"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

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Light It Up Blue: April 2012


April is Autism Awareness month and we will be participating in our second year of "Light It Up Blue" to spread Autism awareness and support all of those (including Brycen!) in their daily fight against Autism. 

There are many ways you can show your support...from purchasing a blue light bulb and putting it your porch light and turning it on beginning April 1 OR you could just wear blue on April 2 for World Autism Awareness Day.  A few dollars...or something you already own in your closet...your choice!!  Better yet, keep your light on the entire month of April like we will!  Yes it will cost you a few more dollars in electricity...but what is a few dollars when you are talking about support for someone who is faced with challenges day in and day out for the rest of their life?!

We would love to see all of our family and friends show their support!  We would also appreciate if you could email me any pictures of you showing support with "Light It Up Blue" by either emailing them to me @ melissatimmer@yahoo.com or tagging me in them on Facebook.

Thanks for all you do for Brycen and us all year long!
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.