SOMETHING BIG HAPPENED 🧩
It might not be big to you, but for me this moment was 6 years of so much hard work from Brendan and his dream team. When he was diagnosed with autism at 13 months old I set out a goal. The goal was for Brendan to be able to go to a typical school and to just live life like a kid is supposed to do. From the age of 1 to 5 years old his life was anything but typical. He had at home therapy 6 days a week for about 40 hours a week. While other kids had play dates he was working hard to just learn to talk, engage with others and to learn simple skills. The therapy was working and he was making unbelievable progress. He entered kindergarten at a typical school however he had full time therapists(aid) in class with him to make sure he had someone to spend the extra time teaching social skills and to help with things like controlling his emotions.
This year he entered 1st grade at the same typical school with his full time therapists(aid). However the school, his teacher, doctor and team of therapist all decided that he has reached his goal. He no longer need anyone at school with him! HE DID IT! I DID IT! HIS TEAM DID IT! MY FAMILY and FRIENDS DID IT! He told me he feels like such a big boy. I have been a complete emotional wreck since getting a text yesterday from his amazing therapist saying, “just finished my last day with B and he gave me a HUGE HUG while I tried to hold back tears.” That exact moment everything hit me. Every emotion from the feeling of getting his diagnosis to feeling envious of other typical kids, feeling sad on days when autism just got the best of us, to feeling happy when he walked into school for the first time. All happy and sad thoughts just hit me like a ton of bricks. His autism is never going to go away but we made it to a place that so many other kids on the spectrum never get to experience and that is what is making me so emotional.
He will still have his 2 hours of speech therapy and his weekly feeding therapy. Those won't be going away anytime soon. He also recieves physical therapy for his hyper mobility syndrome. Then all his other activities are also therapy for him. His dance, gymnastics, modeling, acting baseball, basketball and soon he is about to start soccer! He is the busiest kid I know!! #autism #autismawareness
It might not be big to you, but for me this moment was 6 years of so much hard work from Brendan and his dream team. When he was diagnosed with autism at 13 months old I set out a goal. The goal was for Brendan to be able to go to a typical school and to just live life like a kid is supposed to do. From the age of 1 to 5 years old his life was anything but typical. He had at home therapy 6 days a week for about 40 hours a week. While other kids had play dates he was working hard to just learn to talk, engage with others and to learn simple skills. The therapy was working and he was making unbelievable progress. He entered kindergarten at a typical school however he had full time therapists(aid) in class with him to make sure he had someone to spend the extra time teaching social skills and to help with things like controlling his emotions.
This year he entered 1st grade at the same typical school with his full time therapists(aid). However the school, his teacher, doctor and team of therapist all decided that he has reached his goal. He no longer need anyone at school with him! HE DID IT! I DID IT! HIS TEAM DID IT! MY FAMILY and FRIENDS DID IT! He told me he feels like such a big boy. I have been a complete emotional wreck since getting a text yesterday from his amazing therapist saying, “just finished my last day with B and he gave me a HUGE HUG while I tried to hold back tears.” That exact moment everything hit me. Every emotion from the feeling of getting his diagnosis to feeling envious of other typical kids, feeling sad on days when autism just got the best of us, to feeling happy when he walked into school for the first time. All happy and sad thoughts just hit me like a ton of bricks. His autism is never going to go away but we made it to a place that so many other kids on the spectrum never get to experience and that is what is making me so emotional.
He will still have his 2 hours of speech therapy and his weekly feeding therapy. Those won't be going away anytime soon. He also recieves physical therapy for his hyper mobility syndrome. Then all his other activities are also therapy for him. His dance, gymnastics, modeling, acting baseball, basketball and soon he is about to start soccer! He is the busiest kid I know!! #autism #autismawareness
