"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, November 15, 2011

One More Step Towards Independence

It's been a long time coming, but I finally took steps towards having Brycen ride the bus home from school (special needs bus).  Today was the first day...and he LOVED it!  He will only be riding home two afternoons per week as I pick him up early the other three days for therapy appointments.  I'm not having him ride in the morning either as I have to take Aubree to preschool Mon-Thurs anyway...and he has therapy on Friday mornings first before taking him to school late.  I think two times per week is a great step in the right direction.  Not only for him getting this experience being independent from Mom and for keeping up his enjoyment of the bus after the last couple years, but also it's baby steps for me to realize he is growing up and I need to be more confident in his abilities away from me. 

Here comes the bus!!  Mommy was so nervous.

Seeing him come off the bus and reach out for me was one of the best feelings in the world!  It was another time where I just saw a little boy coming home from school...not a little boy who is battling so much in this world.  Since I wasn't sure how he had done yet, I did not attempt a picture of him getting off the bus today.  He followed me up the driveway babbling with his own little noises, smiling the whole time.  He continues to do the "thumbs up" every time I mention the bus to him and how great he did.  I think he's reiterating that we made the right choice:)

He was babbling away as if he was telling me a story about the bus.
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

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.