Never Give Up (Autism Awareness)

Tomorrow is World Autism Awareness Day, so I figured, what better time to start blogging again?

I was thinking the other day of the story of David and Goliath.  You probably all know the story: one little boy, 5 stones, and a giant.  Though it seemed impossible, the giant was defeated for the glory of God.

In our house, Autism is the Giant we face each and every day.  We take our meager "weapons" - our love, therapies, and as much patience as we can muster- and we ask God to bless us in our battles.  We ask Him to lead the way, to help us find therapists and educators that can truly connect with Jackson and help him to learn, and we ask Him to heal our son.

If I have learned anything from this battle so far, it is to never give up.  God is continuously working, even when we can't see it.  Even when the information doesn't seem to be sinking in, it is. Even when we feel like what we are doing is pointless, we keep trying.

For about 8 months, we worked with Jackson on signing.  He worked on it at school, in therapy, and at home but he only knew 2 signs- more and please.  The rest just did not seem to sink in.  Then, just a few weeks ago, my grandmother was in town and she was feeding him some peanut butter crackers. I don't know if a light bulb just turned on in his little head or if he was just trying to show off for her, but out of no where he started signing "cracker." Then a few minutes later (after seeing how much praise he was getting), he signed "banana" and "dog."  It has been maybe 6 weeks since then and he knows about 30 signs now, and he's learning more and more every day.  He is even making up little signs for things he likes, like a signal for us to tickle him and one for us to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  Since he still isn't speaking, this is a HUGE blessing for us.  

I've learned to appreciate the small things. When we were spending day after day listening to teachers, therapists, etc. describe his deficiencies (during his evaluations), it was heartbreaking and devastating. It made us wonder if he would ever catch up.  But now we know that every new sign is a victory and every new skill is a small miracle. And trust me, we treat them that way.

Jackson has improved so much over the last year.  I have plenty more to share with you, but I will spread it out over a few days.  I'm finally back!