do y"all have autism/Adhd or Deaf kids?

Casperman

Casperman

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I just wanna introduce basic information on myself and my kids... i have a 6 years old autisc and Deaf son also have a 4 3/4 years old Adhd and Deaf son.. I wonder if there is any parents out there on this site have one like that... it was hard on us but,. i conquered it becasue i, Myself have serve ADHD and understood how they felt, and also love them to death and i always be there for them all the time... now i need learn to let them go and let others learn to conquer that with those boys...

i was comparing differnt schools for my older son, found out that his school Ky school for the deaf have one of the best autisc program and my older son is picking up alot and gotten me and my parents involved as much as we can... he is picking signs up, and familar with things he is smart in many ways but in writing and expressing he is tryin his best... he understand what tv or picture in books means but dont understand the words itself but i can tell that he is trying his best to conquer it... with our help of course... i dont let that disorders beat me and being depressing etc and get on internet all the time and wanna fun etc i wanna conquer it and i did it also my 2nd son have ADHD and i see myself in him daily being wild, not sit down in classroom or home, get mad easily fruasted easily etc he is one of smartest 4 years old ya can find, but have adhd and teachers are working with us on him and he now improving his asl skills are greater than average bec of us being deaf family etc and our main commucation is ASL so i wonder if anyone out there have one like that . can be hearing or deaf
 
Casperman.....you may want to get another dx and see if your son's ADHD is actually a form of high functioning autisim called Asperger's Syndrome.
I know the two can frequently be misdx, b/c they are so simalir to each other.
ADD like behavoirs are very common in oral-only kids as they have to spend so much energy on speaking.
I have some autistic tendancies, but they are more "eccentricites" then pathologies
 
Oh, and Casperman.....Deaf schools tend to have better services and programs for kids with more complicating issues then just deafness.
I think there's a parent here of a deaf son, who has ADD/HD....haven't seen her post in a while thou.
 
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ya are right but my baby son was dx with ADHD also i have it too he cant sit down, cant pay atteiton to teachers etc just like me when i was growing up.. we did test him for Asgers Sydrome but the specialist said no its ADHD bit my older son have Autsic.. he can do anything but commuicate- NO but i noticed he been improving bec his teacher been pushing him so hard and my parenst too so sounds good for him both are 6 and 5 now
 
I have 2 daughters, ages 26 and 21, both hearing, and both fine. Fluent in ASL.

About 5 years ago, we met this darling little boy. He is deaf, but, had no skills in signing or speech. His Grandmother had brought him into the deaf school to register him for preschool. His real parent's rights were terminated to drug use, and his father try to suffocate him. Why? Because he is deaf. He has 2 other brothers, at the time both hearing, now the youngest is deaf too. So, my husband and I felt so bad for his grandmother, and offered to give her some help, and work with Tiger, is his name, and teach him to sign before he started school. We took him every weekend, take him to different places, and started teaching signs of different things, then, trying to put them together in a sentence. He's an adorable little boy. When my oldest daughter first met Tiger, she fell in love with him, and she was working at Perkins School for the Blind, and noticed some patterns about him, but, she didn't want to say anything, because she felt it wasn't her place.

We had taken Tiger, my husband and I for 2 years, when we found out that the grandmother who had adopted the 3 boys after her daughter's rights were terminated, was also, going to lose her 3 boys, for the same reason, drug use. So, DCYF knew that my husband and I had been working with Tiger for several years, and offered us to become Tiger's foster parent's, well we were thrilled. We took him in, and within a month, we had an appt. at Boston Children's Hospital, Pediatric Unit, where we met Dr. Scott Smith, and Dr. Sanguay. Dr. Smith is deaf and is a pediatrician, and Dr. Sanguay is a psychiatrist, and both of them deaf. Tiger had been evaluated by both of these wonderful doctors. The diagnosis was ADHD and PTSD. It turned out that Tiger had suffered traumas as a baby, one of them being by the parent's and then his grandmother. He would have bad nightmares all the time, get up in the middle of the night, and wouldn't go back to sleep because he had been so scared. He was also diagnosed as being an abused child, which made it hard for him to trust anyone.
He was not a very affectionate child, at the age of 3 years old, he didn't like hugging or any sign of affection whatsoever. It took Tiger a long time to finally warm up to us, and realize that he is part of our family, and when I told my oldest daughter of the findings, she said that she had a feeling something had been wrong, and that he may have some kind of disorder.
He has been with us for 3 years now, and on March 9th, we will be adopting him, and we feel darn lucky about that.
What I really feel bad about is, with Tiger being deaf, his mother and grandmother are both hearing. My husband and I found out that his great-grandmother and her 2 sisters are deaf. I was so shocked to find that Tiger had deafness in his family. This is something we didn't want Tiger to lose was his deaf heritage and deaf culture, but, luckily, his new dad is deaf, and they are like 2 peas in a pod.

