Harsy Ben, 5, plays with a dinosaur on a chair in his family room in his house in Du Quoin.
When his mother, Crystal, sits at the bench in front of his son, Ben, the concentration on his dinosaur, immersed in his own world.
Over 12 months, “said Ben his first word,” bye-bye “. It would allow a person, and even vague. His vocabulary, and “ma-ma” and “Papa”, but somewhere between 15 and 18 months, the development itself. Ben would no longer be in contact with the eyes of someone, in addition to his parents and grand - mother, and it was a struggle.
If, in public opinion, it would not smile. Although it is a child happy at home, whether in the public, people would remark to his demeanor grim. Her mother did not understand why Ben seemed to be slipping away from the world.
“One could almost start to think that these are separate emotional,” said Crystal.
When he then 2, Ben, most of the content of its own, unlike a typical child at the time, he was not angry, or causes of things. He never seemed to seek interaction. By playing with toys, but imitating the sound of race cars or around the house, it would be in a line.
Crystal said that whenever you feel that this would be something not in order, Ben seems in order. However, the red flags in charge until Harsys could no longer deny the existence, to the extent that its intervention is not yet developed a past few words.
“The hardest part, if you do, wonder what it could be,” said Brice, the father of Ben’s.
It began in early intervention, speech therapy, but no one mentioned autism Ben was almost 3 years and visited the Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The Harsys on Ben has a developmental pediatrician in Indianapolis, where he was diagnosed with autism.
“I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that it is second to lose your child from death,” said Ben Crystal change in the first year of his life in the third.
“It was like his soul was far from us, and we are fighting every day for the return.”
And the treatment of autism
The Autism Society of America sets the disorder as a developmental disability complex, usually appears in the first three years of life and affects the ability to communicate and interact with others. It is defined by a number of practices and it is a “think tank” spectrum, the effects on individuals differently and to varying degrees.
“There are three important elements to be defined,” said Dr. Anthony Cuvo, a professor of behavior analysis and therapy at SIUC and the director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders.
“One is a developmental delay or a different language, and then there’s a delay or divergent social development, and then the third category is limited or behavior to be repeated.”
Regarding the third category, some with children, for example, a large number of sensitivities. You might hyper breaks and light or sound. You can overly emotional when his parents took a different path than usual or if his schedule of the day changed. Some have only a limited life preferences. These elements should occur in the first three years of a child’s life.
In Southern Illinois, the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders is the only option for the treatment outside of the limited services available in schools or on the road, in St. Louis or another area of the city.
“We are the location of the evaluation of children with autism, we received the call of the mother or the transfer us by the doctor or other service providers,” said Cuvo.
They also offer a number of interventions or therapy, as well as teaching, research and acts as a resource for the school sector. If you are lucky, they are the children of 2 or 3 years, in which early intervention is crucial.
After one semester of individual therapy, where employees learn about children, their strengths and areas, work, children are taught basic skills, and work one on one with a group, the goal is the full integration into an arrangement of the classroom.
“We are just happy, in the vicinity of a processing service,” said Crystal. “These are services that are not able to proximity and on a large scale at your disposal.”
Ben was originally diagnosed in moderation. He had communication skills very limited, some sensory problems, some repetitive patterns of behaviour and a limited capacity for social interaction.
His communication and social interaction have seen great progress, “said Crystal. “Both areas are still those who have the most to walk. He learnt to greet people who come into contact with eyes, and speaks.
“He taught the children to play, according to his own age. Before he only wanted to stay in his own world. He was very pleased, happy, affectionate child - but he did not interact with the rest of the world. ”
Cost of
The Autism Society of America estimates the lifetime cost for care services of a child with autism is $ 3.5 million to $ 5 million.
“The benefits for children with autism should be intense,” said Cuvo. “They should be somewhere between 25 and 35 hours per week, and it may be very expensive.”
The price is a major concern for parents of children with autism. Crystal said she knows of families who are in the second and third mortgages on their homes to pay for care.
“We have a very good insurance for our employer,” she said. “On the back of the two benefits our brochures, there are only a small line that says,” We are not speaking of the cover, enterprise or developmental disorders of therapies in the context of autism. ”
“They receive the diagnosis, which is quite catastrophic? But then, the next, in any event, not in the desolation is that you learn that you can not find, treatment facilities, and if you find You can They do not have insurance and your non-treatment.
“The sooner the treatment, the better, but then ran into the street after a barrier roadblock.”
The causes and concerns
The Harsys think it has everything that young parents were invited to read books on the care, Ben participated in a doctor and had followed all instructions carefully.
“If you start noticing that it is not correct, you can feel that you are not as parents, somewhere,” said Crystal. “We still do not know why, so we always ask what we have done for each other.”
There is no known cause of autism. Recently, a link between autism and vaccination has received extensive coverage, if there are no more major study has verified these requirements.
“Everyone was being discovered,” said Crystal. “That is something to consider.”
In February 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that autism now, in 150 children.
As Dr. Cuvo recalled, there is a lot of speculation about why this is the case.
One reason may be the broad spectrum of classification. Another reason is the improved diagnosis, and there is more attention on the disorder, which leads to more than consciousness. However, the number is frightening.
So, given that the figures, it should lead to what parents are concerned?
“They should first of all concerned about developmental delay,” said Cuvo.
Maybe parents anomalies in the behavior of the strength of travel, language and the acquisition of social behaviour may not be linked to autism, but should be made to attract the attention of the pediatrician.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics recently came to the suggestion that children isolated from autism in particular, that this should be part of the” well-baby ‘controls over 18 months and 24 months, so that the Autism, in addition to the normal development - Screening, “said Cuvo.
Hope for the future
For the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Dr. Cuvo would like to see more space and resources to treat more children. However, in a broader sense, parents must be empowered.
“What we need for parents to utilize the resources, so they are buying or have an interest in the kinds of services they need for their children,” he said.
Maybe, there are few resources for parents at Southern Illinois, but if it was insurance coverage or other resources, so that the demand for skilled labor and services.
Cuvo provides hope for the future and the accounts are public, the legislature, insurance companies to cover the treatment of autism.
“One of the things we do know is that the parents of children with autism are a group extremely strong,” he said. “They are exceptionally good lawyers for their children. They can be extremely vocal.
“Well, this is what happens at national level form of autism, and I think the insurance and funding will continue in the future.”
Ben was only in the treatment of short duration. Right now, in an environment not, we would have never guessed, it is Autistin.
“I can not back and say that it was only two years, he could not speak,” said Crystal. “Now, it’s the nature, just like any other typical child. If you wish, breastfeeding, it does not.”
Harsys Concerns about the future of Ben, like all other parents that their children. They are optimistic, because the growing awareness of autism.
“It’s like a new generation, where the number of children with autism, which represents and to diagnose and treat more,” said Crystal. “It is hopeful, because we have never been so much treatment. At the same time, it’s really the beaten path.
“The world is to have only a little differently in order to take into account that many people who do things that way.”