latinosunidosporelautismo

My son was diagnosed with autism almost 8 years ago! I still remember that day like it was yesterday! That feeling of not being able to speak, bc someone was sucking all the air out! I swore to my self that I would do anything and everything to help him! Bought dozens of books to educate my self, asked for second and third opinions. And then it hit me! Nothing or nobody could prepare you for this! No matter how much I read or who I saw. They couldn’t tell me what would happened tomorrow. They couldn’t prepare me for this journey!! The ups the downs, taking one step forward and three steps backwards. I don’t know how many times I heard “he’ll never”. The heart break I felt every time I would see the frustration in his eyes. Battle after battle I never gave up. I tried everything homeopathic, gluten free. And nothing worked.Was disappointed with ABA, when I realized my son was just another client to them! But then I decided I can’t give up! That’s not an option. I will fight because he deserves it! So where back at it with ABA. And hopefully this time around we can continue to move forward. Will keep you guys updated! 

Today I had Angel’s parent conference and lets just say it all went well until I was informed by his general Ed teacher that his minutes were reduced in math by the rsp teacher! And I was in total disbelief 😱😱 wtf how can one person do that without consulting me! Who are you to decide what’s best for my child?? Hello lady there’s an Iep in place. Which is a legal document which for your information I can actually sue the school if there not doing what it states! I mean it’s common sense! And to make it worse she just leaves his progress report in a envelope! And can’t even make an appointment to meet with me! Hello where are your manners or professionalism! I mean what About if I didn’t speak the English language or if I was not familiar with technical terms that are used! So what do I do… I walk to the principals office and demand to see her! And yes I was respectful with a little sarcasm. But you should’ve seen there faces when I said the words “sue” and “lawyer” and when the principal called this so call teacher! To my surprise her answer for when the principal asked “why didn’t you schedule an appointment with…” This lady said “I wanted to save her a trip, since his iep is next month” I literally fell of my chair! Wtf your not saving me a trip! I’m a very hands on parent so you best believe that if needed I’ll be here everyday! I just can’t believe it!!where are we hiring this people why aren’t we training them correctly! This is how our money is being spent! I’m so fed up, with people assuming.. Don’t assume that your saving me a trip or time, don’t assume I understand, i want to be well informed so I can ask the right questions. It really bothers me that teachers take advantage and make decisions without consulting us! Decisions that involve my child will always be my concern so don’t assume I’m not a hands on parent, bc best believe I will have your job if it really comes down to it! 👊👊

Last year my son ran away from me! And it brought back flashbacks of when he would elope a few years back. (Elopement is when a person leaves an area without permission or notification which usually leads to placing that individual in a potentially dangerous situation ) I got so scared having my youngest son with me and seeing my older son run away from me! As I grabbed and pulled my younger son and began to run; I kid you not,I didn’t even run for one minute when I couldn’t even catch my breath. I stopped and starting running again, tears running down my face, but I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t leave my younger son and my son with autism seemed farther and farther away… 3 blocks and it felt like I had ran miles and miles. Luckily my son with autism fell and scraped himself and I mean luckily not because he hurt himself ( bc that it self was its own meltdown) but because he stopped. As I reached him all I kept thinking was why ?? I couldn’t keep up! I thought about every horrible scenario that could of happened. But the reality was, it was my fault I couldn’t keep up.I wasn’t healthy.I was overweight😐. I couldn’t run 3 blocks for my son. I was so depressed for a month I couldn’t grasped the thought that at 30 something I couldn’t keep up with my son! So I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and fix it! What was done was done and I couldn’t change it. What I could do is prevent the fact that he even got the chance to run 3 blocks from ever happening again. So on November 29, I woke up, slapped myself and said to my self “I will be healthy for my kids, I will be able to run 3 blocks and not need to catch my breath” . That’s when I changed for autism, because autism is not going to defeat me. What autism will do, is make me better for my son. So today on the day that I have officially lost 50 pounds I say “take that autism” ” I’m able to run 3 blocks and more!!! so bring it because I’m healthier and getting better for my boys. Im not were I should be but I know I will get there. Getting better and working on me one day at a time. So I will continue to be a warrior not only for my boys but for myself.

