As a mother, I will never give up on my child. As a mother of a child who has autism, I will never give up hope.
I look into his eyes and I see all the potential that he has to offer to this beautiful world and I just know that one day the world can see what I see.

Follow my blog as I share my life and my experiences as a person who loves someone with autism.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Walk Now for Autism Speaks 2013

Today we walked with hundreds for the 6th Annual Vancouver Walk Now for Autism Speaks Canada at Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

And of course, we blew bubbles!

We had a booth at the resource fair where we shared our lives and experiences as people who loved someone with autism and sold our bubble blowers by donation with partial proceeds benefiting the event.

We’d like to thank everyone who donated to Team Bubbles Make Him Smile for this fundraising event. Your contribution and continued support are always appreciated!

Until next year folks...!

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya

PS Big shout out and thank you to Autism Speaks Event Coordinator, Anya Walsh, for having us at the event!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Two Years

Bryce was born July 2nd, 2001 at 7:06am. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. He was a very happy baby, always smiling and cooing and slept through the nights. People would always comment how happy and relaxed he was compared to other babies.

This is Bryce’s story.

When Bryce was 12 months old, it was brought to our attention from a pediatric physiotherapist that regularly visited the daycare Bryce attended, that Bryce had a tendency of looking at things through his peripheral vision instead of making direct eye-contact. It was her recommendation to speak to our pediatrician as she said it wasn’t ‘typical’. Bryce had all his vaccinations, recommended by his pediatrician, and he met his baby milestones like crawling and baby talking. Anything we thought he may be behind on learning was disregarded by people telling us that all children are different and learn at different times. We didn't know any better as young, first time parents.

Bryce had little development in communication and social behaviour but improved in gross motor skills yet hadn't started walking. Bryce was 18 months old and it wasn’t until I was fed up with carrying him and pushing strollers everywhere that I physically put him against a door and made him walk to me repeatedly until he figured out that he had legs, and that’s what they were used for. It was at this time that we discovered that Bryce had to be pushed and taught skills that ‘typical’ developing children pick up naturally by observing parents and peers. From that day on Bryce would walk everywhere.

In February 2003, a subsequent referral to another pediatrician indicated that Bryce had a “global developmental delay and some abnormal mannerisms” that needed further investigation. She was concerned about Bryce’s language development, social development and thought he had possible features of autism. She made a referral in June 2003, when Bryce was almost 2 years old, for a full developmental assessment at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children because of the pediatric physiotherapist that expressed concerns about autistic features she observed in Bryce at daycare. The pediatric physiotherapist reported: frequent sideways cocking of the head while looking at lights; lack of eye contact; no words; inability to follow commands; delayed gross motor milestones; fascination with wheels, tags, and fans; and self-feeding with fingers only (no utensils).

Bryce was almost 3 years old when we finally got to see Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children for diagnostic testing. The majority of the diagnostic tests were play based due to his young age and lack of verbal or signing communication skills. A month later, we sat down in a little room with a doctor, and were informed of Bryce’s results.

On June 9th, 2004, Bryce was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder by the Pacific Autism Resource Centre at Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children. The summary said that he displayed several features consistent with autism spectrum disorder including, delayed language, limited eye contact, self-stimulating behaviour, repetitive play, and delayed pretend play skills. His receptive and expressive language skills were also severely delayed and based on his age, his symbolic abilities, such as pretend play, were also delayed.

I remember crying and feeling so sad and not fully understanding what it is that they were telling us. We didn’t know anything about autism. I remember thinking to myself about the future and what was going to happen. We were told not to look too far ahead and to take each day by day.

Please consider making a donation as we walk to raise money for research and awareness at the 6th Annual Vancouver Walk Now for Autism Speaks Canada, Sunday, September 29th, 2013. It took 2 years for Bryce to be diagnosed. Those two years could have been spent on early intervention. It’s with your donation that families won’t have to wait as long. Please help. Thank you for your support and contribution!

Walk Now for Autism Speaks Canada

Follow our blogs as we share our lives with you and our experiences as people who love someone with autism.
https://www.bubblesmakehimsmile.com

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya, Daniel, and Bryce

Donate here: http://events.autismspeaks.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=16164&referrer=cmr:99E426AA2124

Monday, September 2, 2013

Back to School with Walmart

I am a fan of Walmart. I love their selection. I love their prices. I love the people. I used to work there. I am just a huge fan. So of course Walmart’s my go to place for back to school savings for Bryce.

Walmart had all of our back to school needs... Just don’t go the day before school... It was a zoo!

Today’s mission: First day of school outfit.

Ok, so the first day of school is really just an hour of chaos and nobody really is paying attention to what so-and-so is wearing, but there’s something about the whole back to school, first day of school, or first impressions, I don’t know, that’s important to me.

Bryce has grown out of all his jeans, so that was a must, and as for t-shirts, the quality is not bad for what you pay for, but I think Bryce has also out grown the cheesy graphic and licensed tees. I was looking for something basic and simple just to peak under a hoodie. They had a sale on jeans for $8.00 a pair so I grabbed one in every style in his size and we hit the fitting room. On my way there, found a basic white tee for $4.00. Perfect! Sold!

He tried on a pair of straight leg jeans with an adjustable waist band and it fit perfectly! Sold!

Didn’t find any hoodies that had colour, which is what his back to school outfit was missing, so he’ll be wearing something from last season that still fits. Thanks to my husband for kindly being a display rack for me.

Wishing everyone that’s starting school tomorrow an amazing day!

Follow us on Facebook and get early access to see Bryce’s first day of school picture!

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya