Awareness Month

April is the National Autism Awareness Month. I want to do my part to raise awareness (to the two people who read this -- ha!) Autism affects one in every 110 children and one in every 70 boys. There are quite a few red flags that indicate a child has autism so I'll just share what we noticed with Ryan. He didn't have words by 16 months, didn't have two-word phrases by 24 months, and has had a loss of language skills after his third birthday.

Just like breast cancer awareness has a pink ribbon, autism awareness is a ribbon comprised of puzzle pieces. It makes perfect sense -- the way their minds work is a puzzle really. We talk to Ryan all the time and he doesn't respond, but every once in a while he'll say something so clearly and perfectly that it shocks me. The times we hear him babble to himself it sounds so garbled that I tend to think that he isn't capable of pronouncing the sounds. (Like another one of my kiddos, who substitutes a 'w' sound for the 'r'.) So it seems to me like the right words are in there somewhere. With time I hope and pray we can get them out.

A friend asked today about adults with autism, because you don't hear about that much. I agree, and think that the main reason is because even though autism doesn't go away early intervention can help greatly. When a child is worked with consistently he can learn the right behaviours and even appear to be a typical child. Seeing older kids who have overcome so many obstacles in their development gives me so much hope! Someday . . .