Ok so I’m at a local store, and my kids had to go to bathroom! I didn’t think about it twice and took both my boys into the women’s r.r. As where washing hands a lady comes in and points to my older son( who is 10 and has autism) and says ” don’t you think his a little to old to be here!!” So I looked at her, thinking about how to carefully respond to her without being a bitch! So I said” no, mam I don’t think he’s too old, first because where in a public place and I’m not sure who or what is in the men’s rr and most importantly my son has autism so I will not send my son to a public men’s rr” I continued washing, drying hands and tried to go on with my business. Well apparently she wasn’t done! She went on to tell me I was disrespectful!! And she didn’t see anything wrong with my child! So then I said ” oh it’s the way I dress him” ( sorry I just had too) so that apparently threw her over the edge. To make the long story short she went to complain to the store manager. I was then approach by the manager who apologized to me!he was a total sweetheart! But then I ask my self what did I say that triggered this lady? And secondly am I wrong for not sending my child to the men’s restroom! Please help with some advice….

Ok so I’m picking up my kids from daycare and I hear one boy say “stop it , your so r******” and I stop and look in total shock! I mean common what are we teaching our children why is it so funny to use that word in a jokingly manner. I honestly didn’t pay attention to why they said it! I just couldn’t believe they thought it was so funny I mean I thought we were all passed using that word in a offensive/ non offensive manner! As an educator and as a parent I would never allow my students or my kids to use the word! But then I asked myself what do we tell them, when they ask why?. I have a special needs child so I can think of a couple things to say , but what about those parents that do not? So I’m thinking that we have to make the parents aware too! Of why we shouldn’t use that word! Why does it offend me, why am I saddened that these youngster boys think it’s so funny. They will ask these questions and more…so our jobs as parents is to make them see why they shouldn’t use this word at all… So here is where I need your help ….. What would you tell a parent of why we shouldn’t
use the “r” word ….. And please be nice 😉

There shouldn’t be a division in our community, our beliefs are ours and for that we need to show respect. I do not know what caused my child’s autism and I have come to terms that I may never know I respect everyone that has come my way. Listening and understanding to everyone’s struggle has given me strength to become the mother that my child needs so whether or not you believe vaccines caused autism or not we need to agree to disagree we all have so many things in common our daily battles, ieps,sleepless nights, therapies doctors appointments etc. my struggles are not less or more then your struggles so I applaud you for standing up for what you believe in and I would hope you do the same for me! We need to stay strong and stay united because in the end were all warriors …..

My son Was put in a “child hold” position which means he was held down for at least 30 min. And then you have the balls to tell me your life was in danger! WTF your life is in danger right now! With me not with him, I can’t wrap my head around what just happen did you think I was not going to say anything that I would let it go when I see his eyes filled with desperation and all he wants is his mommy yes I’m going to intervene and stop it called everyone who you work for! That’s my job as his mother to advocate for his rights and you just violated us! There is no excuse for sending a half ass therapist to my household who is not trained correctly there are so many other things you could have done to prevent him from escalating but you went south and held him down! Yes I feel bad that my son kicked you and your sweating like a pig but he just wanted to get out. I do regret letting it go on for so long… I should of came in earlier but then you try to justify yourself and say my son came after you with what??? Your job as a special needs therapist is to be prepared and not take things personal didn’t they teach you that I would have never let him hurt you! So don’t try to lie in my face and say you felt threatened feel threatened now bc please believe that once I see out in the street you’ll know what a warrior mom is all about!! I can’t believe that your trying to justify what you just did! I don’t understand how people actually do this I start to wonder what about those children who don’t have the words to yell help! I can only imagine what there parents might feel…. Angel was verbal until almost 4 so I consider my self lucky that he’s verbal and able to tell me when someone hurt him. I’m so mad; mad at you,mad at my self , mad at the company, mad at autism I’ve been dealing with his meltdowns for 9 years and I’ve never had to hold him down like that. I’ve had chairs thrown at me , pinched ,punched ,kicked, bitten on and yet have learned other ways to deal with his behavior and you the so called expert hold him down and expect me to be okay with it hell no. And what bothers me the most is that you lied! Telling our SC, angel was going to hit you! Common be a man! And admit you went too far! You could have prevented this! You made a mistake! I don’t feel bad your on probation again! I also don’t think firing you is the right thing what needs to happen is ABA companies need to train their staff better! Sending them to training isn’t enough! Each child is different so they need to be well experienced. Learn how to deal with each individual,learn what’s appropriate. Have options that way you learn to make choices in matter of seconds. so you need to know what your doing to make the best choice.
December 2013