Voices of Autism: Your Stories, Starting Tomorrow
April is Autism Awareness month, and to help raise awareness, we asked you, our readers, to share your personal stories of raising children who have autism. We are grateful that dozens of you responded to our call, and submissions continue to stream in. Starting tomorrow, April 1, we will feature a different story every day on this blog.
Check back every morning to read that day’s feature, or send us yours by emailing it to FacebookSupport@meredith.com. Please include the following information:
- Your name
- Child’s name
- Your family’s story (Please keep stories under 500 words so we can include more voices on the blog)
- Photo of your family/child (Optional. We will include one photo if you’d like.)
- Link to your personal website/blog (Optional)
Individually and collectively, these stories paint a powerful and moving picture of the challenges and frustrations the disorder brings with it–as well as the triumphs and accomplishments of children navigating a difficult world. We thank everyone for your submissions.
Photo credit: autismspeaks.org
Categories: Health & Safety, Your Child | Tags: autism, autism awareness month, Voices of Autism
1 Comment
by Sheryl Ludwig
On April 4, 2011 at 11:40 am
We thought it was just a speech delay, just like Bennett’s older twin brothers had experienced. But we found out that this was different. I was in a meeting to set up his special preschool for him when he had just turned 3 years old when a school psychologist had suggested that we see a specialist and make sure that it was only a speech delay. Our family doctor sent us to a pediatric neurologist who set us up with an MRE, a brain wave test and more. We went to developmental clinic, who weren’t able to make a diagnosis because “he was so developmentally behind.” That was a shock, having 4 other children and an education degree, so I should be the first to realize that he was not reaching his milestones. During this, my mom told me, “Sheryl, we always knew Bennett was special, now we are just going to find out how special he is.” One year later we got the autism diagnosis, which was a heartbreaker. But thanks to his early detection and some wonderful teachers, aides and programs, he has done well. We have been trying to explain to him that he has autism, but now age 9, but he doesn’t believe us. And that is fine. As long as he knows he is Ben, and that he is special, that’s fine with me. And Ben.