I cannot believe that we are 9 days away from 2010! Everybody always said once you have children, the years just fly by and that is so true for 2009.
2009 started with a lot of questions and worries...and is ending with a lot of answers, yet still many worries!
We made many good decisions over the last year that has allowed our financial stress to be eased tremendously! We moved to a cheaper apartment, paid off our Explorer, and I started with a job that pays well and allows me to work from home which saves on babysitters!
Even though we worked hard at easing our financial stress, our worries about Brycen's health and well being increased as the year went on. The year started with him regressing faster than we could keep up with...and is ending with a slow turn towards progress. I keep comparing his progress to losing weight...if you lose the weight too fast, you take the chance of it creeping back slowly. I am afraid if he starts to progress so fast, that we will take it for granted and expect it to continue and then he may "lose" it...and when you have a child with autism, you always take the chance of the regression starting again. It's one of those disorders that is "two steps forward, one step back."
We are very grateful to have been able to receive the answers about what was happening to him this year, though we may never know why it has happened. Many questions still hang over our heads...but that is ok, because it keeps us on our toes and keeps us fresh in our research and willingness to get involved with great organizations that are looking for those answers. Mike and I are not going to sit back and let Brycen's life pass before us like this...we are going to stand up for him and others affected by Autism...we are going to attend support groups to help ourselves and others...we are going to give what we can financially to those organizations who support us and our son...and we are going to continue educating those in Brycen's life so that he is included in everything he can handle!
We are looking forward to 2010 being a year of more answers and more progress!
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
Helen Keller
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Autism and Our Family
"Autism"----It's one word that can change the life of a child and family in so many ways. Autism Spectrum Disorders are being diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 68 children currently. If you do not already know someone that has been diagnosed, the statistics say it won't be long before you do.
Our son developed typically until around the time he turned 2 years old. We heard words...we saw him play with other kids...we watched as he played with his toys appropriately...we made eye contact with him...overall we understood his wants and needs. In a matter of a few months, that was all taken away from him. He began lining up toys, lost all of his words and signs except for one word "ball", ignored other kids, could not sleep through the night, lost eye contact and the ability to follow directions, and he had no way of letting us know what he wanted or how he felt. It was heartbreaking to see something happening to our child that we couldn't stop!
Brycen began receiving home therapy 1-2 times per month for about 6 months before we realized it wasn't just developmental delays. We knew it was Autism...we just didn't want to say it outloud to anyone. He was officially diagnosed with Autism (classic form and regressive), as well as Mental Retardation in August 2009 by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
We continue to learn as we make our way through this journey with Brycen and we will continue to share this journey with you on this blog! The blog has been a great therapy for us to be able to vent our frustrations and struggles with accepting that we have a child with special needs, while sharing how blessed we are to have a child teach us what life truly means. It has also been a great way to inform others of his progress and changes over the last couple of years.
Thank you for your support of Brycen and our family! We hope you are able to learn something through this blog no matter if you are a parent of a child with special needs or a neurotypical child, a teacher or therapist, a family member, or just someone that is interested in the journey that a family goes on as they learn their child is battling a life-long disorder.
Our son developed typically until around the time he turned 2 years old. We heard words...we saw him play with other kids...we watched as he played with his toys appropriately...we made eye contact with him...overall we understood his wants and needs. In a matter of a few months, that was all taken away from him. He began lining up toys, lost all of his words and signs except for one word "ball", ignored other kids, could not sleep through the night, lost eye contact and the ability to follow directions, and he had no way of letting us know what he wanted or how he felt. It was heartbreaking to see something happening to our child that we couldn't stop!
Brycen began receiving home therapy 1-2 times per month for about 6 months before we realized it wasn't just developmental delays. We knew it was Autism...we just didn't want to say it outloud to anyone. He was officially diagnosed with Autism (classic form and regressive), as well as Mental Retardation in August 2009 by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
We continue to learn as we make our way through this journey with Brycen and we will continue to share this journey with you on this blog! The blog has been a great therapy for us to be able to vent our frustrations and struggles with accepting that we have a child with special needs, while sharing how blessed we are to have a child teach us what life truly means. It has also been a great way to inform others of his progress and changes over the last couple of years.
Thank you for your support of Brycen and our family! We hope you are able to learn something through this blog no matter if you are a parent of a child with special needs or a neurotypical child, a teacher or therapist, a family member, or just someone that is interested in the journey that a family goes on as they learn their child is battling a life-long disorder.
No comments:
Post a Comment