My son was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 1/2 years old. He was literally climbing the walls and furniture as soon as he could walk. By the time he was 4, he had his head stapled shut twice. One day my husband found my son hanging by his hands from the upstairs railing over an 8 ft drop so he boarded off the upstairs for almost a year!
We were at the end of our wits (btw our girls were 5 and 7 at the time.) The worst part for me was that this beautiful child couldn't speak. He couldn't even tell me what was going on in that wild and crazy head of his. We didnt' know what to do for him, how to reach him. We couldn't take our eyes off of him for a minute w/o some crisis happening. We felt like failures as parents.
But then we got him into early intensive pre-k. Not long after, we found out he was having these night time seizures... once we started treating those, many of the more dangerous behaviors stopped and he started to learn to speak. By the age of 5, he was potty trained and starting to use language for something more than telling me he wanted juice.
Now he is 8 years old, and its so amazing. He has these great teachers, and he's learning to read, write and do math. He has some quirks - he's very set in his ways and he still has a bit of a temper, but he's got a great sense of humor. It has taken a lot of work, but my son has come out of his shell. When he was two, I had no hope for his future, but now? There are so many possibilities....
Jefferson, OR
