Monday, May 30, 2011

May 30, 2011 My first entry at Blogger

I am an Army wife and mother of a beautiful 7 year old boy who has Autism.  Before our son was born I worked as and EMT-S, trying to save up enough money to go to med school.  Those plans changed a bit!

After my son's pediatrician announced his suspicions the first time (when my son was only 12 months old) we got heavily involved in the world of autism.  I have met other families affected by the disorder through school groups, military functions and out at various activities.  Somehow I wound up helping many of them with some of the challenges that they were struggling with such as advocacy issues at school, behavioral problems and sensory integration.

One of my son's special education teachers came to our home a few years ago and watched as I "therapized" him (a general term that my son selected for any of his activities that help him in some fashion) and she suggested I start advocating professionally and asked if I would write a book.  Later, another special education teach of his also suggested I write a book!  I felt that a book might require more time than I can give as I provide most of our son's therapy myself due to long wait lists and frequent moves and I still have so much school left to complete.

I study everything I can find regarding autism, aspergers and genetics.  My new path seems to be leading me toward molecular biology.  My husband is a soldier and also a full time student- although he has enough credit hours for 2 doctorates!  He has applied to a Physician Assistant program because at this point neither of us has the patience left for medical school and residency!

Any way, I did want to share some of my knowledge about autism with the world so in January of 2011 I started writing on Squidoo!  The articles I write there are more about the personal experiences, tips and discrimination- I found that on that platform, the scientific research held very little interest.  I do hope to write a detailed article on each of the copy number variants on genes that have been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders, but for now I am writing more about the topics that seem to interest the readers more!

Please be patient with me!  I struggle with using the cool codes and designs, also I know virtually nothing about SEO (other than some of the words) so while I plan to enter something daily... if I am having trouble with something "internety" I may miss an entry or two!

You will notice that I refer to my child as "Cutie" online.  This is for his privacy- his real name does not need to be floating around the internet.  I share pictures of him but usually part of his face is a bit obscured - unless they are his baby pics.  I have heard internet horror stories and not being internet savvy I would prefer to be overly cautious.

Here is a link to my "table of contents" at Squidoo, please visit me there for autism tips and personal stories!

http://www.squidoo.com/sidthers-lenses

No comments:

Post a Comment