Autism Look With Your Heart - Thinking Outside The Pot

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Today is Autism Awareness Day, and the entire month of April is Autism Awareness Day. I want to show Autism Awareness because it actually plays a big roll in my life as a mom. My almost 4 year old son Ian was diagnosed with classic Autism right after his 2nd birthday. I love to share our story about having him diagnosed because it was such a blessing and weight taken off our shoulders situation. Here is the full diagnosis story about Ian.

We were going in for a normal 2 year old Well-Child check up just after his 2nd birthday, and the doctor said the word Autism. I immediately started to cry. I knew there was something up, but it was so hard to hear it. When Ian was about 18 months old he completely stopped saying the words he could say, and so I put him in speech. As soon as that doctor told us she thought that our little boy had Autism we looked for help. We searched for doctors that can do an actual diagnosis because we knew that if we had that diagnosis we could get Ian the help he needed. We got an appointment with a Children’s psychologist a couple of hours away from where we lived at the time in Washington. The appointment was like 3-4 months out, so we began to do our research online to find out more about Autism. The internet is a great tool, but it can also worry you as well, and also you begin to diagnose your own child. I was so glad when I got a phone call from the psychologist’s office that someone had canceled their appointment and we could get in that month ( July 2013). We were in the office with the doctor for over an hour , and we filled out tons of paper work before hand. When we walked out with Ian’s diagnosis of Autism both my husband and I cried, but almost like tears of happiness because now we could help Ian more. We could try to understand why he is the way he is. It would help his teachers and therapist in teaching him in the way he needed. I know that it was all answers from my crazy amount of praying for help and comfort to Heavenly Father.

Ian has now been in a ABA ( Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy program for 8 months now, and we have seen so much progress. Ian has been such an amazing blessing to our family. All marriages go through tough times and this was one of our toughest times. It has made our marriage so much stronger. We rely on each other so much, and my husband and I make a great team in this journey with Ian. Our daughter Chloe who is 2, is such a great influence on Ian. She kind of helps him pull out of his little bubble he is in. She loves his so much and is his best friend. Chloe loves Ian for who he is not matter what.

Ian brings so much happiness into our lives and everyone’s lives that he is around. His smile and laugh can light up a room. We don’t know why our Ian boy has autism but we do know that we love him. We do know that he was sent to our family for a reason, and that reason we do not know. We do know that we are here to learn right along with Ian, and to be on this journey of Autism as a family. When you look at a child with autism with your eyes there is so much judgement and unknown seen. If you look with your heart you see a very special child. One who loves life, and wants you to love life with him. So look with your heart not your eyes. You will miss so much looking with your eyes.

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