The Li'l David Autism Page

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I would like you to meet David. He is 4 years old and is autistic.

Click photo above to go to the Li'l David picture page.
edited with love on 09/18/00
 

IIf you are just looking for links to autism resources click here

Autism

In other words, you can't tell by looking.

It is still largely misunderstood and often misdiagnosed.

For an overview of autism click here
 

This week with David.

Well, summer is over and David is back in school. It was quite a fight to get him there though,
as the Lucia Mar school district would only put him in one school, that had serious safety
issues. We had another I.E.P. and forced them to resolve these issues, which were an open gate near his
classroom, and an open section in the fence surrounding the school.
After much fighting, they finally relented and installed the needed fencing and gate latches.

Here is the funny part, even though they went to all this expense,
the staff leaves this gate open on a regular basis.
David's mother has parked outside the school and watched it happen.

Our David has major elopement problems, and you think in the wake of several deaths of autistic
children, that the school district would take this more seriously.

We are also having problems with the San luis chapter of the tri-counties regional center.
They are supposed to help us with speech and developmental therapies for David, but
these services have been non-existant. Between the poor schooling and lack of services
My David is regressing, not improving. His behaviors are worsening, and in response
to his mothers concerns, a tri-counties official (who for the fear of litagation will remain nameless)
suggested that we institutionalize David.
 
We do not want to warehouse our son, we want him back. when David was 14 months old,
he was talking , performing simple tasks, and generally being a normal toddler.
then he had the mmr vaccine. and became the unreachable and difficult child he is today.

There are therapies that work, but these so-called professionals,
are more concerened with dollars, than sense.
Well, I am gonna close for now, cause this is turning into a rant.
David is healthy, and for the moment, happy. We are going to straighten out
the mess that is is his education program, no matter what the cost.

Feel free to email me with comments or suggestions, or to commiserate.
Thanks for coming,
David Richards

[email protected]
 

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I personally believe that his condition may have been caused by immunizations.  He was given an immunization for Hepatitis B when he was just five days old. If you are the parent of an autistic child and feel the same way, click here to help do something about it.

Just before he turned 2, David's doctor diagnosed him as clinically deaf and referred him for a hearing test.  We could yell out his name or bang pots and pans together behind him and he would not react, yet when we started one of his videos when he was out of the room, he would come running.  The hearing test confirmed that David could indeed hear.

As David turned 2, we knew he was not deaf, but he no longer had any speech.  At that point, we contacted Tri-Counties Regional Center, a State agency which provides services for the developmentally disabled.  Since there had been the initial diagnosis of deafness, the school district was brought in as well, whose assessment placed David at 9-10 months old developmentally. Regional Center doctors would only diagnose him as "developmentally disabled" and asked to see him again before he turned 3.

Although the experts would not commit to his diagnosis, his mother and I knew by that time that David was autistic.

David was accepted as a client by the Tri-Counties Regional Center and assigned to a fantastic caseworker, Karin, who put us in contact with an excellent occupational therapy clinic and a wonderful speech pathologist.  Between the ages of 2 and 3 years, David received 2.5 hours of speech and 1 hour of occupational therapy each week at no cost to us as part of the Early Intervention Program.  These professional people were genuinely concerned for David's progress and provided us with resources that we never knew existed. The local Autism Society was helpful as well.

We read and researched the disorder and found that it was not as hopeless as it initially seemed. We tried out treatments that had been successful for other autistic children, but with no success for David. With the megavitamin therapy, David would say a word here and there, but it made his diarrhea significantly worse.

We have hope that in time David will get better.  If not, that is fine. Autistics can often live productive lives if we accept their differences without forcing them into a "normal" society that they just don't fit into.

While building this site, I have learned about autism from an autistic point of view. If you are interested in acceptance rather than dogged pursuit of a cure, or if you have tired of said pursuit, go to the "Don't Mourn for us" link. It may change your perspective on autism and related disorders.

Regardless of the outcome, I feel blessed to have David in my life. Most people who meet my special son are impressed by his total innocence.
 

As David's 3rd birthday approached, doctors were no longer reluctant to diagnose his autism.
David has started to show improvement in several areas.
He has developed ways to communicate such as pulling us to whatever it is he wants,
or by handing us a picture or item, such as an empty Cheetos bag or candy wrapper.
When he wants to go somewhere, he will bring his shoes or his mother's purse or,
lead us to the door and place our hand on the doorknob.

