April 27, 2009
This is just heartbreaking. The whole situation. One gets a glimpse in to the true selfishness of Nadya. She knew her son was severely autistic and as she says here she thinks he will be with her for the rest of his/her lives. And yet she willingly - knowing how much attention he needed - went and had 6 more embryos implanted. And she knew the chances were high that she would have multiples since her previous pregnancy had resulted in twins.
And then she turned down Angels in Waiting’s offer to provide a complete evaluation and whatever therapy treatment and therapy for all 14 kids - something he desperately needs. He doesn’t talk much, he doesn’t feed himself, probably isn’t potty trained and he wanders around at night unsupervised. AIW found him in the yard shortly before an intruder showed up. Just think if something happened to him - he wouldn’t be able to communicate.
Imagine his fear all locked up inside his head with ni way to escape.
It’s just so very sad. Especially since no one knows how many, if any, of the octuplets are going to have neurological and/or physical impairment.
Here is what Nadya said on GMA last Friday [follow update link]:
I know I’m going to sound kind of crazy to say this, but no I’m just - every day I’m taking it as it comes. And it`s actually a lot less stressful than I envisioned it to be. Because I’m just focusing on - what takes precedence over anything else is just how healthy they are.
In tune with reality?
What type of therapy is he getting now? In the footage they show him standing there or running away from the camera or someone feeding him. There’s never anyone interacting with him. And when the grandmother’s explosive outburst happened, Nadya left him alone with the grandmother. She was fearful enough to flee (it was scary to watch) and yet she leaves her most vulnerable child in the rager’s care?
Can you imagine the noise level in his head? The confusion with the appearance of 8 babies? The building frustration of his space being occupied by multiple changing strangers - even at night when he previously had some freedom?
And he can’t communicate any of it. Now is the crucial window for speech - listen to how Nadya has resigned herself to him not speaking. He’s only 3. And had he gone to Arrowhead he could have been examined and observed in a controlled setting to determine his needs and then set things up for continuing care back home. But she said no. Because she, an adult, was having trouble communicating with other adults.
In the video she admits to the delusion that caffeine caused his autism because of a story she read on methamphetamine. Though both are considered stimulants, they are different categories of drugs with a different mechanisms of action and different brain receptors. Both might be causative but she cannot generalize one to the other.
Where is the discussion of the role of the frozen embryos and years worth of extra hormones?
She states she wants to start an autism foundation and when she gets her masters degree she wants to work with families of autistic children “helping them cope”.
On what planet?
Suleman said that reading studies linking a mothers’ use of meth with increased rates of autism in their children convinced her that caffeine–also a stimulant–has a similar effect. Though Suleman said doctors have dismissed her hypothesis, she is convinced that the coffee habit she formed while she was pregnant with Aidan increased the severity of his autism.
Suleman said that she was “self medicating” for ADHD (a condition that she has never been formally diagnosed with) by drinking coffee during those months and now blames her behavior for Aidan’s challenges.
Aidian, who has a severe form of autism, doesn’t like to be touched or held. Though he is vocal and often hums Barney songs to himself, he will likely never speak or live on his own. Suleman says that while his aversion to physical attention can be difficult for her to accept, her young son still finds his own ways to show his affection.
NADYA: When you’re autistic — he’s nonverbal and he also doesn’t really like touch. Aidan will probably never talk and will probably be with me for the rest of his life. You know, she’s just as worthy as all of my kids. I love him so, so much.
And it affects me so much because - you know, I cry sometimes because I blame myself. I’m sure, like any mother, even though it doesn’t sound rational, blame myself really because I feel like I caused it.
As she discusses her children’s, she reveals her own pathology. In a separate interview, she talks about one of her children being a “biter” like she was. I think it is this child. I’ll look in the drafts. My fellow citizens don’t post but they still put stuff in the drafts, which makes it hard to stay current, especially with all the other topics.
Say what you want about impeached governor Rod Blagojevich, but after he was arrested he signed the Autism Bill, which mandates insurance companies to cover autism diagnosis and treatment up to $36,000/year until age 21. And thanks to him, Illinois became the first state to provide universal healthcare to children. And if he gets a jury member whose child was directly helped?
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