BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Autism Spectrum Disorders Calling all Canadians

Hi there... I'd be glad to talk with some Canadians who have an autistic child in the (extended)family. Our grandson was recently diagnosed and we have been introduced to the many studies currently being done in regions of Canada to forward the understanding about the genetic role in autism. I know that programs and access differ widely from province to province, but would like to tap into our Canadian experience. So tell me your stories, and if you have opinions re: involvement in these studies and we can pool what and who we know!
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Logan's grandma, Trishh

Hi there, I'm from BC and have an almost 5 year old boy with moderate/severe autism. I tend to think it's mild compared to most of the stories I read on here. I guess I lucked out, if you can say that.
I haven't heard of any studies here on the genetic link to autism, I have heard there may be a link but no studies that I have heard of. If you know of some please let me know. I also have an almost 4 year old daughter and she is speech delayed, and has behaviour issues. She is only now starting to put 3 words together, I don't see the "traits" I saw in my son but there is something going on there, any genetic link I can explore would be great, not that I am going to have any more children...not with what I go through daily around here, heehee. It would be interesting though, one thing I wanted to look into was the Fragile X thing....any info you may have on that would be great as well.
Looking forward to hearing back from you.....
Take Care and remember....Keep Smiling.....
Jessica

Hi JessieBoo, thanks for answering my call out to Canadians. I would strongly urge you to get in touch with the folks at the Offord Centre associated with the McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario. You can do that by visiting their online site at www.offordcentre.com
I know that Dr. Lonnie Z. (very long last name) would be very interested in hearing your observations especially in regard to your younger child. He heads up the baby sibs program nationally and second child info is hard to come by, mostly because folks will often not have another child after having an autistic firstborn... sheer exhaustion is often the reason!!!
Please get in touch with these folks. They are sincere in their hopes that families such as ours will help contribute to the small bank of information about autism. There is no charge at all for participating in any of their programs and I am sure they will get you the BC connections too.
I think Halifax, Toronto, Hamilton and somewhere in BC were the only 4 program centres in the country. Good luck. Stay in touch, and yes, keep smiling.
Trish
PS one of my U.S. co-workers has an adult child with fragile X syndrome... would you like her email address?
Trish

Thanx for the info, I am going to check out that site right now. Promise to keep you posted. My daughter has an assesment with OT next week and another with the pediatrician in august....I'm just anxious to find out what, if anything, is wrong. I know its not Autism, well, not the kind I am used to with my son. She loves to play with kids, has a great imagination, she was a kitty most of today, and you have to pet her if she meows!! Its her speech and behaviour, complete MELTDOWNS....and my autistic boy has never had one...so thats funny!! I took it as , well shes a girl, my only one of 4 kids....so maybe girls are a little more emotional...but come on...if you tell her NO, even in a sweet voice, she will throw herself on the floor, bang her head on stuff and scream like you are killing her.....EVERYTIME! I tell you, I will take my autistic boy shopping, visiting, anywhere before I take her because of the meltdowns.....who would have thought that the easier of the 2 is the autistic one???...so I guess I'll just wait and see what the assessments say!!
I will post here again after I go through that site...in the next day or so.
Thanx again.....Jessica