My Family's Experience with Autism: Happy Birthday My Twinsies!!!!!!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Happy Birthday My Twinsies!!!!!!

We had a crazy but fun day. Yes, the twins are now 4 years old. Schools had a 2-hour delay due to the snow, but we were still able to keep our existing plans. The only added issue this created was it made things a bit more insane this morning as I had to start heading out to birthday parties almost as soon as Simon's bus picked him up from school.

So, here's a post of pictures. I hope you enjoy this visual summary of the celebration.

Their birthday cakes -- Rachel is the cat and Simon is the turtle. One day I'll have to remember to write the story of how we determined their mascots.

Rachel's school party

Simon's school party

Family celebration

Kids enjoying their cake

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A Little Bit About Me and My Family

Every once in a while, something happens to a family that seems to change everything, whether that change is positive, negative, or in an uncertain direction. One such thing happened to us in March 2009, when we were informed our 26 month old twins (girl/boy) were BOTH on the autism spectrum. Their older brother (nearly 4 at the time) had always been ahead of the curve for most developmental milestones, so we had never really considered that some of the delays the twins were having had anything to do with autism. Well, we were wrong. Since then we have been learning about learning techniques and doing everything we can to make sure they get any and all help they need so that they can live normal lives. This blog chronicles that journey.

The Autism Pizza

I don't know where this came from originally, but I found it on a post on Circle of Moms. It's a good explanation of how things line up on the spectrum.

1. The Crust: Lack of Social Interaction (poor eye contact, not sharing interests with you, no pointing/gesturing)

2. The Sauce: Impaired Communication (possibly no speech, poor conversation skills, repetitive language, echolalia, no make-believe play)

3. The Cheese: Stereotypical Activities & Interests (extreme routine, strong interest in certain things, stimming [flapping, atypical play, etc.] -- like spinning wheels, lining toys up, stacking, etc.)

If you have all of those things: crust, sauce, cheese, you made an Autism pizza. It might have different toppings, but you can look at it and know it's still a pizza. If your pizza doesn't have sauce, that's Aspergers's. If your pizza is missing more than that but still kind of looks like a pizza, that's PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified)