Evan was born in 2003 when I was only 23. He was an unusual looking baby and after he suffered a seizure after birth, he was sent to NICU. Though tests showed he had suffered a brain hemorrhage, I refused to believe anything was wrong though he refused to breast feed and would cry when held. I would have to prop a bottle up for him since he disliked being held so much. He also had terrible reflux. The few words he was saying disappeared and though he seemed to be on the brink of walking around age 1, he regressed and didn't walk until 17 months. At this point he was very high strung and self injurious. He would continuously bang his head on things and loved to run himself into walls. He was diagnosed with severe autism at 19 months. He spent most of his time spacing out but loved to watch something dangle. He finally began talking at age 4 though it was limited to one word responses to my questions. He also potty trained around the age of 4. Often I had to talk to him in a sing song voice to get him to pay attention to me. He wasn't really capable of conversation until around age 6. Today however he is 8 and is doing really well. He tries to be social and does well with conversation. He has made tremendous progress. He loves video games and swimming. I still have high hopes for him. He is 8 physically but seems to be 5 mentally. I've always kept him as mainstreamed as possible and he plays rec sports just like any kid his age. I'm incredibly proud of him and he has taught me so much about patience and resourcefulness.

Vicki Dixon
Wallace, NC