a teacher.. make all of the students get a blog and post their homework online. Then the teacher can read from the Internet cafe [since we know it is a grad student drinking lattes.. then beer as it turns later into the day (or straight to espresso if s/he is the type who wears all black and carries an old brown leather mail bag as a carry-all for class]... Brilliant. I will become a grad student. That sounds like so much fun. Yes.. and I will study Philosophy...or The Classics..haHA.

by the way I have put my smallish child to bed tonight after looking at the CDC growth charts for peds in the US. Jake is the weight of an AVERAGE 7 year old male... and the height of an AVERAGE 6 year old. and I actually wondered the other day why my back hurt. ... amazing

A New Place to Submit Writing?

I was searching Craig's List for writing gigs and saw this call for submissions from Cappy G..could be the next great place on the web.
I really just need to start submitting some of the things I have written, or perhaps I need to write a bit more of what is going on in my head.. the running narrative.. and that's what it is a narrative. I am not talking to myself, or rather I suppose I am talking to myself, but I am certainly not listening, and neither is anyone else.. does that make it a monologue? a bilogue a myelinogue? a synapse in the fog? a bit of hair of the dog?

Meche sent me Bebo

About Us
My dear friend Meche just sent me a link to join an online address book of hers. This company Bebo is run by an English bloke, and since that Island is so small, I am guessing her husband Rexy-baby knows the guys who started the thing. I should probably ask before I give them free air-time though eh?