Who Is Little King?

Who is Little King?

Little King is a boy who in his daily life goes by the name of Tithen. Tithen lives with a man named Nathan, who looks after Tithen all the time. They also have a very naughty cat named Jess, Jess is a black smoke Devon Rex. Tithen loves Nathan very much, but shows his love in a way that is different.Tithen is Autistic with many other disabilities. Tithen uses pictures to communicate, has routines and uses picture schedules to understand his days.

Growing Up

Home Life

Tithen grew up in a home with 2 brothers. His parents divorced when Tithen was 3 years old, He was brought up by his 'step father' until he was 8 years old at which time his mother became the sole parent.
During the time with his stepfather Tithen was severly abused, Tithen was always getting the worst beatings because he was more difficult to handle. When Tithen was 8, he was beaten so badly the police were called and his stepfather was charged. This didn't make life any easier however, as his mother was also abusing Tithen, and had been since Tithen was born.
Tithen's mother was diagnosed with munchausens by proxy when Tithen was 19, this meant that Tithen was used as a tool by his mother to get attention. Tithen's mother would often put chemicals into Tithens food forcing him to eat it, she also would feed Tithen foods that she was clearly aware Tithen was severly allergic to so that she could take him back to hospital. Whenever someone questioned her about Tithen's illness or came up with a diagnosis she would have them bring in a new doctor or take Tithen to another doctor. This kind of Abuse was easy for Tithen's mother because she is a registered nurse, and because it was always clear that Tithen was severly disabled, with no way to communicate, Tithen was essentially cut off from having any say in what happened to him. Tithen's mother also abused him physically and sexually up until the time he left her care when he was 19 years old.

School

When Tithen was 3 he was taken to pre-school, Tithen stayed with the pre-school for two weeks after which he was kicked out. They didn't know how to cope with him. He was not taken to another pre-school.
At 5 years old, Tithen was taken to primary school, it was evident Tithen was different to the other children. He was put into 'special classes'. The other children never interacted with him, Tithen spent recess and lunchtimes sitting/ alone rocking.
Tithen's 'special classes' were met by placing Tithen in a room alone all day, on occasion a teacher would come and try to interact with Tithen, but on having difficulties with him, she would leave him alone in the room again. As Tithen got older he was often taken to the sick bay. There are memories of being taken to have a constant stream of tests, scans of Tithens head, seeing different doctors all the time and Tithen often weeks spent at home. Never in this time was Tithen being given a real education.
At the age of 8 Tithen was taken to a private hospital for surgery, grommets were put in his ears and his tonsils were taken out. Tithen's tonsils were so swollen and infected that the surgery took longer than expected. Tithen's mother was asked if Tithen was Autistic - Tithen never saw that doctor again.
The next year Tithen's school asked alot of questions, it was assumed that Tithen's behaviour previously was due to being unable to hear, it became clear it wasn't so.
Unable to keep answering the questions, Tithen's mother pulled him out of school, at the same time the whole family moved from a house to a small unit in another town. Being in a more confined space, the whole family sharing one bedroom, Tithen's 'difficult' behaviours became more evident and the abuse Tithen suffered from his mother became worse.
Tithen's mother enrolled him into a private catholic school along with his younger brother. The family again moved house before starting this year of school, this time, Tithen was given his own room.
Again the Catholic school raised questions, but were a lot more inclusive of Tithen in the class. Half way through the year, Tithen was again removed from the school by his mother. The next year Tithen was taken to another school, the structured routine in the class of this new school settled Tithen down somewhat and the school tried to teach Tithen some cooking. However half way through the year, Tithen was changed into different classes and his behaviour became bad again, again he was removed from the school. Why the classes had changed, was not clear.
Somehow the next year, Tithen's mother got Tithen into high school. Tithen spent this year doing nothing at school, often not even arriving to classes and most days being 'disruptive' and taken to the principals office. Despite this the school passed him onto the next grade. Sometime in this next school year Tithen attempted suicide, he was then placed in a psychiatric school for adolescents. Tithen was kicked out of the psychiatric school before the end of the year, their reason for dismissing Tithen was "We can't help you if you don't talk" The next year Tithen ran away from home, this began his life living on the streets.

