Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness Month. In keeping with that, the next few blogs will be the tale of our journey with autism. These were originally posted in April 2008. If I need to edit anything, or add a comment, I'll try to remember to change the font color on it. No promises. I'm an old person. I forget.

Daniel was diagnosed in April. What a coincidence. Boy, WE sure became "aware", huh? I was thinking last night and this morning about the days leading up to - and ultimately receiving - his diagnosis. I thought I’d use this blog to write about it some this month. You know, a few years ago, I kept a really detailed diary - of our journey, of his progress, of little victories. Somewhere along the way, I stopped journaling it all down. I’m sad that I let life get in the way of doing that. I wonder what amazing things I’ve forgotten?

Right around the time Daniel was diagnosed - I can’t remember if it was right before or right after, my little cousin Kaitie drew a picture for me at school (I think?). It’s a picture of the sky, the sun, the grass, a flower, a small dark rain cloud and over to one side is a heart with an arrow through it....and the words "Journey of a Lifetime". I remember being amazed that she’d written those words because I’d already begun to think of autism in just those terms. Kaitie was, what? 9 at the time? I still have that picture.

Anyway, if you’re reading my BLAHg, (and if you’re interested...) check back. I’ll be typing out our journey, I think. And if you’re NOT interested...well, it’s all good if "our" journey doesn’t interest you. Just please don’t be uninterested in the epidemic of autism. Don’t be unaware. And certainly don’t be uncaring. There are too many people affected by it for it not to affect you in some way - if even a small one.

So, here we go..
The first (well, technically second) in my BLAHgged series about our journey. I’m just typing out stuff that I’ve previously written down. Once upon a time, someone (several someones) suggested I write a book about our journey...I considered it, prayed about it, looked at all the books that are out there on the topic, and still just don’t know that our journey is any different than countless others - only the names have changed - LOL. Still, I wrote some things down in an effort to see if it was even something I WANTED to do...so, for now, I’ll just share it with you. If God leads, someday maybe I’ll share it with the world. Or maybe not.

Speaking of the world - today is International Autism Awareness Day! Be aware! (World Autism Awareness Day is scheduled for 2 April 2009 this year.)

Here goes:

I watched as she played with Daniel, my baby. She tried to engage him, to seek out his gaze, to play with him. I watched as she clowned with him, trying anything to evoke a response typical of an almost 5 year old child. Then, I watched as she scribbled notes on the clipboard that was never far from her hand. Several times, her glance met my eyes, and I knew she was weighing my emotions; pre-forming the words she’d have to say to tell me what her opinion of my son would be.

Minutes later, we sat across from her, Joel and I. This soft-spoken woman with the equally soft name, Sonya, read the list of criteria that fit Daniel’s idiosyncrasies. She leaned toward us, lowering her voice as if to soften the blow her words would surely bring, and delivered the words I already expected, "It is my opinion that Daniel meets the educational criteria for Autism."
Autism. Daniel has Autism. I knew it. I’d known it for months. I leaned back in my chair watching her as she watched me. I think she expected me to cry, to scream, to deny what she’d just handed me. But, I just sat there looking at her. I heard Joel’s quiet sob and knew he was trying to hold himself together. I patted his knee. Turning toward Sonya, I said the words that officially began the journey we’d unofficially entered two years before, "So, what now?"