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, April 11, 2010

No is an Amazing Word

Bryce continues to struggle on a daily basis with verbal communication skills. Throughout his life he’s had constant speech language therapy, and it continues to be a primary goal at home and at school to work on everyday.

Bryce’s tendency for a while now has been his disposition to parrot back words or short phrases. This was a significant improvement in his communication because for the prior year or so he was only able to repeat a single word. Previous to that he was limited to non-verbal sign language, body language, and temperament.

With that being said, Bryce has recently developed the skill to answer questions appropriately with a no response. When we ask him, do you want some more Kraft dinner?, his response would be more Kraft dinner. Thinking he wanted more, we would go to give him more and he would push it away, or in some cases say all finished. He clearly didn’t understand the concept of a question. If we were going out for dinner to his favourite places, we would ask him, do you want to go to IHOP or Red Robin? He would always answer back, Red Robin. If we would ask him, do you want to go to Red Robin or IHOP?, he would always answer back, IHOP. He would just repeat the last thing we said. It can be frustrating as a parent.

As I said above, as is the title of this blog, that Bryce has developed the skill to answer questions with a no response. It shocked us, and we are so excited. I’ll be honest in saying it can be annoying as a parent, like when we’re not really asking a question. For example saying time for bed, and he responds no, but inside we are so thankful that he has developed this far. Of course that doesn’t mean that he gets away with it :). I love that I can communicate with my child by asking him if he would like to watch a movie, and he has the ability to say no. For those parents that have raised typical developing children they likely won’t understand the feeling, and for those parents with children that have still not been able to break through and make the connection, our hearts go out to you.

We have seen other families success with the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and it kills us inside that our child goes without a treatment that may help unlock his ability to express himself to the world. I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity currently to work 12 hour days so that we can continue to financially survive and provide some treatment for Bryce, and we hope everyday that my wife who has been looking for work since September will be presented with an opportunity.

That is why we need your help, we realize it is asking all lot, but as a parents, seeing the results and the potential to improve the quality of life for a 8 year old child, our child, through HBOT propels us in our cause.

We are always hopeful that medical researchers spending time researching the causes of autism will have a break-through in Bryce’s lifetime, however, being able to provide treatment that has potential to significantly change the life of our child is an amazing feeling with your help.

Daniel

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