Every Picture Tells a Story.....

Welcome to my new blog! Here is where I will share some stories and adventures of my 8 year old son Dylan. He is an amazing little boy and there is so much I want to tell about him. In this picture I'm guessing my little guy was around one and a half. Some other autism parents may see something familiar here. We are all enjoying Disney and Dylan is studying the layout of the bricks. His attention to detail was evident at such a young age. Unfortunately, at that time, it seemed to come at the expense of paying attention to the world around him. We knew at 15 months that Dylan was on the autism spectrum, having taken him to Dr. Amy Wetherby's First Words Project in Tallahassee, and Dylan was most likely starting to receive some Speech Therapy and Occupation Therapy at around the time the photo was taken. Those early trips to Disney were especially painful to me, as Dylan seemed oblivious to all the things that so delighted typical children. How scary and uncertain those days were. We had many people trying to prepare us for the possibility of him never being able to speak or draw a line on a piece of paper. I'm happy to report that not only can Dylan verbally express himself but at age 8 he is already an award winning artist. That amazing attention to detail is really paying off!! I hope you will continue to follow this blog as I share some wonderful past and present stories, and talk about what worked for him and what didn't. For the most, part, I will say that Dylan has done things when he is ready, and often that has seemed like magically overnight. What an amazing adventure it has been so far!!!