Street life

This next part of Tithen's life he lived mostly on the streets, many men would take Tithen in and abuse him, often selling him for sex, giving him drugs or making him drunk. Tithen was never able to stop this abuse, being unable to communicate and many took advantage of Tithen because of this. Many females would also take advantage of Tithen and abuse him just as severely. Sometimes the police would find Tithen on the streets, they would take him back home to his mother and Tithen would suffer more abuse there, Tithen would only run away again, and the abuse would continue. Eventually the police gave up taking Tithen home and started placing Tithen in supported housing, where the supported housing got Tithen an allowance through the government to pay for his care. Tithen would run away from these places as well, often getting bullied from the other residents in the homes or the other kids. These other adolescents would take Tithen with them, so they could steal or do other things using Tithen as a tool if they should get caught. One of these times the kids took Tithen all the way to another state and beat him up there, the police brought him back to his mother again from the other state. Eventually Tithen ended up in a country town, and a young man started to use Tithen, he got an apartment and locked Tithen into the apartment and abused him. Being a small town other people helped Tithen get away from this man and again was taken to his mother, that was when Tithen met Nathan.

Life with Nathan

When Tithen met Nathan it changed his life in the greatest way possible. Nathan knew something was wrong with Tithen, but he loved him anyway, that was the beginning of a journey that Tithen could never have dreamt possible before. Nathan showed Tithen kindness, patience and love, things Tithen had never seen before and never understood. Even now, Tithen has trouble understanding these things.
Nathan started things slowly, but when he realised the abuse going on with Tithen's mother, Nathan did all he could to get Tithen away from her and into a safe space, and so Nathan and Tithen ended up living together in a tiny caravan that they named the 'sardine can', it was very small, but they were safe. Soon after Nathan quit his job to look after Tithen, even though Nathan as yet did not know what was wrong, he knew that he couldn't leave Tithen home alone. There were many difficult years with Nathan, but Nathan persisted in finding ways to communicate with Tithen however small they were, he tried to learn as much he could about Tithen through Tithen's family, but soon came to learn that the efforts with them were a waste of time. Tithen and Nathan were after a while offered a house to live in, it was a townhouse with 3 levels of stairs, they moved in there. Sometime in this house Nathan had borrowed books from the local library, Tithen often picking out books himself, and locking himself in his room with them. One day Tithen had borrowed a book about Donna Williams, after reading it, Tithen came out of his room and threw this book at Nathan. It was then that Nathan, after reading the book himself, realised how many similar things Donna Williams had experienced, as did Tithen. This was a giant leap, for Nathan, a small step into Tithens world. Nathan contacted the Autism Association of NSW and they gave Nathan a list of Psychologists to see. Sometime that same year, Tithen was diagnosed with Severe Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Psychologist gave Nathan a computer for Tithen to communicate on, she told him that the best thing Nathan could do would be to let Tithen stay in his room alone, and that Tithen would never be able to have a functioning relationship with him. Nathan refused to believe her, and their world into communicating with each other opened up, because Nathan believed that each day with Tithen is a miracle and that could never be ignored. Nathan since having Tithen's Diagnosis has done everything possible to make Tithen's world a safe and comfortable one. Nathan got Tithen onto a Disability Pension and has been Tithen's full time Carer. Nathan has done everything to bring ways of communication to Tithen and spent all of his money/savings/effort trying to get medical care for Tithen, which sadly, has often failed. Giving up on the health system, Nathan and Tithen do what they can together now. Nathan makes sure Tithen has a good laptop to write on, with picture communication software. Nathan bought Tithen picture cards and a schedule board to make daily life as predictable as possible. Tithen does his best to communicate with Nathan daily, but there are still many difficulties, Tithen does not have basic living skills and understanding of many things in the world. Nathan tries his best to educate people about this, even professionals who should know better, but still finds that society is very ignorant and has no time for those who cannot speak/or are different.

Nathan does all he can to look after Tithen and give him the best life he can give him.

Tithen loves Nathan with all his heart, Tithen is capable of loving Nathan this way, and does know what he wants.

On the 8th of June 2008, Tithen and Nathan will have their ten year anniversary.

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