Who We Are: .
DAWGS is a group of
individuals devoted to education, advocacy, and fundraising for autism
research. Our organizers, Donalyn and Michele, both have sons with
autism spectrum disorder. We are both educators (5th grade teacher
and school counselor respectively) and moms of very special boys, Damon
and Matthew. Our journey has been difficult at times, and it is our
hope that we can share what we have learned here and make the journey for
other parents an easier one. We are also alumnae of the University
of Georgia and big supporters of the Georgia Bulldogs, hence our name.
We even have our own group mascot, Damon's bulldog, Granger.
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder? .
Donalyn's Definition: Autistic
Spectrum Disorder is an umbrella heading for various developmental disabilities
which impair speech, communication, socialization, and relating to people.
Included in this spectrum are autism, high functioning autism, Asperger's
syndrome, hyperlexia, semantic-pragmatic disorder, and PDD-NOS (pervasive
developmental disability not otherwise specified). People on this
spectrum vary in intellectual capacity much the same as the general non-affected
population from mental retardation to giftedness. The following summary
from the Pediatric Neurology web site gives a pretty good overview of the
disorders on the autistic spectrum: (http://www.pediatricneurology.com/autism.htm#Hyperlexia)
The classification of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders
is in a state of flux. The problems can overlap,
cause each other, occur simultaneously in different combinations and severities,
change over time, and don’t even have one “official” group attempting the
classification of the whole spectrum.
However, unless
we know all of the possible syndromes, we will continue to squeeze everyone
into the same category or two. Most importantly, unless we know the full
range of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders, we will not identify all of the
individual symptoms which require treatment.
With trepidation,
I offer the following gross oversimplifications. I am reminded of my professor’s
comment on the first day of medical school: “One third of what I
am going to tell you this year is wrong. Unfortunately, I don’t know which
third.”
Autistic Spectrum
disorders are marked by their difficulty in communication/socialization
in areas other than the literal meaning of words.
Once a child has
trouble with getting the big picture of communication and socialization,
there will often be secondary symptoms such as: anxiety, holding back from
peers, a rigid adherence to sameness, a relative preference for things
(which are predictable) rather than people, and an appearance of “oddness.”
Asperger’s and Autism
share primarily the difficulty of recognizing the existence of others—trouble
with theory of mind. Asperger’s can talk; autism usually has limited speech.
Asperger’s children
appear less interested in forming bonds and have more trouble with “theory
of mind” than NVLD and Sematic-Pragmatic Disorder.
NVLDs are marked
by integration problems of pragmatic language gestalt; spatial orientation;
and motoric coordination.
Hyperlexia is marked
by fascination with the printed word starting at an early age.
“High Functioning
Autism” is used by different authors to mean either Autistic Disorder with
relatively spared speech and cognition; Aspergers’s Syndrome; or PDD-NOS.
Click the picture above to contribute
to NAAR (National Alliance for Autism Research)
Contact Us
.
.
DAWGS Meeting: Thursday
April 1, 2004, 7:00 p.m., McDonough, Georgia.
Email us for location
and more information.
.
..
We are members of Caring and Sharing of Henry County - a support
group for parents of special needs children. Caring and Sharing meets
the 2nd Thursday of each month at the Henry County Center for Developmental
Disabilities. Check them out on the web - Caring
and Sharing for Exceptional Children.
