livebeyondautism

  I could tell you that I’ve lied awake countless night worrying about my son and his future. I could tell you I haven’t slept through the night in 9 years.  I’ve developed an anxiety. one thing for sure I’ve not lost weight. I gain weight instead. I am so scared of so many thing for the sake of my son not just him also my daughter at times I just breakdown. I worry about who will love him and care for him like me and my husband do. I worry about what is going to happen to him when I can no longer provide care for him when he get older. I’ve even beat myself up for not knowing what to do  Brad has ability to do things. He is very much verbal and love to dance . He looks normal like any other kids. But the reality is he has never made a friend he think everyone is his friend the good and the bad. He has never been invited to a birthday party or a play date from other kids. His disability isn’t fatal. Hopefully live his life to the fullest. But he will most likely never mov...

“My friend  Linda looking into getting a therapy dog for her daughter Leah who has autism children with autism experience fewer meltdowns in the presence of a pet dog and their parents stress levels are significantly lowered , but we also see that dogs can make a difference to confidence levels, help reduce anxiety, improve communication and help families  This is Leah visiting the center.  Therapy dogs will arrive pre-trained and ready to work with this littler princess stay tuned for much more of Leah store with her new best  friend. Enjoy these beautiful pictures .    

Spring break mean sun, warmth, and freedom, but for families of children with autism spectrum Disorder, it could mean unstructured time, regression of skills, and increase in undesirable behaviors. If you're the parent of a child with autism, you know that the "break" in Spring break can be misleading; it's more like overtime for you. Children with autism often thrive in structured environments and do best when engaged in their typical routines. Eliminating a highly structured and physically and mentally engaging school day could cause inappropriate behaviors to creep up. Leaving the comfort of home for a vacation can also bring more stress to your child and to your family. So for Us our  Spring break this year was not to bad. Brad was so excited to go to the water park resort. He was looking forward to go down the slides so I have him try it so he can tell us what his experience was like 👍 So I ask Brad after his first slide would you like to go down the water 💦 sl...

You can take your case to   Disability Rights Florida . This is a statewide organization that is tasked with protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities; their services are free: https://disabilityrightsflorida.org/our_work/services   -You can connect with  FDLRS  in your area. FDLRS has a parent services program, with the goal of supporting communication between parents and schools: https://www.fdlrssuncoast.org/parent-services   - The IEP Advocate  is a private advocacy group. They provide advocates (for a fee) to review IEPs and attend meetings with you:  https://theiepadvocate.com/   - Special Education Law and Advocacy  is another fee-based advocacy firm, with attorneys and educational advocates on staff:  https://flspedlaw.com/   This is some great new that I have learn this weeks and I will be using some of this service. Please feel free to share livebeyondautism 

  The stress of school closures also led to an increase in certain behaviors among children with autism, including: Stimming (66%) “Meltdowns” (62%) Aggression (46%) Toileting issues (26%) In fact, more than three-quarters of parents of autistic children (79%) said that their child’s therapies had been disrupted during the pandemic, and more than half (63%) said their child was regressing behaviorally. Parents were also concerned that their child was less prepared to return to school, falling behind in school and being left out of virtual social situations. However, while there were negative changes in behavior, parents of children with autism reported that their children have been happier during the pandemic than parents of non-autistic children. The decrease in social demands and opportunity to stay home with loved ones could be contributing to this difference. In total, these findings suggest that virtual school and therapy services may not be appropriate for children with autis...

  As the mother of a young boy  with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), other parents often ask me about my experience.  They want to know how I got through it and more importantly, how my son is doing now. We’ve been at it for  9 years and I’m glad to say he’s doing ok not the best as I expected. We’re proud of him, and ourselves, for the progress we’ve made in this journey together. Our son is a elementary student a brother, uncle , cousin, and grandson. I’m happy to say he has our support. He’s a busy boy, everyone is his friend, sometimes sports fan. Love 💕 to dance 🕺  Toward the end of Pre K elementary school, we got his diagnosis of ASD. Throughout, there were therapies and programs, and curricula, and evaluations and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) galore. We knew all the special educators back in Ohio, many of the doctors, and even some of the nurses, and we have a box  full of records documenting all of it. Without our little families like ours – ...

  Christmas can be such a wonderful time of the year, but for some of us it can be full of anxiety, stress and uncertainty. The lack of routine and the uncertainty of it can really unsettle a child with ASD.Brad love Christmas. He is so excited for Christmas. Christmas happen  to be one of his  favor  H oliday.  he cannot wait for the morning of  Christmas to open his presents. It was all too overwhelming for him. Over the years I have learnt how to reduce this stress for Brad and for our family. Below I have put my  top tips to surviving an Autistic Christmas.   1. Simplify  Christmas is a time full of over stimulation. Lights, tinsel, music, more people coming and going and a lack of routine.  Try to keep the Christmas decoration simple, choose low warm white lights on your tree instead of the colourful ones or ones that flash.  2 Guests  Only invite people that you know are going to help around the house and who are not goin...