Ellis’s Big Blue Hug
Carol Roach
I think one of the most devastating neurobiological disorders for a parent to deal with is Autism. These children have a hard time communicating with others. Imagine not being able to communicate with your own child, not being able to talk to him, hug him, kiss him and have him respond in kind. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) has no less than 12 symptoms of autism listed and an individual must display at least six of these symptoms to be given the diagnosis. However it is not within the scope of this article to list all the symptoms or even the various autistic related disorders.
To give you an idea of the severity of the disorder I will list a few of them here: “The symptoms which fall under the social interaction category are: marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors; failure to develop age-appropriate peer relationships; lack of spontaneous seeking to share interests and achievements with others; and lack of social or emotional reciprocity. The symptoms which fall under the communication category are: delay in or lack of spoken language development (with no compensation through alternative modes of communication); in verbal persons, marked impairment in conversational skills; stereotyped and repetitive use of language; and lack of spontaneous age-appropriate make-believe or social imitative play.” http://www.autism.org/dsm.html
Jason Goldsmith of Montreal has a son living with autism. According to Jason, he has never been able to communicate with his son. “Ellis objectifies people and there is no difference between his parents and the couch,” Jason explained to ctv.ca news – January 3, 2007. It was very frustrating and heartbreaking until now.
The child discovered drawing as a medium to get through to his father. Ellis began working with an art therapist and now has found a way to convey his thoughts and feelings. Ellis drew a picture of a big blue hug to let his father know what he needed from him. This picture became the catalyst for communication with his father and the world.
Jason Goldsmith is happy that finally after all these years he can relate to his precious son. Now that new avenues have opened up, Ellis can enrich his social interactions and open up new possible horizons. To share this wonderful breakthrough with the world, Jason Goldsmith has opened up a website called Big Blue Hug. Jason explains that Big Blue Hug website is a tool to share the stories of autistic children with the world through the use of talking pictures. This website helps, “to show us what’s on their minds and in their hearts.” http://www.thebigbluehug.com/
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Comments: 54
I recently met a man who has done research into the cause of autism and he has found a link between systemic candida yeast infection, food sensitivities, and also mercury (from innoculations). He has been successful in healing some children of their disorder after putting them on a special diet and supplements. If anyone knows someone who is affected by autism, this man's name is Dr. William Shaw, Ph.D. and his phone number is 913-341-8949. He lives in Lenexa, Kansas (a Kansas City suburb). His email address is williamsha@aol.com.
We ourselves have 2 autistic grandchildren and are very familiar with the difficulties for families . I also am a retired special education teacher who has worked with autistic children for over 30 years. Much is needing to be done, as I have seen more cases of autism in the past 15 years than I ever saw in my early years of teaching. Asberger's, a milder form of autism, is now being diagnosed more openly, as previously we didn't know exactly what that disability was and how it related to autism. Thanks for putting light on this situation.
I would love to see a cure to unlock these wonderful children from their prison.
Thanks for your article and the information.
It is a very difficult life for autistic families. My nephew does show affection. He kisses but doesn't know how so he ends up biting, often. But he does show affection. At least we have that from him.
Thank you for this article, Carol. I will forward it to my sister.
Thank you for sharing this article. My nephew Scott is autistic. He was diagnosed for autism when he was 2. He is 10 now. My brother-in-la and sister-in-law live in South Carolina. We see them once every 2 years now. When we lived in Atlanta we saw them more often. Scott and I had a special bond right from the time he was a little child. He calls me uncle Jai. I cannot explain the love connection we have, his parents have told me that he asks about me. I talk to him on the phone. He used to do a lot of 'stemming' repetitive things to stimulate the brain. He is a wiz on the computer and seems to intuitively navigate through any program especially games. His speach keeps improving and I get the feeling that He takes in a lot more then any of us will know. He also remembers all our birthdays. He needs to be told only once and he remembers. On their trip from South Carolina to Florida, he seems to remember the exact locations of various landmarks and where they stopped for lunch etc. Truely amazing, he is a very loving child and loves hugs and he gets a lot of hugs from me. In my heart I want to think that God loves these kids in a very special way and none of us will every know the purity of this love compared to ours. I will never forget the time when we visited South Carolina about 6 years ago - Scott was probably 4 - He came running across the yard screaming uncle Jai and just ran into my arms.
I have sent the link to the bigbluehug to my brother/sister-in-law.
I don't know enough about the subject matter to write an article. I am around Scott so little I do not have time to observe him. His condition has steadily improved. He used to go to a special school early on but now he is in the regular school system. From what I do know each person seem to be different in the social interaction area.
Many people do not realize that the substances in shots, or injections, are suspended in Mercury.
The number of infant injections in the first few weeks of life has been increased from three to twenty. This is why many people who follow non-AMA health news decide to keep their infants injection-free.
This is something widely known among experts - but it's also widely known that there's plenty of grant money to study autism (pretending that it's not caused by the medical industry injecting Mercury into newborns).
If the medical industry simply said "OK - we'll quit making you guys sick so we can make money off you," most of us would drop our teeth.
This is a good article, Carol. Bless you.