'You get a slice of heaven and a pure love in your home'

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Getting help for a child with autism
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Tracing autism's roots: Move over vaccines. The most promising research into the disorder is emerging from the quest for the genes that underlie it.
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Getting help for a child with autism
By Elizabeth Cohen

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Newsletter - February 17th, 2008 (PDF)

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Sun 8/19/2007 8:10 PM
I feel it is important to share our experience of losing our son today. Maybe I just need to write to people who understand. I can't tell you how terrified my husband and I were and how horrible a parent I felt allowing my son to wander away from home. I know many of you have experienced this before. I even joined the autism task force and was on the committee to implement police station open houses. Families with children on the autism spectrum could go to the police station in their community and bring in forms describing their child and a photo to accompany it. I was proud to be a part of this committee because I knew it was valuable. The autism community has come a long way in raising awareness but we have a long way to go. We recently did a presentation to a local rotary. The audience was filled with educated business people, lawyers, etc...but they didn't know what autism is. I read recently that our Governor has passed a law requiring mandated education for police and fire fighters.

I write this with complete humility and honesty hoping that it will make a difference in the lives of at least one family if not, one child. I have the police forms sitting on my desk..completely filled out along with my son's photo. I never turned them in. It is so embarrassing for me to admit this. I kept telling myself, I will turn it in, someday...he hasn't bolted in a long time. Maybe we are passed this phase. Nicky is a triplet. He is 7 years old. He is autistic. He has bolted out the front door and ran down the block. He bolted at school and ran outside and got locked out. An aide had to let him back in to school. We haven't seen this behavior is a very long time. Today, he was watching a movie with his siblings in the living room. Our basement flooded. We have been bailing water all day. I heard my husband asking my two children as to Nicky's whereabouts then I saw my husband running down the sidewalk. I panicked. I jumped in my car and drove the surrounding blocks looking for Nicky. I begged God not to take him from us today. I said to myself, "I only sat down for a few minutes God. Please let him be okay". I had never felt more fear and self loathing then I did today looking for my son. I drove down one street near our house and I saw a police officer talking to a woman I am aquainted with. I just knew the officer was inquiring about Nicky. I turned the car around and yelled out the car window, "do you know where my son is"? The woman said that when she saw me she put two and two together. The police officer told me that they found a boy in the middle of Deerfield Road. A woman picked him up and put him in her car and called the police. He was safe and in the church around the corner with 5 police officers.

I broke down and sobbed and the police officer was incredibly kind and was quite concerned for me. I was so shocked by this. I was so sure he would have thought us the worst parents in the world. He actually told us about the program in place for children with autism and that they will contact us this week. He also said to call the police right away instead of looking for him first. Nicky came out of the church with no shoes. Nicky said, "I want to go to Blockbusters." He is limited verbally but can speak and one of the police officers told me that Nicky kept saying, "I need help." He wasn't upset or crying. He was fine. He was actually crossing a busy street to go to Blockbusters. He has been stimming on movies lately. He is impervious to danger and this frightens me to the core. I hope by sharing this experience will encourage families to contact their police department. I am incredibly impressed with the kindesss and concern the police officers showed today. I am sure several parents have very different experiences. Thank God he is alive. He could have been killed by a car or snatched by someone or who knows what.I am going to turn in my paper work and by more dead bolts for the door.

Sincerely, Marcia

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