Three Years Ago…

Each anniversary date I like to sit back and reflect on our autism/SPD/ADHD journey.

Last year, I wrote an honest post about it. This year, it blew past while I sped back up to Pennsylvania to be with my father. Heck, it’s been a week and I haven’t even posted about it.

I suppose that happens, ya know. As each year goes by, as we celebrate more milestones or despair about regressions, we get caught up in just living it. Life moves on, with or without you, so you better keep grooving.

But now, I’m flipping through the blog (mainly through multiple open tabs) to refresh my memory. Which is the whole point of this blog – for me to document an autism (with its sidekicks) expedition.  Doing reviews and all that stuff is nice – but it’s not what I’m about. Besides, that takes a lot more effort than I can give currently.

Anyway, among B’s many highlights of the past year:

1. Surfing. He did one ride at Surfers Healing. This year, we hope to do two.

2. Adapting to yet another new ECSE and schedule. Over the past year, this teacher (who was AMAZING) worked with him on adaptability, a key hurdle in many autistics.

3. Surviving Chuck E Cheese. Heck, I survived Chuck E Cheese. What a sensory nightmare!

4. His first real concert. He now will sing along (pretty well in fact) to many of Laurie Berkner songs.

5. Getting through seven innings of a baseball game without a major issue. I can say that for both of the kids.

Of course, we have some big things coming up, Kindergarten being one of them. A whole new schedule, new people, new challenges.

The biggest thing is that with DSM-V changes, his diagnosis is also gone. Poof. Vanished. He no longer has PDD-NOS. He is now diagnosed with high-functioning autism. It really doesn’t change anything though – we still get through it each day.

June 2011 – 1 year post diagnosis

June 2012 – 2 Years post diagnosis

June 2013 – 3 Years post diagnosis