Mommy Talks : Earth Rullan

Mommy Talks

April is Autism Awareness Month! And what better way to be more aware of Autism than to talk to a mommy who has first hand experience with Austim. Our guest for today is Earth Rullan. She is the blogger behind Earthlingorgeous. She is a mom of a 9 year old little girl with Autism.

Chris: Hello Earth. Can you share with us how you discovered your little girl has autism? What were the symptoms and what did you do?

Earth: When my daughter was born, the signs of anything different about her was not present at that time. She grew-up like an average baby would. She achieved all her milestones at an average age any other baby would achieve it. Crawl, smile, sit down on her own, walk, babble words. She actually was a fast learner. Until she turned two, everything changed.

At first I thought she doesn’t like her nickname to instead of her A nickname I changed it to her T nickname now. But still the same problem persist, she doesn’t respond when being called by her name. She completely ignores you like she can’t hear you. So I had her hearing tested, but the results turned out normal.

So we went to the developmental pediatrician and her first assessment was that she is just globally delayed and will pull through at 6 or 7 years old.

After a year on her first assessment I went to another developmental pediatrician. This time the doctor said my daughter has Asperger. A milder form of autism but not really autism. She said she is between high functioning autism and ADHD. The doctor recommended therapy three times a week. After awhile, we went to another development pediatrician for her assessment and this time the assessment was rigorous. There were several checks made before the doctor concluded that my child has autism.

Her doctors, now she has a neurodevelopmental physician (neuro) aside from her dev pedia, found out she has epilepsy/ seizures. That was devastating to hear but I’m glad I was finally told.

Chris: How is your daughter now?
Earth: There’s a huge difference with my daughter now compares to the first day she had her interventions. I think kids with autism will mature in time and I think that’s what’s happening to her although I believe the interventions she got school and therapy helped a lot.

I just had a meeting with my daughter’s teacher and she said although my daughter is a fast learner and she sees a lot of potential in her, she can see how uninterested she was in academics. Because of that, next school year there will be lesser academics and more practical and applied daily life practices will be taught to her and they will focus more with familiarizing her with her own name, home address, phone numbers , computer lessons, socialization and domestication.

Honestly I’m excited with the new curriculum that will be given to her. As her mom I see that what she mostly need are lessons about taking care of herself and knowing important details about her in case she gets lost (God forbid) or an emergency arises.

I’m also excited about more socialization activities because I think she is very much ready to have playmates and hopefully she will be encourage to talk more often when she is exposed to kids like her.

Chris: Do you have some advises for parents?

Earth: As soon as you see something different with your child don’t delay and immediately seek a specialist to test your child because early intervention really helps.

Give them all the love and care you can give. These kids are very loving and caring person. They will always be innocent and pure so give them all the love and understanding. They don’t hurt people unless they were raised violently. They are not aggressive people who harms without a reason to do so. They have feelings that they can’t explain ergo the peculiar mannerisms and habits. Try to be as patient as you can but I know sometimes its too much you loose. If you do talk to them apologize and show them love as much as you can.

Take them out don’t hide them from public eye. Never be ashamed of your kids. Expose them to environments they’ve never seen before. Don’t mind the stares or the rude comments. Just know when you should leave the place before things gets out of hand.

Find interventions like occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, socialization, special schools. You will always find a support group in the guise of the moms with kids with autism.

Don’t loose hope, these kids are a blessing. They will be your source of joy and comfort. They will love you unconditionally and they will be your baby forever.

Chris: Many thanks for sharing about your daughter with us. I hope your story will help those parents who might be undergoing the same challenges now.


  1. hahai.ponce says

    interesting post!
    thanks Chris for sharing 😀

  2. my nephew was diagnosed with mild autism also. i will share this link with my sister 🙂

    fit and smart

  3. I am touched while reading the post. Her daughter has undergone lots of diagnosis and I'm glad that she is now being sociable to other kids activities. That is tough to deal with a child that has autism behaviors.

  4. Awww… she's such a strong woman! hope her story will inspire others… I know Earth has a child with autism… but have understood her more here…

    sorry I had not been joining your MM, but I am very much aware of your meme in fact I blog hop on entries sometimes.. it's just that my kids do not want to be included in my blog kasi minsan I posted them and their classmates get to see it on FB, it wasn't some sort of kantiyaw, but they cried when they came home but it was a good picture though.. so to avoid this incident.. I'd rather not pilit them.. hope you understand… heheh 😉

  5. mommy jes says

    ay dalaginding na ang anak ni earth … katuwa naman parang kelan lang nung nakikita ko sya online maliit pa 🙂

  6. great topic and an eye-opener interview. being diagnosed early would surely help accelerate the development. and i know that it is hard for some parents to accept the delay in their kids. but, it is the welfare of the child that must be the paramount interest of the parents.

    thanks for sharing

  7. jared's mum says

    autism is something moms like us would really dread for our kids to have, i guess what's most admirable with mommy earth is she was able to transcend all the challenges and stigma brought about by the syndrome in her child + was able to pull through + raise her daughter well, in spite of it all. one very inspiring woman…great job on this one mommy chris^^

  8. The child still has impairments, their communication skills often come
    with difficulty and they are still very awkward in social situations.
    Are you willing to do some research on the different types
    of autism. ” Asking your child to take their thinking one step further will certainly help develop and expand their brain’s capacity for learning.

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