I Have a Child With Autism
I have a 5yr old son who has autism . He was diagnosed at 2 but I knew something was different w/him at around 14/15 months. What is a a shocker is that he was very verbal at a year old wouldnt shut up and then at around 14 mos or so he had lost all of his vocabulary and he would start banging his head when he would get mad or frustrated and either grunt or scream when he wanted something and then get very mad all over again when I gave him the wrong thing. So I took him to a developmental pediactric specialist to get evaluated and he diagnosed him with moderate autism so this was something that I thought of that might be but to hear it come from someone else was like my heart bursting into a million pieces along with the million of tears that bursted out of me. I then took the next step which is EARLY INTERVENTION IS THE KEY BEFORE THE AGE OF THREE! I contacted a program for autistic children called First Steps where they send 3 therapist to the home: speech, occupational and physical therapist to work with your child an hour each, each day. After they turn 3 the program ends and then I got to check early childhood center schools for preschool the longest day of my life was the first day of school I didnt miss the temper tantrums but I missed him so much I couldnt wait until 2:00 rolled around so that I could hold him in my arms again and now my child is potty trained, and uses lots of words and some sentences, knows all of his colors, shapes and even sings the alphabet and writes his own name as well as says it. This has been a long frustrating road but if it werent for First Steps and early childhood centers things I know would be alot worse so these kind of steps are a real blessing my autistic child is a true blessing and I thank God for him every day. He turned 5 in Feb and by next Sept he will be a big boy in Kindergarten that is mixed with autistic children like him and regular children. He is doing so well that when I look back at when he was 15mos old and now at the age of 5 it is like looking at a totally different kid and I am so very proud of him! I am definetly a proud parent of an autistic child!!!
