A Reflection on Autism
Over the past few months I have been reflecting on just how far James has progressed. Nine years ago today, on June 14, 2010, James was approved to start receiving weekly speech therapy and developmental therapy for 60 minutes each. At that point, I had no idea where life would take us or him. The following January 21, we were officially told he has autism. Some people enter a period of grieving when they receive this diagnosis. Others, like me, appreciate getting the official diagnosis as it opens the door to more services.
Prior to receiving services, James struggled with trying to let us know what it was he wanted. One of his older sisters was home visiting from college, where she was majoring in elementary / early childhood education and was taking abnormal child psych (I believe that was the course) and after observing her brother, calmly said "Mom, you really need to get him checked. His behaviors are not normal." Two and a half hour temper-tantrums and tearing things off shelves was normal. Nothing would calm him down. I spoke to a cousin whose son had been diagnosed with autism at 3 yrs 2 months. She pushed me to get him early intervention services. His doctor at the time, told me he was too cuddly and affectionate to have autism and that she would not give us a referral to a developmental pediatrician. I was not about to take this lightly and figured out how to circumvent the system and get him evaluated by the county's early intervention services. On May 24th, he was determined to be 1 - 2 standard deviations behind in all six of the categories for which he was evaluated. We knew something was off, but no one could say exactly what, yet. After a few months of developmental and speech therapies, physical therapies and occupational therapies were added for additional weekly sessions of 60 minutes each. James was not even two yet and was receiving four hours of therapies every week.
Two weeks after receiving his official diagnosis we were moving about 1000 miles to upstate New York, back to my hometown, and back to where I knew services would be better for him. The county's early intervention intake coordinator was completing paperwork as we were moving in, and in under ten days he was starting in a classroom setting in a local special needs preschool. At four and a half, he uttered his first unprompted phrase "Ha St. Pat's Day"
Fast forward to now, he is 10 1/2 years old. Most of the time, he can verbally tell us what he wants and what he doesn't, if he can;t, he let's his wishes be known in other ways. There are triggers that will set him off such as rain or anyone saying "Sh!" But, his successes far outweigh the negatives at this point. Just this past week, he has been able to participate in and enjoyed playing in a special needs baseball program, learning track and field with his neurotypical peers, and horse riding lessons. In school, he was able to go on a class trip to Cooperstown and visit the Farmer's Museum and the Fenimore Museum. He successfully participated in all activities with his fourth grade classmates, roughly 65 of them. In addition, he completed reading the thirty books required for the year and his third oral book report of the year with a score in the 90s, but even more important than the score were the comments from his teacher - he answered questions that had not been practiced and was able to maintain eye contact with no prompting.
I have no idea what the future will hold for him. Will he ever be able to live independently or not? Who knows. But for now, I count and celebrate his successes one day at a time. He is making friends and progressing socially, academically, and with his life skills. There are stumbling blocks, but as we wrap up the school year and look ahead to fifth grade we also look at all the possibilities and mountains he can climb and the barricades he can pass through!
