Although several of my friends know the real names of our children, for now I will just refer to them by their nicknames to protect their identity since I'm not certain as to how many "strangers" may read this and decide to follow the blog. I hope you all understand --- I'm just a tad bit OCD when it comes to being a protective parent. Also for those who may not realize it....this blog is about AUTISM and our journey with it, thus if you found this blog through some link and thought it was about something else, guess what it's not....so please feel free to move on. Anyhow, with that said, on to part 2 of the journey.....
Enrolling our son at LTC was by far the best thing we could have done! The staff are so well trained, experienced, supportive, & compassionate....I can not express just how much their support meant to me. At the time, I felt like my entire world had been turned upside down.....like I had just fallen off of a cliff and LTC became the "safety net" that caught me before I crashed into the jagged rocks of despair below. After going through the anger, guilt, depression, etc phases (I moved through them all rather quickly) -- I became determined to do all that I could to help our son. The only problem -- where to start? The staff at LTC helped to point me in the right direction -- sort of like handing someone a map and saying "ok, start here".
I jumped into this full force.....I was a mom on a mission, and nothing would stop me. I read everything I could get my hands on, contacted several "experts" and "professionals" -- you name it, I did it. We converted the den into an "at-home" classroom, I made PEC's cards, social stories, schedules, etc and even taught myself sign language. After a long conversation with one staff member at LTC, I realized that the best way to help our son was to "think outside of the box" -- figure out what type of things he was interested in, and use that to help him. I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging or saying "hey look what I did" -- I honestly feel like I could have done more if there were extra hours in each day.....and feel like I only did what I'm suppose to do as a mom. It's difficult for me to actually talk about the things I've done -- I feel a bit embarrassed and very humble. As I've told people in the past who've given me compliments and praise...."I'm a mom, it's my job to do these things." I'd rather have the spotlight shine on our son and all that he's accomplished rather than myself.
The first year was definitely a challenge...."Taz" has a stubborn streak a mile long and because of the medication he was on at the time (I'll rant about medication later), he would have numerous meltdowns each day.....some were worse than others. He went through what we now call the "poop Picasso" phase....digging treasures out of his diaper and painting the walls, toys, etc with it (yeah, it was pretty gross -- thankfully we don't have to deal with that issue any longer!). He has super sensitive hearing, and a heightened sense of smell....which led to the development of a horrible gag reflex & becoming an extremely picky eater. Remember that movie where the lady did projectile green vomit? Well "Taz" mastered that skill as well.....I swear, the first few years I cleaned up more bodily fluids than most seasoned Hazmat teams! I had to be extremely careful when taking Taz with me to the grocery store....I would basically sprint through the aisles, throwing items into the shopping cart as quickly as possible before some random scent could trigger the gag reflex.....resulting in hearing "clean up in aisle 3" over the loud speaker.
Anyhow, his teacher and classroom aides at LTC were wonderful.....they worked with him daily and by the end of the first year, he had regained some verbal skills. The second year at LTC led to even more improvement and mini milestones being reached. He was a HUGE fan of Nascar....he would stand in front of the TV and screech and clap while watching the races each Sunday. He had a few toy cars and would line them up and move them around in a circle like the cars on the race track. When I mentioned this "fixation" he had, his teacher suggested it was time to "think outside of the box" -- and that we use this as a teaching tool. So, after a little creativity on our parts, our son was able to re-learn his colors, numbers, etc via Nascar.
As his verbal skills re-developed, his fascination with Nascar grew. He knew the team owner's names, the sponsors on each car, and if the vehicle was a Chevy, Ford, or Dodge. He would stand in front of the TV and "cheer" for his favorite drivers.....#88 UPS Dale Jarrett (in his vocab it sounded more like "dawl jarro") and the legend -- #3 Dale Earnhardt the Intimidator (translation in Taz's vocab was "dawl eenhad da intadator"). Although he was able to say Nascar words....he hadn't regained the ability to say "mommy". Yes, in some ways I was jealous of the Nascar drivers....I laugh now thinking about it -- but at the time it was like a knife through my heart. I would say "Yes Taz, that's Dale -- now say MOMMY....say M-O-M-M-Y" to which he'd respond with a giggle and run off to play with his cars or some other toy.
Slowly the words came back to him.....ball, cup, his beloved Nascar, etc -- yet he still couldn't master "mommy". Towards the end of his second year at LTC, he put together his first sentence. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were standing outside waiting for the bus to arrive one morning, and as it approached he gave me his version of a hug and said "by mommy, I ride cool bus now". The tears were streaming down my face as the bus pulled up.....the driver opened the door and gave me a quizzical look....I smiled and nodded the best that I could to let her know things were ok. I waved to my son as the bus drove away, then fell to my knees at the end of the driveway and just began to sob. He finally said "mommy"!!!
Apparently I sat there crying for at least 10 minutes....because my husband walked out and asked what was wrong. I told him, and tears started to form in his eyes as he said "ok, come into the house and cry -- the neighbors are starting to stare out the window at you." I didn't care -- let them gawk, let them wonder if I had lost my mind -- our little boy had just given me the best gift in the world! It had been over two years since he uttered the word "mommy".....and not only had he said it, but he also re-said his first real sentence! After we got into the house, I quickly sent an email to his teacher to share the good news!
No comments:
Post a Comment