Happy Anniversary

4 years.....

Clearly on the spectrum.....

Severe Autism.....

Respite Question....yes or no.....

IEPs, CAPP, PEP, MPAC......

ADHD, POTS, Anxiety.......

Learning Center, Home School Model, Mainstream.....

Medication Question....yes or no......

Yup.....4 years ago today, on March 12, 2009, we realized that the world we were living in was "The Autism World" when a doctor announced to me like it was a given that both of my 26 month old twins were "clearly on the spectrum".  I don't know if she realized that she was the first person who told us this, or anything even close to it.  I don't know if she realized the bomb that she had just dropped on my head.

At that point we had already contacted our local Early Intervention organization (MCITP) and were scheduled for an evaluation for services.  I had mentioned that an Autism work-up would probably be the way to go, but I asked for help with language development.  I was blind (well, mostly blind) to all of the other things that were going on.

We changed schools when they turned 3 and went through that transition.  I struggled to come to terms with separating them on their 3rd birthday when I had planned on keeping them together through kindergarten (a dream I had for the two of them).  I even had someone tell me that they would never enter an academic college bound track given their preschool placements.

Just this last year we had a transition to kindergarten.  The year started with difficulties getting Ballerina adjusted to a one-on-one special education classroom to a mainstream classroom with 16 other classmates.  Additionally, she had her typical summer regression which made it difficult to determine whether her placement is appropriate or if she just needed more time.  For Music Man, for the first time I really started noticing how many problems he was having.  I'm not sure if I was simply blind to them before or if things have been getting steadily worse.

Now they are both medicated.  We have seen a great improvement with Ballerina as most of her issues have been focused-based.  And she is making friends.  She has extra curricular activities in dance, gymnastics and girl scouts.  She's going to birthday parties and enjoying her kindergarten year.  Music Man, well, we just started.  Time will tell.  But he's wising up to the fact that something is hidden in that applesauce and he's starting to balk at eating it.

Who knows what the next year holds?  It's been a HUGE roller coaster.....and not the one I was planning on riding.  But sometimes things happen and you have to roll with it.

I think I have 3 AMAZING kiddos.  2 of them are "Clearly on the Spectrum".  That's the way it is.  And we've reached the point where we can't imagine it any other way.

My kids don't need "fixing".  They just need to figure out where they fit and how to make that twists and turns so that the piece will fit into the whole.

(small side note.....this is also post #300 on this blog)