Hi there this Deborah (a.k.a. Jrsmom0800 or Ladygrace). I will be finishing this for JR. His changes were very gradual and his father and I were wrapped up in our own marital problems at the time, but we really noticed the changes when he was about 19 to 20 months old and he wasn't talking (at all!!) anymore. We attributed it to the tenseness of the situation at home and didn't give it a lot of thought Then a friend of mine said in August 1999 that something was wrong and we should get him checked out. Into the picture walked our counties Early Intervention, and so began our journey down the road of evaluations. He was at that time 2 but had the emotional, cognitive and speech capabilities of a child far younger. We had everything checked out including his hearing, seeing as how early hearing lose runs on his father's side of the family. He was given a Speech and Developmental therapist in September of 99 and a Behavioral Therapist in April of 2000. The Developmental and Behavioral therapies worked wonders for him but the Speech didn't do squat.

On August 29 2000 as one of the last official functions for JR while he was still in the Cumberland County E.I. (he turned 3 in 5 days) we had an appointment with Dr. Judith Stranko out of the Klein Clinic of Polyclinic Hospital in Harrisburg PA.  It was at this appointment that we first heard the word Autism in connection to our son. (blood tests and EEG's followed to check for Landen Kelfner syndrome as well as Fragile X syndrome). My mind went numb (and for the first time in my almost 39 years I was on the brink of hysteria) and the first and most piercing thought that went thru my mind was "I've lost my son".

The only experience I've ever had with autism (aside from watching Rainman) was a friend of mine who had a set of identical twin boys who were so distant, needing 24 hour care, laying in the fetal position and cringing whenever someone aside from their Mother, came near them.) I don't remember a whole lot immediately after that; I don't remember Dr. Stranko saying JR was high functioning (and it was at our local support chapters Christmas Party when I got a glimmer of the meaning of those words).

That was 9 years ago and I've come to terms with allot of things where JR's autism is concerned. One thing I have not; nor will I ever come to "terms" with and that is giving up my dreams for both my children to be happy and healthy. Nor will I ever quit the fight of warning others about the dangers of vaccines. The fact is  my son may never say in words, with his own voice what he feels, but actions DO speak louder than words and I know with every breath I take that he loves and that he feels. It's been one hell of a ride so far and luckily there have been more hills than valleys.

So now instead of beating up God I thank him; for JR is a blessing to us. He has taught me so many things. Patience, acceptance, and the ability to effect positive change in the status quo. 

Autism by definition is: "Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that prevents individuals from properly understanding what they see, hear, and otherwise sense. This results in severe problems of social relationships, communication, and behavior.

Individuals with autism have to painstakingly learn normal patterns of speech and communication, and appropriate ways to relate to people, objects, and events, in a similar manner to those who have had a stroke.

The characteristics of Autism are: Severe delays in language development. Severe delays in understanding social relationships. Inconsistent Patterns of sensory responses. Uneven patterns of  intellectual functioning. Marked restriction of activity and interests.

If you think your child has autism check the web site: National Institute for Mental Health. This site gives the basic characteristics to look for in babies so diagnosis can be done as early as possible. Early intervention is the key. Autism can be treated and with proper bio-medicals can be recovered from. is no   There is hope for people with autism. If you think your child, grandchild, niece, or nephew has autism check out the sights located in various areas of this website, do some research and dig your heals in for the longest and most enjoyable ride of your life for their victories become yours!

For those who can't afford the $600.00 price tag (like us) for the Boardmaker program here are instructions for making your own PECS using any word processing program. In other words this is the poor mans answer to communication issues.

FYI about making PECS to use for your children, if you have a word processing program such as Lotus, Microsoft or Corral you can make your own PECS from pictures you find on the web. With Microsoft Word 2003 (the program I use) all you have to do is go to TABLES at the top of the opening screen then to INSERT and then to TABLE , it will ask you how many columns you want (those are the ones that are vertical it took me forever to remember that!!! LOL) and then how many rows you want (these are the horizontals). Find the picture on the web that you want, right click on it and go to copy (or save picture as....if you want to save it to your hard drive), go back to your tables and make sure the cursor is in the cell (centered) you
want the picture in and right click again go to paste. That's the Copy and Paste all these computer pros are referring to LOL) and that's it! You can resize if you like by clicking on the picture and adjusting height or width! It is recommended that you begin with 2x2 inch squares. A note: if you decide to save these images to your hard drive you will have to go to the insert option at the top of the screen and then go to pictures and find it on your hard drive.

Next you will need to buy some card stock, a laminator, a notebook
(binder) a paper puncher and Velcro (all found at your local Wal-Mart). Print the images on the cardstock, laminate the card stock sheet of paper, cut
them down into the squares. Next take a few sheets of this card stock and laminate it plain, using a paper puncher making the holes line up with the notebooks rings. Then put strips of Velcro in the book making sure that you use the same side of the Velcro, (either the loop or the soft side which ever you prefer) putting the opposite side on the back of the laminated picture squares.

And that's it; you have made your child their first PECS book. No it's not as pretty as the professional binders and the professional pictures you get with Boardmaker but who cares. The purpose of it is so your child can communicate with the world he/she lives in. This fits that bill for awhile. As they age the time may come when an AT is more appropriate.