The Diaper Dilemma

Mr. Energy wears pull-up type diapers. They work just fine and since every attempt at potty training has failed miserably so far they are the status quo.

However he is very particular about his diapers. He prefers just one brand. Okay that is only the half of it. Prefers is the wrong word. He would rather strip butt naked and run around with nothing on than wear anything else. And it isn't just the one brand. It is that specific brand with one specific color of truck printed on it.

So this means that out of every package of diapers we buy he throws a fit about wearing half of the diapers and jumps up and down for joy for the other half. Don't manufacturers realize it would be easier to make the diapers with no prints at all?

Smearing

Okay, this is one that I’m really glad he appears to be getting over. Smearing.

For those of you out there wondering what smearing is, well it is one of the most disgusting things that autistic children tend to develop a habit of. In essence they take their feces and wipe it on the walls or whatever happens to be handy.

From what I understand it has to do with a mix of textural sensations as well as the discovery process of dealing with something appearing suddenly in their diaper.

Let’s just say it is very, very frustrating to deal with, especially when you know that they are just as confused as you are by their own behavior.

So, what do you do about this one? The best solution that I have found is to simply watch the boy like a hawk. When you see the potty signs coming, take him in and see what you can do.

Unfortunately he is scared or frustrated by the toilet. I’m not sure why. His current alternative, which is much better than before, is to use the bath tub. At least it makes cleaning things up much easier. In fact he really enjoys the tub and would spend all day in the bath if we let him.

If anyone out there has solid advice, please send it my way.

Introducing My Boy

I have a little boy who is now 5. He is autistic (pretty obvious from the blog title). I wanted to introduce him here since this is the first post. Naturally I’ll keep his name anonymous because after all he will grow up and the internet has a way of making things permanent.

We discovered his autism quite early on. At first we thought he had a hearing problem because he simply didn’t respond when we called his name. He would just keep going and going. Well, three hearing tests later we finally convinced someone that it might be something else. A bunch of tests later they said autism.

For a run of the things that he does differently, let me just go over a few of them.

At 5 and a half he is just now beginning to talk. By this I mean he said “mommy” and “daddy” for the first time just two months back, and he still doesn’t say them very often. He knows words for the foods he likes but we still have to encourage him to use his words.

He is not potty trained (still working on this one)

He does not come when called.

He does not keep a “normal” sleep schedule.

He is hyper-active nearly all the time (he runs and jumps constantly).

He hates wearing clothes.

He likes to play with gooey, soft objects such as mud and especially make big messes with them.

We love our boy and hope that he can overcome the challenges that he faces.