“When enough people care about autism or diabetes or global warming, it helps everyone, even if only a tiny fraction actively participate.”
-Seth Godin
Our Autism Journey
This is our Story, our Autism Journey in the House Of Troy…
We, as parents of an almost 9-year-old with non-verbal high functioning Autism that has walked an albeit relatively short road compared to others and will no doubt expand as the years go on, pray that the information we have gathered can, in a manner, offer deeper insights and explanations that may just shed a light on some of the burning questions you have and what to do regarding your journey with autism.
We trust that our information and other facts will assist you with how much one needs to sieve through, all the endless information, theories and articles related to the many areas of Autism. Yet as much as we have researched the information contained within our website, we would also like to acknowledge that what may work for one does not necessarily work for another and we encourage you to also research the information we have gathered.
Back to our journey. We already knew our son was autistic, he was different and did things differently as a baby. At the age of 6 months, he could climb off the bed safely and was walking by the age of 10 months. Yet had all the signs related to ASD which we didn’t then know. Delay in speech, delay in fine and gross motor skills, trouble with transitioning, obsessions, food aversions, meltdowns, silly sounds and stimming behaviours. Before we even visited the paediatrician in Pretoria to confirm our diagnosis, we had accepted him and the diagnosis then confirmed our suspicions.
No matter how autism looked for our family. No matter the hardship and struggles. We have always been determined to make sure our son would be happy while being different. A world one can’t begin to understand unless you have been touched and loved by a person who is autistic. To love an autistic person is to be forever changed. Our rainbow child has certainly changed us and he has changed us for the better.
To me, autism is mysterious but autism is hard. It’s unpredictable in the sense that I don’t know what each day will bring for my child or his future. There are days I don’t know how to help my child. There are days when it breaks my heart to see him struggle and not able to express himself verbally. Yet it is in these days, love, hope and understanding sees me through and guide me to be of the utmost support for my son and my family. I’m blindsided by the heartbreaking moments and at the same time left in awe in the teachable insights that take my breath away given by a little child.
Autism is not typical.
- It’s sleepless nights and never stopping during the day, up & down, this way then that, here then there, a constant transfer of energy and location.
- It’s the meal and snack challenges most days or sometimes multiple times a day. It’s all dependent on the weatherman.
- It’s the incredible fascinations with certain objects and the mechanical workings behind them. The graveyard of toys and items that have become the Frankenstein box of props and spare parts lays testimony to the creations produced and the ones that didn’t make the grade.
- It’s lining up items or stacking them on top of each other meticulously to create impressive stacks of towering objects or lines of specifically arranged designs and patterns. Spinning items are the best, wheels, tops and anything else that goes around is the best.
- It’s not perceiving danger or relating the situation to the possible dangers.
- It can be self-injurious where smacking or hitting to express pain or discomfort need to be averted in a calming way.
- Non-verbal.
- Pre-verbal.
- Tippy toes and flashy fingers.
- The midnight writing practice and alphabet rhymes.
- Sounds and mimics we might not have ever heard because only an autistic person can come up with them.
- Different approaches to discipline and understanding the perceptual differences between right and wrong.
- And then repeat all the above with new scenarios and a change in timing.
You can see. AUTISM is anything BUT typical.
And after all that is not such a bad thing. All of these not so typical things have taught me so much including, patience, strength, and hope to keep going every day.
Sure, it isn’t the life we dreamed, Autism threw a curveball, but it is the life we would never change in a million years. It’s a path of learning, loving, and getting to be taught by our own child which in itself, is a gift. It’s seeing life from a different angle and gaining a new perspective of what life is all about- like the stars, sun, and moon all being aligned and we can now make sense of the universe. Autism is a different ability in an imperfect world labelled as a disability.
Yet it’s not all gloom and doom, in the midst of the struggles and the hard days, there are happy days, milestone days, progress days, days of celebration, days of laughter that makes my tummy hurt, and days when I look at my son and think to myself, I wouldn’t trade this life for anything.
This is how it was meant to be. This is how HE was meant to be. He is happy, he is loved, and he is ours given by God.
