Gabriel Payton-Erickson was born on June 2, 2009, he weighed 9 lbs 5 oz at 38.5 days of gestation. Gabriel is my 3rd of 5 children. Gabriel was a pretty good baby, even though he woke up every 2 hours to be fed and changed. He started walking at 10 months and reached all of his milestones on time except for a few, holding a bottle, cooing, talking and feeding himself. He liked to play by himself, he didn't like to cuddle. At the age of 2 he was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and at that time his family doctor felt he wasn't showing enough signs to be Autistic. By the end of age 3 his family doctor was convinced he was Autistic. When Gabriel turned 4 I made him an appointment with a local psychiatrist, she told me that he was Autistic, he needed more testing to see what type of Autism he had. Gabriel was recently diagnosed with Asperger's. Even though he has SPD and Asperger's, he also has ADHD. Gabriel has been on different medications, none of which has helped him. His tantrums has decreased with his age. Between ages 1 and 3 he had them all day everyday, now on a good day he has around 4-6. Even though he didn't like to cuddle, he does now, he is the biggest sweetheart ever. Gabriel is extremely smart, he loves to talk to me, loves to play on our Samsung Galaxy Tablet 2, in Preschool he is writing his first and last name, small words like cat, dog. He knows the difference between light colors and dark colors, knows all of his ABC's, numbers, colors, shapes including hexagon and octagon. I have had a lot of struggles, break downs, long and restless nights, but he is worth every bit of it. I will continue to fight for him as long as there is breath in my body. Gabriel is my heart and soul. He's my HERO!!! I think God everyday for being his mother.

Brandi Hall
Ripley, WV