Autism and Liam - My Family's Story Regarding Our Nine Year Old Autistic Son

Liam was born premature in 2008. My Wife’s blood pressure shot up dramatically. This triggered or was caused by an abruption of the placenta. I will spare you some of the details but I immediately called 911. An ambulance and fire department personnel rushed to our home.

My Wife was transported by ambulance to the hospital. They were afraid she was going to have a stroke due to the high blood pressure so they delivered Liam via a C section. He spent the first month of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

To back up just a bit---during this emergency, I was very afraid of what was going to happen. At the hospital a doctor called me into a hallway and had a hushed conversation with me about the seriousness of the situation. In retrospect I have thought what if I had lost my Wife and my newborn? What if I had lost my Wife and had to raise the children on my own? Thank God both of them pulled through!!!

Liam cried quite a bit as a baby. Otherwise, we did not notice anything else wrong with his health.

At around the age of two we realized that Liam was not developing speech.

Also, the way he interacted socially did not seem normal.

At around the age of 2.5 years old he was diagnosed as autistic.

It is interesting that our 13 year old was also born premature but is totally healthy.

I am mostly showing happy photos herein but we have many photos where his expression is blank as you sometimes see and expect with autistic children. We also have many pictures of him where he is upset.

It is hard having a special needs kid. You realize they will need lots of help their entire life. When we are around other kids his age, like at a playground, the difference is so glaring. He is in special ed. at school of course.

We ask ourselves why did this have to happen to him but we are also able to put things into perspective. Some families have multiple kids that have special needs. Some children are catastrophically impaired. Some children come down with terrible diseases like leukemia. Some children pass away.

(Liam on the right and his older Brother on the left.)

We wonder of course what caused his autism.

Was he born autistic?

(Liam has always loved water. He is obsessed with playing in water. I am aware of the possible dangers of this obsession and have tried to always watch him like the proverbial hawk.)

Why has there been such a dramatic increase in autism?

We wonder about vaccines. They give so many vaccines.

Sometimes they give several vaccines at the same time.

People often mock those who wonder if vaccines cause problems with kids.

Did you know there is a government agency called the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program? Click here to see the website

If vaccines are so safe why is this program needed?

People have been judgemental at times due to Liam's severe behavior issues but overall people have been pretty understanding.

We mostly have a babysitter when we try to go to church. We cannot sit with the general congregation if Liam is with us due to his behavior issues. The church however has a special family room so that is where we sit if Liam is with us.

Liam has also been a major concern to us on plane rides. We have done all we can do in this regard.

Because he is unable to speak he gets very frustrated and agitated at times. He makes very loud noises and can also hit things. A developmental disabilities organization helped us to re-design his room to make it safer for him.

He has become very strong. I have patched many holes in walls in our house. He has hit those walls at times creating the damage. He has improved quite a bit in this regard.

He use to spit at us quite a bit but this has improved dramatically.

He has other behavior issues too.

We have had Liam plugged into all the treatment options you would normally think of. ABA therapists come to our home 4 days a week and work with him for a few hours at a time.

Our two biggest dreams for a long time were for him to develop speech and to be potty trained.

Thank God one of those two dreams is coming true as we speak. We have him pretty much potty trained for when he is indoors. We are making good progress for him to give us a hand signal if he has to go potty if we are outside. He still wears a diaper at night.

Liam loves to eat so is somewhat obese. We do our best to control this.

Liam remains completely non verbal. We dream to someday hear him speak. We wonder if he will ever be able to speak. He can communicate via a few hand signals. He sometimes will lead you by the hand to something he wants. He can communicate a bit off of an augmentative communication device.

He understands a great deal of what we say to him. We give him little jobs to do like put the place mats down on the table when we eat, have him help carry in groceries from the car, etc.

He has developed pretty good eye contact but this was not always the case.

It would be wonderful if he could someday live a very basic life independently but I don't think that will happen. He would be very easy for other people to take advantage of.

So, my Wife and I will take care of him as long as we can. If we no longer can take care of him due to old age we hope his older Brother can help him. It's possible Liam could someday find himself in a group home.

Liam is very sweet otherwise; the photos contained herein convey that I believe.

He is dealing with very severe issues. He has one foot in this world and the other foot in another world.

Despite his condition, Liam has been a joy beyond comprehension. I can't imagine my life without him. My life with him has given me insights and taught me things I otherwise would not have learned.

I debated for some time to share our story here on steemit because of the personal nature of it. I plan to write an update on how he is doing every few months.

I suspect there are other people here on steemit who have been impacted in some way by autism.

Thank you very much and best wishes!

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