RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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My best estimate is that my son will be too big for the cart within the next year, so the public walking problem is going to have to be addressed in that time frame. He's already too big for me to carry comfortably.

We used one of those fold out strollers until recently with James, it was just easier, but he's a little big now for it. We walk and hold his hand. He walks OK, but often turns to a 'gorilla walk' which is the only way I can describe it, hunched over taking steps with his legs wide apart swingin from side to side and leaning out using our hand as a pivot to give him balance. So sometimes carrying him on my back works, but he doesn't really hold on so I lean forward (now I'm the one acting like a Simian ). Sometimes I just carry him like a toddler.
We get a real workout!

Speaking of walking, one of James former therapist's little brother is 17 and at school. He's Autistic but mainstreamed and does well in his school work. But when he goes to the movies for example still needs a caregiver to go with him and help. She said its an odd look; a huge 6 foot tall, 220 pound teenager holding hands with a little middle aged lady.

Odd mixes of those sorts of capabilities and disabilities are in our childrens future I guess.

This thread was a good idea, I find its useful and just plain informative and interesting as much as anything to share experiences.

Thanks, I might keep bumping it

Here in Australia we have Coles and Woolworths Supermarkets which are equivalent to the US "Wallmart.

The Coles steel shopping trolleys (carts) are equipped with foldable child seats just near the handles that have a weight max of 15kg and leg space for a child < 5 yrs.

Recently they have released trolleys with red seats at the back for up two small children ( up to primary school age) to sit. Unfortunately my daughter hates these as they are far to long to be any fun (like sriving a stretch limo through a narrow shopping isle).

This reminds me of my son's "cowboy walk", only when he does it it means he needs a diaper change.

I've started getting lower back-pain doing this with my daughter, but it's well worth the fun.

Nostromo, Jeep makes a nice intermediate sized stroller. It's not as big as the cadillacs(travel sets) that infants usually start out with, but considerably larger and more durable than the umbrella style strollers. I may have another year or more of use from it, but it's been a great help.

My son doesn't hold on to me either, typically a child should cling like a monkey, but carrying Eric is like carrying a 34 pound bag of sand.

Cyberdad, I just noticed all of our ages and I'm wondering if we aren't simply starting to fall apart. I've been nursing an injured shoulder for the past two weeks from some mysterious incident. It makes carrying Eric a real challenge. Hurray for old age!!

Ethan doesn't cling either, but he's not dead weight, he wriggles and throws his weight all over the place. If you put him down he runs off, if you hold his hand he pulls you all over the place. The best thing is to have him strapped down in a shopping cart even though he can usually work his way out of it. He is exhausting! I'm 33 but what with not having a decent night's sleep in over 3 years and having a mouthful of impacted wisdom teeth my neck and shoulder are always in pain and I feel much older. His Dad is about to turn 40. I did have a bright moment the day before yesterday, he actually came when I called him - that never happens, maybe it'll be the start of something.

I've been meaning to get fit again just so I can keep up! Went to the shopping mall today and a guy selling membership to a fitness centre looked straight at me like I was prime material!

O.k. so in Ethan's case, a bag of feral cats! Eric will sometimes throw himself backwards, and now I'm wondering if that isn't how I injured my shoulder.
That's great that he responded to his name! I love to hear about these things, because it makes me feel a lot better about the possibility for a positive outcome for my child.
On the Down's boards, the parents label their posts "brags", but I don't really see it as bragging, when our children struggle for every achievement. No matter how small it may seem to others, it's HUGE to us!!. I prefer to see it as giving hope, not bragging. I NEED to see those posts, because there is no such thing as a small step forward. It means your child's world just got a little bit bigger, and that's a good thing.

I have a cross-trainer in my living room that's currently functioning as an abstract sculpture.

But you are right, I too need to get back in shape for my son. He's getting bigger, but still functioning at a near infant level in most areas. He got pink eye from school last week, and it was a booger trying to restrain him while I put the drops in his eyes.

You know some years ago I read a book called "The God of Small Things" by an Indian author named Arundhati Roy. The book itself wasn't very memorable but I never forgot the title. If there is a god then I suspect he (or she) would smile at the little things we cherish like seeing our children happy just being kids.

Pink eye is painful even for adults. When she was 3 I recall trying to give my daughter panadol drops at the airport to stop her getting ear pain when the plane landed. She created such a ruckus we had to almost restrain her in front of the airline passengers.

I'm going to use that! I thought of saying he was like a feral cat but that didn't quite cover it, a bag of feral cats however describes it perfectly! All of my pictures with him turn out something like this ....



You can see I'm leaning off to one side to counteract the weight he's throwing in the opposite direction. My knuckles are turning white ....

And this other picture is just to show that he only looks like a bag of feral cats when Mom is holding him in a picture.



I'll probably delete the pictures in a day or two out of paranoia that someone I know (family or therapists) might see them, recognize us and spy on me here. I wouldn't want anyone I know to read the gripes I might have about them.

Last edited by Washi on 14 May 2011, 2:02 am, edited 2 times in total.

Oh well, looks like the pictures didn't work anyway.

Looks like you almost had it right, what you put is probably the page the image is on at the other website, not the image on the page itself which is what you need to put, but if you right click on the image at the other site and 'view source' or similar depending on which browser etc, then you should get the full path to the picture which will end in .jpg or .gif - that should work.