Olatunji Family [ KSI ]

Chapter 12 - I'm sorry to Inform you

It has been eleven hours and we are just now making it to the doctors. We sign in and wait for the doctor to call Elijah back to talk to him. When they do call him back he tells us we need to say back.
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After about an hour the doctor finally comes and tells us that he needs to talk to us.

"Mr. and Mrs. Olatunji this is a tough situation. There are trained physicians who will ignore or overlook the signs of autism just so they do not have to confront the parents with the uncomfortable news. The thought that there is something wrong with a child can be devastating news to a parent. However, I have always believed that it is better to be faced with the truth and to handle it than to not know the truth. 
But Autism is a developmental disability that generally leads to differences in communication and social skills. It is a neurological difference that can present difficulties, but also advantages. Autistic people, experiencing the differences and urges themselves, can offer the greatest insight into how autism works. They also present a more inclusive view than many parent-run organizations. This means that symptoms vary from person to person. No two autistic individuals will experience the exact same symptoms.
One person might have severe sensory issues with strong social skills and executive function, while another may have little sensory issues while struggling with basic social interaction. Due to this variation in symptoms, it is hard to generalize this condition.
Some autistic people find communicating with others to be very difficult. When speaking with an autistic person, you may find yourself wondering if they are really paying attention to you, or even care that you're there. Don't let this bother you. Keep that in mind. But by me saying these things Elijah does have in fact have Autism." He says.

"What can we do for Elijah,"I ask.

"Autism cannot be cured at the present time, but a structured educational program and tailored therapy have been shown to help children develop skills they are lacking and minimize behaviors that are problematic.
Applied behavior analysis is a psychotherapeutic regimen that actively teaches and encourages desired social and communication behaviors that other children learn intuitively. An approach called developmentally based intervention uses subjects, words, and stimuli to model a typical developmental progression for a child who doesn't develop them independently. As every child is different, other appropriate therapies may include occupational, physical, and speech-language.
There is no medicine that can treat autism itself, but there are medications that target associated behaviors that create problems for children with autism and their families, such as sleep disturbance and violent tantrums. May I ask what happened to your arm? He asks.

"Well Elijah's sister Becca told him no and he kinda when on a panic attack and well I tried to calm him down but he bit me and started to draw blood when his father had got close," I say.

"Most young children have tantrums. Typically as they master new skills and become savvier with expanded communication abilities the tantrums dwindle away. Autistic children have meltdowns and these meltdowns can happen across the lifespan. For some autistics, they never totally disappear. To the casual onlooker, an autistic meltdown and a temper tantrum may appear to be the same behavior. It is not. Here are some things to consider when trying to sort out whether the behavior is a temper tantrum or an autistic meltdown. The strategies helpful for tantrums versus meltdowns are different so it becomes important to understand what you are dealing with to effectively impact the situation. Tantrums in young children typically occur when the youngster cannot have something he wants or cannot do something he wishes to do. A tantrum is a goal driven behavior designed to persuade the adult in charge to give in to the desires of the youngster.
Autistic meltdowns typically occur as a response to being overwhelmed. Sensory overload is one way being overwhelmed occurs, but becoming overwhelmed can happen in many other sorts of situations. Because the processing of the autistic brain often is not in sync with real time, anything from too many choices to not being able to pull up solutions to an in-the-now problem to an intense emotion that is stuck rather than dissipating over time can be triggers for a meltdown." He says.