It all started around 6 months old...
Flappy hands and the happiest baby who would giggle from his little toes. Having taught in a school district for 7 years, I was around many little cutie pies with a variety of learning abilities, all so unique. When Nico was 6 months old, I started seeing signs of what we would call today, ASD, Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The doctor kept telling me to give him time, he is young. He was perfect in every way. Some areas he was ahead of the game and some he was behind. He started flapping his hands with excitment, losing eye contact, showed no signs of talking, babbled a lot, super repetitve, only chose objects of blue, showed signs of intelligence beyond his years and more.
At the age of one, I was able to get Nico diagnosed with autism and started speech therapy right away. The ladies were amazing and were in awe at his intellectual growth but stumped on ways that were effective to communicate with him. When he turned three, he was able to attend an Early Intervention classroom in our school district. He was loved by so many. Our biggest struggle was how to communicate in a way he wanted to and what worked best for the school and understanding his comprehension level. We all knew everything Nico wanted by his way of hand over hand. He showed you what he wanted. We tried a Pecs book, speech software on an iPad and a SMART Board.
We are forever grateful for the SMARTBoard. It taught us more about that little boy than one can imagine. He would type hundreds of words in categories of colors, shapes, seasons, months, days, numbers, letters, site words, prefixes, and suffixes and more. But there was never a rhyme or reason to what he was writing. It was not a form of communication in the terms of asking, but it taught us that he comprehends what he is being taught and he could read.
Communication, as we know, is not the only problem that comes along with autism. Nico also delt with sensory issues. As we were getting him into everything, we found he had a love for processes, chemical changes, and movement of liquids. We started doing acrylic paint pours over Christmas balls for fun and it turned into a full-on hobby business that the family does together called Nico’s Art Therapy. We make tumblers, mugs, clocks, coasters, cutting boards, serving trays, shadow boxes and more with paints, inks, powders, and resin. All proceeds go towards his therapy sessions and anything he needs to advance in life. Go check it out on Facebook.
Fast forward to today, Nico is 8 years old. He continues to love his Mickey Mouse clubhouse, Pre-School Prep Videos, and has an obsession with VHS tapes and DVD’s. He likes to read the books that go along with them and research the video’s on You Tube to view all the opening scenes. He is still non-verbal, and his comprehension and eye contact is becoming more meaningful. ABA therapy, an adjusted school day and an in-home person after school to work with him has worked wonders and we are all excited to continue to watch his growth.
Besides Nico living his best life, we failed to discuss the sleepless nights where his brain does not shut down. The limited food choices he consumes. The routines he follows that he does not like to adjust. The fights and fear of doctors. The screaming of frustration because he can’t tell us what he wants or how he feels. I could go on…But for those of you who have a special needs child understand all of this and more. No matter how exhausted we are from trying to find solutions, attending IEP meetings, therapy, adapting to life, friends, social life, etc, it’s all worth it and we wouldn’t change a thing.
Parents of special needs children and those who work with them, have learned patience over time, how to adjust and look at all situations from different perspectives. We don’t assume or judge when we see others acting a little different. We nurture and support one another. We are accepting. Our goal is to spread positivity, encourage people to stop judging others and to look at people and life situations with an open mind and heart. Let’s have the “Don’t Worry, Be Flappy” attitude, smile a more and help give back to special needs classrooms.