Very good article.
Patricia Stacey is the author of the book The Boy Who Loved Windows: Opening The Heart And Mind Of A Child Threatened With Autism.
By Patricia Stacey
The Public Record
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Ten years ago, my husband and I discovered that our six-month-old son had serious neurological problems and was at risk for autism. He couldn't look at me, but he stared obsessively, incessantly out of windows, as if beguiled by light that flooded into the room each morning rather than by his own mother's face. The realization of his neurological problems was the beginning of a life-changing road for my family, a life of intensive research, and working as hard as we could every day of our lives to help our son overcome the disability that he was born with.
I resisted at first the identity of mom with a sick kid, yet I am still in awe of the ways that adversity has of dragging us back into life, into new ways of seeing. Researching, I learned that a baby's brain does not come into the world like a clock ready to start running; it comes in more like a computer ready to be programmed, ready to make itself fit into whatever world it enters.
In the first few months of life, the brain increases neural connections by as much as fifty trillion. These same connections will begin to be pruned away by the very brain that made them if the baby does not have the right kinds of "experiences" and stimuli. Understanding that time was critical, I knew I could not afford to think about my career. It was time to buckle down and get to work to make a future for my son.
Read on from The Public Record.
2 comments:
Interesting article and this Mother would know. I remember when my kids were babies you have to be so careful and Sarah doesn't seem to have a problem. I wonder who helps her baby with his development and care because it's not her husband or herself. It's sad to hear a woman speak of how important it is to have children but doesn't care for her own. I was shocked when Sarah said she would council a child who is raped while she never educated her daughter on sex education. Her son was order by a Judge to choose between jail or Military as he was convicted of a crime and uses drugs. Now for those who question jut look at the Alaska newspaper. All children grow up needing guidence but this woman seems to lack that.
The pregnant daughter is caring for the baby.
The baby was on stage after the debate and the baby looked fat and unhealthy, like someone is trying to overcompensate the lack of attention with too much food.
I feel sorry for that poor baby.
Post a Comment