He is still in diapers (now provided for him by the State) and requires constant supervision.  We hear a word here and there, but getting him to say it again is impossible at this point.  He currently takes Risperdal to help him sleep.  David has no fear of danger or the unknown, and he will run away at any opportunity.  Locks and alarms are on every door and window in the house, and we use a harness with leash or a jogging stroller for outings.

After the long and trying IEP process, he started a special education preschool last May and loved the routine and structure. His teachers were impressed with his progress.

The IEP process required the services of an attorney, also provided to us at no expense, to insure that David was placed in the most appropriate classroom.  We are especially grateful to Cheryl (we miss you, Cheryl) for her input and support throughout the IEP process.

Unfortunately, David was placed in a different classroom
this past fall due to relocation to another county.
It has been a difficult transition.
The Regional Center in the new county is not as accommodating as the last.

David's Favorite Things:

Ears:  He has a great affinity for ears. He likes to hold mine or his mother's ear as he drinks his bottle (if we give him a cup he promptly pours or spits it out).  If we are not available, the dog's ear will do nicely.

Food: His favorite foods are: oranges, bananas, apples, salty chips of any kind, lunchmeat and bread (not together though), waffles, Hamburger meat, Goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, frozen eggrolls (Munchers), fish sticks, french fries, chicken nuggets (with LOTS of ketchup), and pizza.
He seems to enjoy his food more if it has hit the floor first.

Swinging:  David loves to swing. Day or night, hot or cold, it doesn't matter.

His Shadow;
David has discovered his shadow, and spends a lot of time watching it.
He is aware that he has control of it, and since control over his environment
is something he lacks he is quite fascinated with this small measure of sway.

He loves to swing.

TV and Videos:  David loves Teletubbies, Barney , Blues Clues and Sesame Street.  He gets very excited whenever these are on and will watch them for hours.

Water:  Anytime David sees water he has to play in it, which means
we have to keep him out of the bathroom unsupervised.
This is of great concern to us in the wake of several drowning deaths of autistic children
nationwide.When David visits me, most of his time
is spent in the backyard with the hose. :^)

Scooping: He enjoys scooping dried beans, birdseed, or rice with a cup.
Also he likes to dig and run sand through his fingers.

Handslapping: David enjoys having his hands slapped.
If we move our hand back and forth in front of him,
he will always hold up his so we can slap our hand back and forth on his.
He has liked this as long as I can remember.
 

Drawing: We purchased aMagnadoodle for him and he loves it. If you have an autistic child who loves to draw, you should get one.  If your child is anything like David, he will spend his time writing on it instead of the walls, furniture, pets, parents, etc. David loves to color, but is not real picky about the palettes he chooses for his art.

David is an affectionate child, which is unusual among children with his condition. Many autistics are completely withdrawn, often ignoring their parents and siblings altogether.

Daily life is a challenge with David.  He is extremely active and does not appear to understand much of what is said to him, nor does he have any fear of danger or the unknown.  He is, however, extremely beautiful and special, and we love him just how he is.

I once read an article that compared being autistic and trying to understand society to walking into a play and finding you are the star, only you haven't read the script.  You don't know what to do or where to go.  Sounds tough, huh?  I would love to spend 20 minutes in his sweet little head just so I could relate.

I am determined to help him be a star in life, and I will never give up.

Hello! I am Dave Richards.  David is my son.
He has changed my outlook on developmental disorders and the mentally challenged forever.  He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I hope this page is of some use to you if there is an autistic or PDD person in your life.  I have posted this site with the hope that people in similar situations will read it and know they are not alone and that others know what it is like to raise an autistic child.

Please reply to:

[email protected] or[email protected]

I hope you enjoy these pages.  A lot of time and love went into them.

I created them with a motley crew of editors, mostly Front page 98 and Coffee cup html editor++ and a lot of Notepad.

Recently I have been using Linux and Netscape's composer for main editing
And kedit, pico, and that evil torture device known as Vi for html tweaking.
If you would like to know more about Linux and open source software,
Check out my " Dave's other pages " link on the home page.
 I have

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away."

Henry David Thoreau
Back to the home page.

Thanks for coming! Yours Truly: David Richards

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