What is autism?
The Pub Med Health website describes autism as:
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.
For Jake specifically, autism means that he does not necessarily react to his name being called and struggles to follow simple instructions (although he is getting better at that), which can make safety a major issue. We have locks on an all the doors, including his bedroom door, although we don’t use that one a lot of the time.
Jake is not toilet-trained and we sometimes have a hard time imagining that he’ll ever learn to use the toilet.
Jake does not speak at all or point or wave (unless instructed to).
Often with autism, we hear about children who are very sensitive to touch, loud noises or bright lights. That is not Jake. Our Jake is a stimulation-seeker. He loves deep pressure which shows itself in his love for stomping his feet, jumping, grinding his teeth (sometimes), squeezing his eyes shut or clenching his fists. He loves a tight cuddle, a foot massage and to have fingers run through his hair.
Jake loves being tickle, chased and teased and he giggles manically to show it.
He greets those he loves, which includes his EA, Nancy, with big smiles and cuddles.
Name:
Nicola
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