Recovery

I entered the world of autism when our son was 4.5 years old and have been there ever since.  Up until a couple of years ago I had no idea that people had made their kids better with medical treatment and I’ve read of many recoveries of kids.  In fact I hear about kids losing their diagnosis almost every day.   That’s not to say that for the one child who is recovered that there is not many more who will not recover.

What I have learned in the past year especially, that autism is not hopeless.  That your child does not need to remain where they are today.  They can get better and move forward.

I think this is a very powerful message for everyone out there. My goal is simple. Get my child feeling better.  In just over a year I have seen changes in my child.  Unlike some people that I hear about, they are not big “wow” moments.  They are small, subtle steady changes.   Unfortunately we don’t get to choose how many things happen and the way in which they happen to each child.  We have to do things sometimes blindly by trial and error and hope for the best.

What I have discovered that if something doesn’t work today that it doesn’t mean that it will never work.  It just may means that the child may not ready yet for that intervention.

I want to share some of the positive things that I have seen since I began my biomedical journey.  I hope this inspires hope to someone (even just one person) today perhaps when you thought there wasn’t any.

Our son is more adaptable in changes to his routine and things like electronics not working properly.  He used to get very upset when something didn’t work and he would sometimes have a meltdown, and even throw something.  Last night YouTube (his favorite) went down for about 10 minutes.  I didn’t know what was going on, so I was trying to problem solve.  I told him I was trying to fix it and he waited patiently.  I told him if I couldn’t get it right away we would go for a drive.  He just waited did something else and then it started to work.  A real change. Huge for us. Truly, in the last year.

Another thing we have noticed is that his attention span is longer and he is calmer and less fidgety.  He can focus on tasks for longer periods of time and when something doesn’t go right, he is able to wait or move onto something else without getting upset.  A huge gain!!!

One last thing I will share is his fine motor (his coloring) has improved 10 fold. In the last few months, he is taking his time with art, choosing colors, taking pride in his work and coloring in the lines!  For the first time in his life!

Some may look at him and not notice any of these changes because they are not big “WOW” moments, but for us the impact they have made is huge.

So my advice to everyone is to keep at it. And don’t look beside you to see what someone else has achieved.  Celebrate your own victory – whatever that is for you!