We have four children, 3 boys and one girl. Jacob is our third son and third child. We knew we were in for a ride while I was still pregnant. He was very small and non-reactive in-uetro. I will not bore you with the particulars but it was a very long nine months. Many, many, many doctors appointments along with genetic testing. He was born the summer of 1994 and presented with no problems until 2 weeks old. He had sleep apnea and was in the hospital many times. Around five months old we noticed that he was aloof. He would never cry to be fed or held. He would only cry if he had a dirty diaper. He would stare at his mobile for long periods of time. He loved the swing and bouncer. Fortunately my mother had been the hired care giver for twin autistic girls for one summer many years before. She said that Jacob had tendencies that the girls had shown; aloof, didn't want to be touched, didn't like to eat, etc. We took him the the pediatrician who said that there was no way we could know if he was autistic at 5 months old. We looked for another doctor. Finally, after 3 months we found a doctor that saw what we were seeing (Matthew was only 18 months old, so we had just gone through these milestones). He started receiving Early Intervention at 8 months. He is receiving services at a private school out of our school district. Some children with autism show signs of agression. Unfortunately, Jacob is one of those children. He will exhibit that kind of behavior when a demand is asked of him or we ask him to comply with a request. As you can see from the picture, he is a big young man and when he gets upset --- everybody knows he's upset. We have behavior plans in place in school and an in home behavior program. But due to school issues (which I could drone on forever about) success has been limited. Because our goal has always been to make Jacob as self sufficient as we can, I submitted an application to Kennedy Kreiger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. The institute is a neurobehavioral facility that treats all aspects of the behavior being shown. It is also a sub facility to Johns Hopkins. They offer short term residental stays and in home programs that carry over into school. We have an appointment in late April. The cost is very high and our insurance has decided to make us appeal the denial. We are going to have local fundraising efforts to help off set the cost. We truly believe our son has much potential and feel this is the way to insure he can reach that potential. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to read the plight our family is facing. May God bless you and your family and keep you safe in your daily life.
