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Stay and Play a valuable service for local family with autistic boys |
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Wednesday, 12 March 2008 |
The odd time when Lisa Johnston, a mother of twin autistic boys and two other sons, gets a call from employees of Barons-Eureka-Warner Family Community and Support Service's saying their Stay and Play session is canceled, she feels like a piece to her day's puzzle is missing.
By Jennifer Elves
Taber Times
Through Stay and Play, she has discovered support like no other, and she wants the world to know about it.
"They're very, very accepting of all children and their abilities and disabilities or challenges," says Johnston. "It (Stay and Play) is my saving grace. It was canceled today and they just caught me as I was walking out the door and I just thought, 'oh man, I needed that this morning.' "
Their family moved to Taber in the fall of 2006 and with the exception of a short time period, the Johnstons have been attending Stay and Play ever since.
It can be difficult to have friends, she says, because for the most part, other women she knows can not relate to her. She adds, however, she feels comfortable talking with the women who work at Stay and Play.
"We're happy to see her come in. We want to check in and see how things are going for her and how her night was," says Kim Andrus, parenting and family coach at FCSS, adding it's important for staff to check how they can support and help all parents, as parenting is hard work.
Johnston and her husband, Sheldon, have four-year-old twin boys in Azriel, who has severe autism and Esra, who has a milder case of autism.
They also have a three year old, named Lazarus, and a 14-month-old, named Silas.
When residing in British Columbia before moving to Taber, the family would not have been able to access services for autism treatment there for 18 months to two-years. They moved to Taber so they could access those types of services in the area. The twins worked with behavioural therapists out of Lethbridge, with some of the therapists accompanying the Johnstons at Stay and Play periodically.
A short time later, however, the couple started having concerns with the agency they were working with. The family left Alberta for a few weeks to seek medical attention for Esra. When they returned, the couple learned the therapist from the agency, who had been working with Azriel in their home, had been withdrawn from working with Azriel and given to another family.
Johnston informed the staff at FCSS she could not attend Stay and Play anymore, as she no longer had a home therapist helping the family. The staff set up a meeting between themselves, Johnston and Greg Pratt, executive director of Barons-Eureka-Warner.
As a result of the meeting, a worker was hired to care for babies during Stay and Play so mothers, including Johnston, could mingle with other parents and play with their other children.
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurological condition that causes developmental disability. That may manifest itself through impaired social interaction, a limited stock of activities and interests, abnormal cognitive development, mood, eating, drinking and sleeping problems and often self-injurious behaviour.
Johnston says there are many challenges that come with raising an autistic child. In severe cases the child can not communicate what they want, as they may not speak and may not be able to point. The only times Azriel talks, she explains, is when he echoes a phrase or word someone else has said. He may say it once as an imitation and never say it again, Johnston adds. The couple is trying to teach him basic signage but he has not grasped it yet.
Some other trying parts, she says, is children with autism can have trouble sleeping, and generally do not understand danger.
"I can't make dinner if I'm here all alone with the boys. It would take two seconds for something to happen. Azriel could very quickly come up behind you and pour the hot water off of the stove. He does not understand what hot is, what cold is and what danger is," she says.
Since they do not comprehend what danger is and have specific needs because of being autistic, she says they have only ever had one person offer to babysit for them. The couple had a lady offer to watch their kids, but they have not taken her up on it as of yet, because of how overwhelming the situation could be.
Despite the many challenges, Johnston stresses she would not change having her boys for anything.
"People say, 'well, you know you could give him up for adoption, and I could just kill those people. How dare they suggest that because that's my baby. I love him. We love him. He's such a wonderful, wonderful little boy who has been dealt with autism and nobody knows why." |
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