It's a Blue Day

Today is Autism Awareness Day.

The day is recognized as a way to bring understanding to the community at large

about this most prevalent disorder.

We are going on our 11th year of living with it,

as C wasn't really diagnosed with Asperger's until he was about 5.

He hasn't been raised the way my folks raised me,

because

 typical solutions don't work when your child is not typical.

We've had to figure out what will work with each and every scenario,

and it's been a lesson in creativity for all of us.

He's improved in so many ways.

He still has sensitive hearing, 

but now he can sit in the same room when I vacuum without his headphones on.

He still talks too loud a lot of the time,

but a gentle reminder now helps him regulate his voice.

He sometimes has irrational fears (who doesn't),

but it is now easier to reason these things out.

His obsession passion has gone from construction equipment

to Legos to film editing,

but each venue has given him knowledge, pleasure, and a continuity in his learning.

Since we homeschool, he is able to explore these fields fully and without interruption.

The area in which he's made tremendous progress is in social skills.

This particular skill set has been quite challenging,

and we've learned to become very creative in our learning.

Thanks to a gifted play therapist, a lot of practice and patience, and just plain maturity,

he is more empathic than many typical teenagers.

He is more able now to let his heart shine through

when things go wrong.

My intent is not to simply brag about how great my kid is,

(although he really melts my heart),

but to bring an awareness to others,

that some of us have had to struggle tooth and nail

to get to where we are today.

It hasn't been easy,

but it's been the only journey we know.

Please wear blue today,

to honor all of those living with autism.

If you can, put a blue light bulb in your outside light fixture

for the month of April.

We are all in this together.

Blessings be...

Autism Awareness 2011 

Autism Awareness 2012 

Autism Awareness 2013 

Autism Awareness 2014 

Autism Awareness 2015