I Guess We're Famous Now...

Well, in Jackson at least.

They did a story about Autism in the Citizen Patriot yesterday and used Chase as the "face" to go with the story. I thought the article turned out really good. You can read it here. There's a gallery of pictures from the story here.

It was interesting to meet with the reporter and photographer. They were shocked that Chase was so "normal". Even though I had told them he is very high functioning, they weren't expecting a kid that wanted to show them his toys and guinea pigs.

People not affected just don't get it sometimes. Chase is a poster child for early intervention, but it took a huge toll on our family to give him the help that he needed. All the time off of work added to the tremendous emotional roller coaster. I never thought I'd be able to adjust to living with autism.

A year ago, Chase didn't say Mommy or Daddy. He didn't say "I love you." He couldn't say "I want..." It took us two months of speech therapy to get him to say "I", sign the word "want", and then point or grab what he wanted. But, that whole time, he would hug about anyone. How could he be autistic and hug anyone? Autistic kids don't do that right?

Thinking back now, I can't believe that he's come so far in a year. Compared to other kids his age, he seems "normal" at first, but if you know and you watch closely, you can see that he struggles to communicate with the other children and wants very much to be accepted. He's doing better and better every day.

It's weird to think that he's only about 2-4 months ahead of Cory (who just turned two) in expressive communication, when he's advanced in other areas. He is a smart kid. He can write his name pretty well, he knows his alphabet, he can spell some words like stop, go, Chase, mom, dad, nana, he can count to 30, he can read letters, and he's a mean Jedi with his light saber.

Wow. We are so fortunate that we didn't lose him. And, honestly, we're a closer and more compassionate family for having gone through it.