"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

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Imaginative Play

As most of you know, Brycen has major deficits in "imaginative play" just like the majority of children on the spectrum. The way he plays with toys is very methodical and stimulating to him and we have to be constantly teaching him to play appropriately with them. In addition to that, he does not have the skills to know how to play pretend, so when Aubree wants to play with her kitchen stuff and hands him a cup to pretend to drink...Brycen just throws that cup across the room. Same thing with baby dolls, dress up, stuffed animals, etc. He prefers to just line all of them up (see picture below) and stare at them with his head on the floor to ensure they are lined up according to his standards. Building with blocks is either building up or in a line...he doesn't understand that he could build a house or other object with them.

Recently, the teacher did share with me that he has frequently been picking up a play phone at school and saying something similar to "hello?" in imitation of the other kids. At home, he has also done this a couple times. A little progress!

So, you can imagine my surprise and joy when I walked towards the living room this morning and found him like this...
Yes, that is Brycen (sorry about the dark and blurry picture, but I only had moments to get this snapped without him noticing!) feeding one of Aubree's baby dolls! No prompts, nobody to imitate in the room....just Brycen all by himself holding a baby in one hand and a bottle in the other. AMAZING! Of course the moment was very short-lived and when I asked him about it a couple minutes later, he chose to pick up the baby and fling it across the room.

What a great glimpse into those little things he is slowly storing away in his brain but we just don't get to see that often!
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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.