"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, February 7, 2010

A great night out with Brycen!


Brycen went to his first hockey game last night...and he loved it! We always hesitate to take him any place where there is a lot of people, noise, and where we don't always have an escape route for obvious reasons, but he amazed us last night with how he tolerated all the people and noise and really seemed to enjoy himself. He loves action, and though it was probably one of the worst hockey games I have ever been to, it still involved enough action to keep him happy. The only drawback was when the Muskies mascot came around to greet people...Brycen tried his hardest to curl up into a ball on his seat to escape him, but then it was back to the game once the mascot walked away! He clapped, he responded to his name, he waited in line to the best of his ability, and he said "hi" and "bye" to people when just a month ago he would have just yelled at them! Yay for Brycen and for adding another achievement to the growing list!

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  1. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2010 at 2:22 PM

    So happy that life got to feel a little normal for you all! Thinking of ya!! :)
    Angie

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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.