My heart is hurting for Diezel i remember when i saw Toni having him on t.v..I knew something was wrong with the little angel then.He is so handsome and i’m sure he is gonna get all the help he needs from his family and others.God bless the family hold on Toni you all have his hand and god has his back.

My heart is hurting for Diezel i remember when i saw Toni having him on t.v..I knew something was wrong with the little angel then.He is so handsome and i’m sure he is gonna get all the help he needs from his family and others.God bless the family hold on Toni you all have his hand and god has his back.

We too have a son, Cameron who has PDD/NOS – autism. We were lucky to have a great Pediatrician who caught some of the signs early on. After countless speech/OT/behavioral therapy/group social skills classes and 1 on 1 ABA treatments, Cam is fully integrated into Kinder. Most people can’t even tell he has a diagnosis. He is a smart, funny, intense boy. Like a lot of the mom’s commenting here, I get judged a lot from other parents. I have found great support in other parents who have children on the spectrum. Sometimes it’s fun to compare crazy stories, like the tampon machine Cam made for me, or even discuss therapies and suggestions for treatment. Good luck to all!

I am so glad to see a celebrity speak up about their child with Autism. Thank you.
My son Andy has asperger syndrome. He is now 23, living independently with support from an agency in Brandon, Manitoba. Have no fear! Andy was diagnosed with PDD and I fought to have him labelled as autistic so that we could get the supports he would need. It was an uphill battle but he graduated cum laude in 2001. I was surprised (as I have already told Rosie and Barbara) that the US did not seem to have the supports in place that CANADA does. We are so closely related and the US was where our first contacts for information came from but our neighbors to the south seem to leave your vulnerable persons without support after 21.
I really hope that that is not the real way of things. We have passed the “vulnerable Persons Act” in Canada and we support these valuable people lifelong. I cannot imagine a world without people with mental challenges!
Keep striving for something better. We all need to work together. Thank you.

Been there,
Joyce

Although I don’t have children of my own, I am a kindergarten teacher and I give kudos out to all of you wonderful mothers and Toni. Unfortunately, autism is on the rise (I went from one student in my classroom 3 years ago to 4 this year!). I give kudos to you for making sure you are doing every thing in your power to help give your child the most normal life possible. And for speaking out about PDD/Autism. I have come across several parents through teaching that refuse to admit that thier child has Autism (or some form) and the only person they are hurting is thier child. There are so many services available to children and the earlier they start intervention programs the better. Thank you to Toni and all of you wonderful mothers (and fathers too!) for making your voice be heard and putting your child’s needs first.

I was glad to see the ladies of The View addressing this topic. It was particularly nice to see Temple Grandin, Ph.D., who is an autistic adult on, as well.

Our daughter is the same age as Diezel and has also recently been classified as being on the Autism Spectrum. And there is a whole gamut of feelings that run through us about it.

On the other hand, like Toni, we are grateful that she has been diagnosed early, so that we will have as much time to work with her as we possibly can. Early Intervention makes such a huge difference to so many on the spectrum.

We are hopeful and remain about the future! After all, we love our daughter for *who* she is, not what she does…

By the way… if anyone is interested, YouTube has 3 additional clips from that hour on the view that were very infomative and encouraging. Keywords View and Autism.

Mel – I agree whole-heartedly with you. My ASD 3 yr old has extensive sensory issues, with the worst encompassing eating, which has greatly impacted his health and growth. I wanted to thank you for your posting that your child went from non-verbal @ 2 (like we were) to a normal 1st grade classroom. It gives me tremendous hope to hear that, and I’ll think about that if/when I’m feeling discouraged during our treking back and forth to therapy 5x next week! =)
Christina – I also agree with you completely on feeling judged by people who don’t understand. It’s not like my sweet 3 1/2 year old can wear a sign that says “I’m autistic” for all of those folks who give me that nasty glance while he is melting down at Walmart screaming for his pacifier because it helps soothe him in places he has “issue” with. Anyway – just wanted you to know that your post made me feel better in just knowing others feel the same as I. While I’d give anything not to be a part of this “club”, it’s comforting to know that I’m not alone. =)
-Tracy

Unfortunately, Callen, some of these children are not healthy. My 7 year old has ASD and has many gastro issues. His pain always created more intense ASD ‘behaviors”. As we have controlled these medical issues, we have seen a marked decrease in his symptoms/behaviors. I think that autism has many biomedical aspects that are largely ignored (by doctors). It’s not easy and it is not cheap (I have the medical bills to prove it along with bills for tons of therapy and other treatments) but my son went from totally non-verbal at 2 years 10 months to in a regular ed 1st grade classroom at age 7. He still has issues to overcome but we see daily progress. Although I didn’t see The View, I cry for Toni Braxton. I know what it is like to feel like you have a mountain to climb and I wouldn’t wish this on any child or family.

I pray that there is more research on this epidemic so that we can have more interventions and treatments to help our children and can possibly prevent it from affecting future children. I read someone say that autism is to present-day medicine what the fever was in the 1700s. I’m ready for researchers to focus on causation and treatment.

I’m from Poland. My eldest son Ernest was diagnosed with autism when he was two. I even didn’t realized what’s going on with him. It was obvious when everybody started to compare him to his younger brother, who was 10 months old, but his contact with people was much more better than his older brother (then about 2 years old) Ernest looked so normally, but he didn’t talk, the eye contact with him was poor, he was interested in objects, not in people. We visited a lot of doctors. They ordered to wait, they didn’t care about my feelings, they suggested that it was my fault or said: “he looks differently, so he can be different”(my children are mixed – their father comes from Ghana). I was 20 years old and ready to get suicide but I had children.
I remember that hard time very, very well. I think the fact that I fully accepted his disease finally, helped us a lot.
Now Ernest is 19. He is a wonderful boy – son and brother. He can do everything except reading and writing. I don’t have idea how to teach him. He goes to school. He loves to travel with his class, going to the cinema, watching TV, help me at home. In Poland there aren’t many good psychologists or psychiatrist . I visited the best autism specialists in our country and they didn’t have much ideas of the therapy.
I’m single mother with three children and always feel guilty that I don’t work enough with him.
I would only like him to be happy and best prepared for life.
I understand Toni very well. I was crying with her.