Autism, bullying and abuse.

I saw this video on facebook today, and it completely brought me to tears.  I remembered a couple of months ago, Ash crying when i'd try to get him on the bus, him staring at me as the bus drove away with tears in his eyes....  I remembered the week that he'd spent the mornings running to his bed and hiding under his covers when it was school bus time.  I remember that heartbreaking morning when i woke up and walked to the living room, saw my husband holding Ash, point to me and say, "Look, its mommy!" and saw ash JUMP off his lap, blow past me into his room and under his covers.  My baby...  We pulled him out of school after that week.  I don't know, and we won't EVER know whether he was being abused by a teacher, perhaps bullied by a student (though not likely in preschool) or just was immature and couldn't deal with school.  And without CAMERAS in special needs classrooms, parents have NO way of knowing.  We NEED cameras.  We need to DEMAND cameras.  Because our precious little vulnerable children's well being depends on it.

However, we don't have cameras, we likely won't get them anytime soon.  So what can be done? I'd encourage any of you who are in this situation to NOT ignore your nonverbal child.  LISTEN to his voice, even if it is in actions not in words.  And if you can't settle the situation to your satisfaction, do what it takes to homeschool them.  I know that it is much harder to make life happen with Asher home.  MUCH harder.  We all pay a price for it, but we are much more ABLE to bear that burden that little 3yo Ashie.   Something to think about!

On a personal note, i am glad i watched it.  It really reinforced how much i care about what we are doing here.  With ALL the kids, not just Ash, but especially with Ash, and Annabeth.  And heck, we've seen how wildly successful our mission has been with Alex! WOW, he's just SOARING through college!  But WAY more important than that, he's self assured, confident, and has an amazing motivation and desire to be Christlike, and is becoming moreso every day.  WHAT more could I ask for?