Autism Awareness

April is Autism Awareness Month. When your child is diagnosed with autism it is a very hard thing to deal with. A lot of people told me that Jaylin would "grow out of it" and really you hope that this would happen. I remember it as if it was yesterday. Jaylin was 4 years old, I was about to graduate high school, and I just looked at him and thought "this is not going away but he is such an amazing kid that we are going to keep working to make things better for him". So from then on, that's what we have been doing and I have to say it just keeps getting better and better. I look at him and have such love and pride at the accomplishments he has made. I'm so proud of the man he is becoming.

We have had quite the journey. I feel like I don't regret anything that has happened because it has gotten us to where we are today. I just wish that we would have found the techniques that have worked for him sooner.

There are definitely days where I really hate autism but the good days out weigh the bad days. Autism has given my family a lot. I have found a passion for helping people that can really benefit from my help and insight. We have met so many amazing people that we may not have met otherwise. We are lucky to have all the people that have helped Jaylin now and in the years past. For the past 5 years, Jaylin has had an amazing, loving, supportive team of teachers that with my help have gotten him to where he is today. I'm so proud of him and can't wait to see where he is next year at this time.