DETROIT – Rick and Cyndi Jensen have four children with autism and they’re opening up about their personal struggles, hoping it might help someone else.
“We’ve been in survival mode for years,” Cyndi Jensen said. “Each one of them has a very different form of autism. So it’s as different as a fingerprint.”
Teddi is 22, Madicyn is 21, Elli is 16 and Charlie just turned 14 years old.
“The two of us aren’t really a couple. Now, yes, we’re still married. We still live together. But we’re not a couple. All we do, 24 hours a day, is manage these kids and keep them, try to keep them in line,” Rick Jensen said. “Keep them safe. Because they’re a danger to themselves and to each other.
Madicyn, Charlie and Elli are nonverbal.
“They get aggressive because they get very frustrated when we don’t understand what they’re trying to tell us,” Cyndi Jensen said. “So it’s very hard to know what’s going on unless we watch their behaviors.”
This past spring, when Ellie’s behavior got so aggressive, Rick and Cyndi Jensen felt they had nowhere else to turn.
They said she was attacking her siblings and they were afraid of her. They said her meltdowns were lasting hours. The family looked for a hospital to get help.
Eventually Ellie spent more than two months getting treatment in a hospital. The family said it’s a problem made worse because of COVID but they have experienced it before.
“Three and a half years ago I had two of my children sitting in an ER for days waiting for a hospital bed at a mental health facility that could help us with aggression for severe autism,” Cyndi Jensen said. “Charlie, after eight days, was finally admitted to a hospital to get help for some aggression and Madison sat in the ER for three whole weeks waiting for a bed and at the end of three weeks they said, ‘We have no help for you.’”
The family is sharing their story now, hoping to shed light on a system they believe is broken and needs to be reformed.
Click here to view the Jensen’s YouTube channel.
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