Our son was born in November 2001 and we thought everything was normal with him he seemed to be hitting his milestones on time but we did notice a few things that didn't seem right. He wasn't talking in full sentences when he should of been. He would grunt when he wanted something, or smack me to get my attention. He would sit for hours on end and line up old VHS tapes and he hated loud toys and places. And he already counter to 20 and recognized the numbers by the time he was 2. Just after his second birthday we were stationed to RAF Lakenehath in England and when I picked him up from daycare one day a provider asked if something was wrong with my son because he sat and stared out a window all days and never played with the other children and didn't respond to his own name. I of course was offended that she said that and she said he might have autism and she put in a request for us to take him to Developmental Pediatrics. So a month before his third birthday we took him and they screened him and in the end they said he had Autism. Me and my husbands hearts sank and we were in denial for awhile with the diagnosis and wondered what we could have done different as parents. I researched it like crazy trying to find out everything I could and ways to help him. He was also diagnosed with ADHD a few years later.
Now at almost 12 he has flourished. He speaks full sentences and is independent as he can be. He loves science and already knows his periodic table of elements and say he wants to be a chemist and would like to win the Nobel Peace Prize for Science when he grows up. I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished and he still flourishes to this day and I will keep encouraging him and support him in whatever he does.
Valrico, FL
