“When I told Samuel that his little brother was autistic, I thought it would be for life. When I put Aaron on the diet, I thought it would be for life … Mid 2004 and my child is ‘normal’, my life now is ‘normal’ … Jane and Mary reclaimed my son from his self inflicted prison.”
Read Aaron’s story, a mother’s account of her son’s groundbreaking shift out of autism. From Jane Lloyd’s book, Every Child’s Right: A New Approach to Understanding and Resolving Children’s Learning and Behavioural Problems.
Jane Lloyd has 20+ years of experience and case studies in educational therapy and profiling and her courses are upcoming features in the H.E.A.R.T. Centre.
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Aaron was born ‘normal delivery’ a whopping 10lbs 9oz, he was huge, and just wonderful, I loved him instantly. Things progressed well for about six weeks, when he developed a viral infection. Then everything began to change. Aaron didn’t sleep at all during the day and seemed distant; when I held him he didn’t seem to encourage eye contact. Weeks passed by and he became more and more agitated. It became impossible to put him down and he only stopped screaming or seemed to relax when I held him very, very tightly. By twelve weeks I contacted a cranial osteopath. Overnight the screaming stopped to my great relief. However he still was unable to sleep in the day.
At eighteen weeks Aaron attempted to pick a pattern off my jumper. This seemed to be the first time he’d noticed anything. A week later he rolled over, ‘once’, and that was it, for he hated lying on his back and he screamed (not a little baby cry, more sheer terror). A week later, Aaron sat. He sat for hours without moving; legs out, dead straight back, arms out at an angle and if something was just out of his reach, he would make no attempt to reach it. At the time I thought he was just bone idle, but he didn’t seem to know how to play.
He sat for the next thirteen months, he was carried from room to room, to the car, to bed, to the table but made no attempt to move himself. Yet his vocabulary was extensive for his age; he’d astound people by repeating whole sentences, but this was rather odd, specially when the tone of the original speaker was echoed in Aaron’s recital. Aaron was bottle fed. Feed times were very sterile, we didn’t have the eye contact so I didn’t need to look at him. Aaron was heavy so it seemed easier to sit him on my lap with his head resting against my chest, facing the room. I became agitated when family members held him in the usual baby feeding pose, and I insisted that my way was the easiest.
Looking back, I think I resented the fact that my nearest and dearest looked at him and took pleasure from him. Yes, he was a very cute package, but I had to look after him 24-7 and he was losing his appeal somewhat.
As for meal times, these were the most difficult situations to deal with. Aaron just didn’t enjoy food. Feeding was an immense struggle. After many weeks I began to place my hand over his face and ease his mouth open with thumb and finger and force the food in. As time went on, Aaron seemed resigned to the fact that he must eat, but would only do so if his eyes were covered. This I remember caused great amusement to anyone who saw him eat. Around the seven month stage I tried to introduce slightly lumpier foods. This was disastrous; he became even more difficult to feed and would gag and so the whole lot would come straight back up again.
At the dining room table Aaron began to examine the arms of his high chair to check that they were both the same distance away from the table edge; he would test this by placing his fingers between the two objects to make sure they were parallel. I dreaded meal times, and I’m sure he sensed my tension and acted accordingly and after a time fight becamethe norm.
His fascination with pattern and routine became more obvious as he grew older. At around fifteen months he began to become very distressed by any deviation from routine, and anything out of place would drive him wild. Like a kitchen cupboard for example being slightly ajar; he would scream at it until it was closed. If I took a different route to school or, God-forbid, tried to visit somewhere new or unfamiliar, he would freak out. He took to wearing a blanket over his head which he would press tightly over his ears, even the two ends of the blanket that came over his shoulders and down his chest were equal lengths.
