April is Autism Awareness Month

[kireek]

In honor of Autism Awareness month I would like to introduce my son Gaijin.He's a teenager who was raised around aquariums.This has been a challenge at times.He loves to mess with stuff.Like protein skimmers for example. I have had to remove coins,toys,playdough and toilet paper from the tank.Of all these things, the TP was by far the worst.There have been multiple "friendly" over feeding incidents. The boy loves to gets reactions from the fish.So for a period of time he would tap the tanks with his toys.He enjoys using the magnetic algae scrapers.Usually he can handle this task safely.Sometimes he goes for the magnetic frag rack.Then proceeds to use this to clean the glass.The glass will look great.The frags,not so much. He's really a good guy though.I love him.Here he is, Christmas day.



My daughter Mirrah is also on the spectrum.Fortunately she has been a lot easier on the fish tanks.

 

[DarthSimon]

Thank you for sharing this!! You son looks like a great young man!!! God Bless...

 

[kireek]

On Memorial Day weekend three years ago my son started eating again.He had gone over 5 months without eating or drinking anything by mouth.The doctors at the children's hospital installed a G -tube so that I could give him meal replacement drinks.This photo was taken when he was anorexic, a few weeks before the holiday.He eats like a teenage now.


He's got a monkey face because at the time he used a special therapeutic chewing device.If you or someone you love has a need to chew,check out the company ARK Therapeutics.

 

[Reef-junky]

Our son Lucas is as well. Funny thing is he can do some amazing things. He has the key board memorized and just recently with in a very short time memorized the order of the keys on a piano. He recently discovered light brights. Food can definitely be challenging as what he eats is very limited. If you guys aren’t doing it already I definitely recommend Special Olympics.

 

[Reef-junky]

Don’t know if you guys knew about this

https://www.google.com/amp/s/people...orlando-first-autism-certified-waterpark/amp/

 

[kireek]

Our son Lucas is as well. Funny thing is he can do some amazing things. He has the key board memorized and just recently with in a very short time memorized the order of the keys on a piano. He recently discovered light brights. Food can definitely be challenging as what he eats is very limited. If you guys aren’t doing it already I definitely recommend Special Olympics.

That is awesome! Sounds like a musical genius in the making.A fine young man indeed.
The new style of Lite Brights are pretty nifty and compact.No cords is a bonus.
Yeah, food preferences are a challenging need to meet sometimes.Especially when you got other kiddos to feed and cater to,lol.
I hope to look into The Special Olympics someday when my son's aggression simmers down.
Thank you for sharing.God Bless.

 

[Reef-junky]

Has he done a flight yet?

 

[kireek]

Don’t know if you guys knew about this

https://www.google.com/amp/s/people...orlando-first-autism-certified-waterpark/amp/

I did not. I did see the news about Sesame Place. My boy loves EVERY type of water attraction.Except for baths conveniently.How about yours?

 

[kireek]

Has he done a flight yet?

Oh no! I don't know if that would fly well.

 

[Reef-junky]

He loves water parks. The bigger the slide the better in his mind. There is a program through the state which pays for some things and private swim lessons is one of them. He has no fear of water and for safety reasons I want him to be able to tread water.

 

[Reef-junky]

Oh no! I don't know if that would fly well.

They have mock up flights for special needs. They don’t take off but they board the plane like normal and basically drive the plane around the runway. They even rev the engine up at one point to simulate a take off.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailyherald.com/amp-article/20181204/news/181209803/

 

[Reef-junky]

There are even movies. They leave the lights on low and don’t turn the sound up as loud. I think the more you can expose them to and the young you can do it the better off they will be.

 

[Reef-junky]

Luc went on his 2nd or 3rd plane ride to Hawaii last year. We weren’t sure how he would do on that long a flight. It didn’t even bother him one bit. Gave him his IPad and he was happy the whole flight. Not only that but he went on a submarine while in Hawaii.