My name is Jennifer (Jenni) Lenox. I am 37 years old. After my son, Jonah, was diagnosed with Autism at age 3, I dropped out of the University of South Alabama where I was majoring in Elementary Education and quit work to focus on getting my son through the 'critical period'... which is between the ages of 2 and 5 for autistic children. Jonah is now 8 1/2. I am returning to South to complete my education and am now majoring in Special Education. My hope is to teach autistic children.
For those of you who are not familiar with Autism, it is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder that affects 1 out of every 150 births in the United States today. It is more prevalent than all the forms of childhood cancers, heart disease and diabetes COMBINED! It is a spectrum disorder that ranges from very mild (commonly refered to as Asperger's Syndrome or High Functioning Autism) to severe. Contrary to popular belief, there really is no such thing as Classic Autism. You could have a thousand people with Autism in a room and you'd have a thousand different variations of the disorder.
Jonah is on the moderate to severe end of the spectrum. When he was first diagnosed, he had very little language. He only used about ten words. I say used because he said many words, but they were not functional. He would just spout them out, echo what he heard. Now he has a vocabulary of hundreds of words and speaks in sentences. He still has a long way to go, but he's come a long way.
The most common form of therapy, or method, used in teaching children with Autism is called ABA or Applied Behavior Analysis. You can find out more information on Autism and ABA at autismspeaks.org.
About Me
- Jenni
- I am a 37 year old single mother raising a child with Autism. I am currently a student at the University of South Alabama where I am majoring in Special Ed. I hope to work with autistic children.
4 comments:
Jenni... You are an inspiring woman!!!! There is a need for more Jenni's in the world.
I second what Anne said!!!!
Hey Jennifer. When i was in High school i fell in love with a little 8 year old Autistic girl named Mandi. I would visit her and help out at the school she went to at pine level elementary where she was among about 10 others like her. She blew my mind the way she was able to memorize what date fell on which day of any year on any calendar after only looking at it once. She was extrememly strong and i repeatedly had bruises after leaving her and the other kids but i wouldn't have traded that experience for anything else in the world. :)
It is amazing how our lives work and god shows us where we are goiing next. We need more caring people in the world.
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