This page is dedicated to my son, Christopher and all the progress he has made since he was first dx'd with Autism. Chris
is now 9 years old. Looking back now, ever since he was an infant, he showed subtile signs of Autism. As he got older, the
signs became more defined and profound. This site is for all to meet one neat little boy, and give ways to find support
to other families living each day with a child within the Spectrum.
Chris was born in May of 1999. By all accounts, he was my perfect child. I was just
two months shy of turning 36 when he was born. One thing I noticed, was he never slept at night no matter what I did. To this
day, he still has a severe sleep issue. Once Chris started talking at age 4.5, soon after he would tell us about his dreams.
None of them were ever good dreams. I once asked Chris what is the best color for a dream, and he answered black. When he
was a baby, he loved to be burped very hard and this also comforted him. He over reacted to lights and sounds about him, but
that was the only time he reacted. Other than then, Chris rarely cried. Everyone called him the lucky go boy. As he became
older, in daycare centers, being around the older kids made him cry. When Chris went to table foods, we discovered he choked
and gagged alot. Chris has a dx'd hyper gag reflex and reflux, the result is Chris throws up alot. He didn't learn to
walk until he was 15 months old. He didn't learn to run until he was 3 years old, and I thought he was just clumsy. He ran
into everything, fell all the time and tried to fall off the slide on purpose. Chris is a pressure seeker, and those behaviors
were part of that, making near heart attacks for me on many occasions. He didn't learn to drink from a cup or use a spoon
for a very long time. The main thing that was noticed about him was his lack of words and his behavior, and not playing with
other children. He would rather play by himself than have even us play with him. Everytime I came to get him from daycare,
he was always in the same spot, all by himself. When Chris was old enough to sit up in a cart, he'd scream to high heaven
and I never knew why. I never could take him into stores without him screaming. Thank god I learned what Sensory Disorders
were! When Chris was two and a half, his Peds doc didn't say the 6 letter word right away, but first suggested to have his
hearing tested. When the results came back normal, she then said Autism and handed me a card. The card was for Early Intervention.
Little did I know there was so much more to learn about this Autism!
I read all I could, searched web sites till way past midnight. There just wasn't enough
info there for me to read and I felt horribly alone with this child. No matter how much I read, that info didn't relate to
anyone I knew or ever knew. Then, I searched out online Groups. My first being on AOL and for a time was very active and provided
me with something no reading ever gave me: relating our life with autism to another human being. That is a most valuable tool,
to know there are other parents out there with a child like yours, going through the same melt downs, same sensory issues,
same developmental delays as your own child is going through. I sit on line now, to share what others shared to me, and to
give back to all who is out there hope that Autism is not fatal, it's just another world we have never seen before. It is
a struggle our children live with, and we as parents desperately try to co-exist with them. There is alot to learn out there!
But the smile of a child makes this exsistance great no matter what the dx is!
