April is Autism Awareness Month, one of my favorite times of the year. In the past I have had hooping events to promote awareness. This year, however, I will be sharing more of my family’s personal story aRound autism, writing more blog posts and showing you more pictures from our lives. As many of you know, my youngest son, Kyle, is on the spectrum, diagnosed at the age of 3 with moderate-to-severe autism. Many of you reading this, as well, might be surprised by this, because you have met him in person or feel like you know him via pictures I proudly post on Facebook. Perhaps you know what he is doing now with nonPareil Institute at the age of almost 26 and are pretty surprised he was ever “moderate-to-severe,” so that’s what I want to explain more about. Our journey was not easy, but we did the best we could with what we had available. It’s high time I start getting busy sharing hope to other families out there. It’s a mission so close to my heart that I will be spending more time doing this from now on, even once April has passed.
If you haven’t already heard the news recently, you will begin to hear the staggering statistics about autism once again, since it’s April. Every year about this time, we are reminded. It’s alarming and concerning how many children are getting diagnosed. The media surrounding all this is anything but hopeful. It makes me sad for the families out there, just like we were years ago. Lost, sad, wondering, hungry for any morsel of information on autism other than the movie RAINMAN. We didn’t have all the doom and gloom being plastered in front of us on the TV news, though. Occasionally, it was in magazines, like TIME and NEWSWEEK, but even then, it was sporadic. So we were left to just listen to our gut instincts. That’s what we did. They say “ignorance is bliss”…in our case, I am so very grateful we didn’t have access to very much back then. It made choices easier…we had to take a chance on some things many times because it was the only choice at the time anyway! “Less is more” really applied.
I look forward to writing more in this month and beyond. Look for my posts over on my Facebook. Be sure to share all this information with friends and family who might need some encouragement when dealing with autism. Unfortunately, the numbers of cases being diagnosed is now 1 in 68 children, which means chances are likely if you are reading this right now, you know a family dealing with autism. Encourage…help…inform…
Please share our family’s story with others, remember to to stay joyful about autism and help others do the same. I, more than anyone, know that it is HARD to “put on a happy face” when living in the shadow of autism. I wasn’t always happy and smiling when my kids were little, I can assure you. I was DOWN and sad…A LOT. I know now that I wished I had been happier sooner, but point is, I did get happier over time. All I can do is try to help some other parents and family members…at least by sharing more openly, it might help someone shift from only thinking about the negative things surrounding autism. Good things CAN happen and DO happen. Read a summary of our story HERE.
I’ll leave you with a couple of videos, one is a look back and the other was from an awards ceremony a few weeks ago. I’ll also share a couple of quotes. You can see how far my son has come, where he is going and how joyful the future CAN be for autism. There’s a frontier being explored and pioneers blazing a path. Stay tuned for lots more stories and information!
Comment from a friend, Jared Latimer:
“I think nonPareil is awesome. I personally do not believe we as a society treat Autism, ADD, or ADHD (thought they are different), appropriately. I think each one offers gifts, talents, and abilities that appropriately utilized can be great assets. Instead of trying to ‘treat’ we should teach on how to use. Just as the article mentions autistic workers can thrive in high tech jobs, ADD and ADHD people can thrive in creative jobs (think Pixar). I think nonPareil Institute is on the right track. Imagine what this world would be if we found benefits to various “disabilities” and focused on maximizing and harnessing those instead of trying to ‘treat’ the differences.”
YouTube video comment:
Ma’am, your son Kyle is my instructor at nonPareil Institute. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever met at that age. He’s helped me in ways that no college teacher ever could. I am very happy to have him as an instructor, just as you are very proud to have him as a son.
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