Tiger is seeing a psychiartrist for his meds, and they seem to help, but, when he first started taking them, we noticed that he started talking about the past. The more he talked, we realized his mind had become clearer, and he was actually explaining all the awful and terrible things Tiger had to go through living with his grandmother. So, the more Tiger talked and expressed, the calmer he became. He is going to R.I. School for the Deaf, and is in 3rd grade, and in a regular classroom, whereas, when he first started, he had to go into a special education class, which had to be more structured, and with a one on one for attention purposes. He is doing great now, and doing very well in school. We are very proud of him, because he has come a long way. :hug:
 
Wow what a beautiful stories here, thank you for sharing with us here on AD. You are a wonderful parents!
 
i'm not a parent as you as wellknow but i have befriended a deaf austic adult, who is also my co worker at my work shes one of the sweetest thing i ever met, she LOVES to talk about 3 things only, movies, airplanes and sewing. the three passions of her live she even brings her finished products to work to show it off everyone marvels at her tendencity to be doing something so productive and so profound. which movivated all our staff to learn more signs and which im compiling some cds to get them prepared for all to watch and learn and no i won't teach the bad langagues lol, but she is a sweet gal and one of the hardest working ones too. i loved working with her. and i still do. everytime im at work she goes and beelines for me to hug me when i come in and its So sweet. i like her movivation but when she has her bad days and is senstive abt something or is mad at a manager oh boy watch out she ll be busting the trash can from one theater to the next and im like uhhh boss move shes mad! so they steer clear of her on her bad days but always gives her postive outlook at the end of the day everyone hugs her when shes done a long day and tells her good job. shes been with the work place for almost 3 yrs now and have gone thru 3 head managers she said that 2 are her favorites and is looking forward to changes in the theater thats happening in may for deaf awareness month... and i for one am very happy to be her friend!!!!
 
my older son

my autsic son loves to doole and drawing and tracking and he wld do constantly i have someof his art works here on my wall bec im proud of him and know he try his besy to draw something
 
Hi there,
I dont have any children of my own, but I do work with Autistic children for my work and I also work with one little boy that is Autistic and non verbal; also hoh and uses ASL/SEE to communicate. Wow that must be challenging for you to have two boys with special needs! I agree with DD that it could be AS rather than ADHD, but your Doctor Im sure is aware of the similarities!
 
My daughter has ADHD

Casperman, my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD two years ago at the age of 5. We had been told for several years before by daycare workers that she was hyperactive, but you can't really diagnose ADHD in children that young.

Anyway, she also can't sit still. She needs constant redirection just to get through a meal, so classwork was out of the question. We had her fully evaluated by a psychologist who tested her IQ, and for developmental delays, emotional problems, learning disabilities like dyslexia, among other things. Turns out she has ADHD, pure and simple.

We tried putting her in a Montessori school, but that didn't work for her. We ended up putting her into a school for kids with learning disabilities (ADHD qualifies as a learning disability) where she is in a class with four other kids. She also takes medication and sees a psychologist every two weeks to help her understand her condition and learn to deal with being different.

She is going gangbusters at school and is even a year ahead for her age. We had to put her into first grade when she was only kindergarten age because the special school didn't have a kindergarten, and we were desperate to find a place for her to preserve her self-esteem, which was beginning to suffer at the Montessori school from always being in time out or sent to the office. But the next year, the school told us she couldn't repeat the first grade as originally planned to have her be with kids her own age; they said she was tearing up the tracks and would be bored stiff, so she moved on up to second grade with the older kids.

I have bought her books about kids with ADHD that we read together, and I tell her how special she is and how people with ADHD have a lot of gifts, such as loads of energy and imagination. I also talk to her about how to handle people who make fun of her having ADHD, which she has actually had to fall back on to deal with certain kids in the neighborhood.

Kids with ADHD suffer hugely from self-esteem damage becuase they are so often in trouble for being unable to control their impulses. But they can't help being impulsive, it is part of the condition.

I suggest you read up on ADHD, really educate yourself on it so you know how to deal with a child who has it. Hannah is my third child and the only one with ADHD, and I had to learn an entirely different approach to child-rearing, but it has been worth it. She is truly the joy of my life.

So hang in there, understand that your child is different because of the ADHD. He perceives things differently, rushes in before thinking first, and most importantly, he can't help it! This is what I remind myself all the time, that it isn't a discipline problem on your part, it's a self control problem for the child, and it needs understanding and POSITIVE support.

Since you said you have ADHD, I bet if you think back to when you were young, you'll remember a lot of what helped and hurt you with your ADHD, and that can give you a lot of guidance too.

Best of luck with both your boys!
 
replying to BoomBoom

yours are simular to my baby son and ME... and when i was little i tend get mad or hit my little bro with things etc My baby son do same thing and makes me think what i did in past... or get pissed off easy etc same as me
also i always have low self esteem for years till recently going thur counslering etc and learn alot now my counsler gave me workbook to do my "homework" and it helps me to try to foscus on myself and etc i know its hard bec i recently was disagoinis with it also all of my life my iq was above average in deaf commiuty, Passed gallaudet when i was sophmore, but later on i just gave up all those things and not fosucs on myself but imagine this.. if they had digaoios me back when i was little like they found it in Ethan, i belive everything will be fine who knows

By the way Hyper runs in my dads side...alot of us are hyper and most of my relatives died from hyperestaion....
 
My daughter doesn't get mad, but she is very impatient. She'll ask me a question, then when I am halfway through the answer, she'll start asking something else. Maybe I answer too slowly and she gets bored!

I can tell the therapy has helped her a lot, and the doctor gives us homework to do between visits also. I think it's helpful for me as well as her, it kind of eye-opening to things I hadn't thought about.

You must be right about hyperactivity running in families...it runs in her dad's family, I think that she inherited it from her father. And my sister married a man with ADHD. They ended up having four boys who all have ADD or ADHD!!! :shock: Talk about chaos!! They also have a daughter who doesn't have it. Seems to me like most people with it are male; my daughter is the only girl in her class. And most of the students in general are boys.
 
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