If you are not aware April is National Autism Awareness Month. During this month we try to encourage people to help in the acceptance of autism. What better way to draw attention to the thousands of lives facing autism than by a local family.
We would like to thank Jo Anne Loparo and her daughter Nicole, who has autism, and her family for these lovely pictures.
When did you first discover your daughter Nicole was autistic, at birth or a few years later?
I believe she was a pretty normal child for the first year to year and a half of her life. I did notice at about 18 months she wasn’t talking not even mama or dada like most kids her age, and then we took a family vacation in July of 2012 and it was awful, she cried all the time, never would let me out of her sight and would scream when we put her in the tub which she normally enjoyed. She was diagnosed in November 2012, a month after her second birthday.
How old is Nicole, where does she attend school, and what special needs does a child like Nicole need as far as tutoring or special education?
She is 5 ½ and will be 6 in October of 2016. She attending pre-school at Ledgeview Elementary in Macedonia, she also attends a private school, Solutions Behavior Health in Macedonia, which she had been attending since March of 2013. She needs one on one direction most days, sometimes she is great with doing what other kids are doing but most times just prefers to do her own thing alone. She is very intelligent for her age but her behavior issues make things difficult sometimes for her in a normal classroom setting.
What myth’s about autism would you like the public to dismiss?
Autistic children are very smart and with the right education and tutoring and honestly a whole lot of love they can find a way to navigate the world with the rest of us. They just need to be given the tools to do so.
Is autism a genetic condition, developed at birth, or something that some children are pre destined to have?
After all my reading and speaking with lots of other parents I want to believe it has to be something environment, there are so many more chemicals in the world between food and cleaning supplies and just about everything you touch, I think because Nicole was fine her first year it took whatever chemical that long to make its way into her brain and shut off some of the normal functions, just thinking she might be more susceptible to that than other kids.
Is there a medical procedure on the horizon that can reverse autism, or drugs that can control autism?
As far as we know nothing to directly cure it, there are some drugs for kids with sever behavioral issues but I don’t believe unless a child is a danger to himself or others drugs are the answer.
If you had any advice for parents or family with autistic children, what would it be?
Any parent with an autistic child will tell you early intervention; Nicole was diagnosed in November 2012, and started receiving one on one tutoring in March 2013. She has been in school full time for 3 solid years and it has made all the difference. The tutors that started with her at first are beyond amazed at how well she has done over the last three years and how far she has come.
In ending what last words would you like to say about your Nicole?
I have been told by many people who don’t know she is autistic that they would never know unless I told them. As a single mom it’s hard to make sure she has everything she needs to be successful but when total stranger say they would never have been able to know there was anything wrong with her she “seems” so normal it makes me realize what a special little girl I am getting to raise. She is smart (too smart sometimes), very charming and she is very loving to anyone she meets.
