Ashton was born on April 5th, 2006 and has always been a little different. I knew it even as a newborn. As he grew, his uniqueness began to show more and the rest of my family thought he would grow out of most things. The bigger he got, the more negative and defiant he got... along with more and more ticks and obsessive/strange behavior. The bigger he got... the more I knew I couldn't give him the help I knew he needed. After doing everything we could to help control his behavior, I toiled over sending him to a therapeutic foster teacher. I new something wasn't right.... but autism never crossed my mind. Even after being in therapy at least a year by then. He was a light switch. Sometimes his was loving and sweet, others it was like he was a different child altogether... angry,defiant and no fear or respect for authority
I ended up deciding to send him to his foster teacher with out very much support... and I felt horrible. But I needed someone else to see what I saw everyday. I was able to talk to him plenty and always let him know how much we loved and missed him, but we had to figure out how to help him be a happy child. After a while, my family came around to realize that he really was different. His foster teacher was our life saver. It took a while, but in the end, we finally figured out that Ashton had Aspergers with ODD/ADHD. He is home full time now
Everyday is a struggle, but now we have the knowledge and training to understand and deal with who he is. Now, he is usually much happier and very smart and more creative. Now, we have him in the proper classroom to help him learn better. Even though it is still rough behavior wise, there has been an amazing improvement and we are VERY proud of him and his support system has grown way beyond just our little family. Ashton has been my teacher...
Bowling Green, KY
