The A-word

For those of you who do not know, I might as well make it official. Our son was diagnosed with autism in December.
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Here’s the quick summary of autism for folks whose knowledge on the subject are largely limited to Dustin Hoffman’s performance in Rain Man. Autism is a neurological disorder that limits the brain’s natural development. Research has shown that people with autism tend to have an overgrowth of white brain cells, specifically excess synapses often localized in the logic centers of the brain. That might sound like a good thing, but the running theory is that it crowds out development of the social center of the brain. What’s more, if left unchecked, this premature overgrowth can cause the brain to stop developing early, severely limiting a child’s ability to learn new skills over time. It is, on the grand scheme of things, a relatively new disorder that is still be researched and analyzed. As a result, it goes under a variety of different names, like PDD-NOS, though there are efforts to unify all of the different cases under the general name of Autism Spectrum disorder. Emphasis on the word spectrum. Autism means a whole host of possible things, of which Mr. Hoffman only covered a few. In our case, Alex has had trouble with eye contact, expressing his needs and desires, obsession with things that spin, and not interacting with other kids socially.
Other things in the spectrum that Alex has been blessed to not manifest thus far include seizures, problems with digestion and being unable to express joy.
Reading about autism suggests that it is something of a Rosetta of disorders. There are implications that unlocking the nature of autism stands to reveal a lot of knowledge about other problems people face, including asthma and Alzheimer's. I don’t know why the two examples I can think of both start with A.
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In the short term, what this means is that Alex now qualifies for 20 hours of early intervention services a week instead of the previous 5. This is good news. We’ve only been working with the counselors for a  few months, and he has already made tremendous strides. He can now ask for things very reliably when prompted, and has even begun to ask for things without prompting. He’s become much better at self regulating, and no longer needs to spend long periods spinning a top, playing with a light switch, or growling to calm himself down.
We do not know where he is on the spectrum. Only time will reveal that answer. We do not know what caused the autism to trigger. It is a combination of genetics and environment. I provided the genetics, but we don’t know about the environment part. No one does.
Treating autism is like treating the common cold. The common cold is actually a multitude of different viruses that all manifest similar symptoms, but require different antibodies to fight as they are effectively different viruses. There are a lot of common symptoms, but what works great for one kid may not work at all for another. As such, we’ll probably try most anything once, but with the understanding that our mileage may vary from other people’s anecdotes. For example, one child given a Vitamin E supplement very quickly caught up on their language delay, but that does not mean Vitamin E is a cure for autism, or that it will even help another child who has been diagnosed.
Julie has been reading all of the books by Temple Grandin, a woman with autism born in the late 40’s who was fortunate to have parents who decided to see if treatments could be created rather than simply have their daughter institutionalized. She’s a hero for parents who believe that their child can have a healthy, productive life. That’s the other bit of good news.
Research into treatments has been going on long enough and enough results have been produced that it’s expected to have results, rather than nothing you try ever working. This can definitely be said of Alex. He’s working hard to understand what we’re trying to communicate, and he’s working hard to communicate himself. He’s got the attitude, he’s got a lot of people working hard to help him break down those barriers. I remain confident that he will continue to be successful, and make an excellent big brother.