A life less ordinary: AF family opens arms to autism Published March 20, 2006 By Senior Airman Kerry Solan-Johnson 435th Air Base Wing Public Affairs RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (USAFENS) -- The walls in the Dallas’ home aren’t festooned with art, but with boards. There are boards with schedules, with charts, with pictures to guide 4-year-old Liam, and establish routines for every-day tasks such as washing his hands (turn on water, wash hands, turn off water and dry hands) or going potty (pull down pants, use the potty, use toilet paper, pull up pants and flush). The charts are part of structured, routine life they must maintain for their son. “It’s what we have to do,” said his parents. “The communication isn’t always there.” When Senior Airman Matt and Sonya Dallas had Liam in 2000, the U.S. Department of Health had published the number of schoolchildren in America with autism was 65,396 compared with 53,576 the previous year. Today, autism affects one in 166 children. Locally, 1 in 19 children in Special Education within the Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Europe are on the autism spectrum. “I remember when he was a year and a half, at the pool or wherever I’d notice other kids and what they were doing,” said Mrs. Dallas. “He wasn’t developing language skills. Liam just seemed to be getting further and further behind.” Autism, a developmental disability resulting from a neurological disorder affecting the brain, appears by age 3, when most children have passed several milestones in learning language. At age 2, Liam just babbled. “Beside the occasional “mama” or “dada,” anything else he said was incomprehensible gibberish, which we began to call ‘Liam-ese,’ said Airman Dallas. “At first we thought we were just being paranoid, thinking something was wrong. Everyone told us ‘Oh, don’t worry; he’s just a late bloomer.’” But at age 3, nothing had changed. After tests with dead ends and pediatricians with no answers, the couple began to worry. However, soon after arriving in Germany, they had their answer. “We heard the words we had been dreading: ‘Your son has autism,’” said Mrs. Dallas. “At that moment, we began to question all our hopes and dreams for Liam.” Looking back, they knew something wasn’t right. Many parents had similar experiences: knowing something was terribly wrong, struggling to understand and finding no good answers. “I felt something was wrong with our son’s development a year before a pediatrician would refer him,” said another KMC parent of an autistic child, who preferred to remain anonymous. “I wish I had pushed harder or taken him to more doctors — (more parents should) aggressively pursue an answer.” Autism is a spectrum disorder, with varying characteristics and symptoms. Liam was diagnosed with high-functioning autism. Symptoms of high-functioning autism include delayed or absent speech, the inability to appropriately relate to others, repetitive movements, such as hand flapping, and an insistence of a routine. Liam’s symptoms aren’t as severe as others; 70 percent of autistic children are also mentally retarded but Liam isn’t, said Mrs. Dallas. As a mother and father, they don’t feel cheated; they don’t really even notice it much anymore. Not when their son pulls them out of the post office line because it’s “too much.” Not when he has to be held down at the barber. Not during the kicking and screaming fits in public places. “I guess I could say he’s not like a normal child in that you can’t reason with him when he’s having a melt down: he’s on the ground crying, hands over his ears — everything gets blocked out,” said Mrs. Dallas. “All you can do is wait until he calms down.” A child with autism will never “outgrow” it. With treatment, and as the child develops, symptoms may lessen. “In the past, without (school and therapy), he’s regressed,” said Mrs. Dallas. “We had to start over. But he’s doing well now – when I look back to where we were a year ago, I thought he was never going to talk.” Some autistic children will integrate into regular classes, while others will continue to need special education into adulthood. “Mostly I worry about his social development,” said Mrs. Dallas. “Will he make friends? Will he take a girl to the prom? Will he get married some day? All we can do is give him treatment and education options and try our best every day.”