About our Son Dante Jr.(DJ):Unlike other Autistic children we knew of, DJ was always outgoing, friendly and receptive of others so we never even considered he could be autistic. At first we just thought that since his mother “Namolisa” has ADHD and ADD/ADHD runs on her father’s side of the family that some of that trait was passed along to him. It wasn’t until we started to notice certain quirks, like some OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), hand/arm waving (although Namolisa said she did the same hand/arm waving when she was a child) and certain other signs that we began to realize it was more than just ADHD. But we still did not consider Autism because what we had always seen of Autistic children was not what we were seeing in our son. Not until I started doing some research did I realize that there is a whole Autistic Spectrum Disorder category and not just one specific sign or trait or group of traits that is common to all that suffer from Autism.
Life Update: At the age of 11 we noticed that DJ had begin to develop Scoliosis by the age of 16 it had progressed to a 86% curvature. Spinal fusion surgery was now the only option as the curvature was now causing his organs to crowd each other which would have ultimately ended in organ failure. Dante's surgeon was able to perform a miracle and reduce his curvature down to only 10-11%.
Connection between Scoliosis and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) There is a growing body of research suggesting a potential connection between scoliosis and ASD. While the exact nature of this relationship is still being investigated, studies have shown that individuals with ASD are more likely to develop scoliosis than the general population. Studies have reported a prevalence of scoliosis in ASD between 10% and 20%, compared to around 5% in the general population. The risk of scoliosis appears to be higher in males with ASD than females.
