In the short time I've been a doctor, I have seen things that will make you question WHY, break your heart, and thank the man above for the life you have been given! There are to many diseases to count that effect this world and more are being discovered daily. Well one disorder hits HOME for me, AUTISM. For those of you not familiar with this disorder here is the definition:
Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills. -NLM
My sister (from another mother, lol) gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy. As he began to grow and continue to develop she noted changes in her son. At 19 months old her son was diagnosed with autism. I can't even do her story justice, so ill let her tell it herself!
Here's her story:
To Our Family, Friends & Guest, this is the story of our journey into Beezy’s Son-Rise®
One in 88 children in the United States are diagnosed with Autism. Autism is a developmental disability resulting in challenges in language, communication, emotion, cognition, behavior and social interaction. On February 28th, 2012 Our 19 month old son became that one in 88.
When Beezy was younger he would sit in our laps, look through his books and get our fingers to point at pictures. Sometimes he would even point too. We would ask “where is the ball” and he would flip through pages until he found the ball and point at it. He babbled all the time (bababa, dadada, mamama, gagaga). He would point to Momma and Dada in the photo album I made him and point to Momma’s nose. I never really noticed him having eye contact or not.
We noticed some repetitive behavior (like tapping his golf clubs on the ground or pushing the same button on a toy the same number of times over and over again) but he was so young and still experimenting with the way things worked. He wasn’t talking and it wasn’t until he was 14 months old that we noticed that he wasn’t even babbling anymore. We realized that he was losing skills he had learned. He had become more exclusive in reading and anything else he was doing. He did not respond to his name or any noise at all. We were worried and were referred to the developmental pediatrician who gave Beezy the diagnosis. Since then we have been researching to find the best therapy for Beezy.
We found the Autism Treatment Center of America™ (ATCA) and looked at all they had to offer our family. The ATCA provided knowledge to do a home-based program that is parent directed and focuses mainly on social development for Beezy. We decided to go to the Start-Up class they had in April and left convinced that we had found the program to help our son. We have more compassion for Beezy’s “isms” (his exclusive repetitive behaviors). We know now that our beautiful boy’s repetitive activities are ways that he copes with internal pain and all the unpredictable and scary things in this world. We’ve embraced these things that give him comfort and see them not as part of the disease, but part of his cure.
Beezy loves tapping his golf clubs on the floor, he will go from rug to wooden floor to another rug and do this all day. We know this is one of his many “isms” because it’s repetitious and exclusive. Instead of telling him to stop or hiding the golf clubs from him, we join his tap’n. By doing so we are letting him know that we love him and that what he is doing is okay; We just want to be with him whether it’s in his world or ours.
We have found, and continue to search for, new ways to motivate Beezy by using his “ism” (and music because he loves it so much) to connect with us in our world. We want our world to be less of a scary place for him and more of an exciting and comfortable place. The ATCA’s Son-Rise Program® continues to teach us techniques that will help us to connect, interact, play and teach our precious Beezy that being with his momma, daddy and all those who love him in THIS world can be fun and rewarding too. We plan on going to their Intensive program in November where they will work with Beezy 8 hours a day for a week and give us the training that we need to not only teach him but to learn from him as well.
We have seen major progress in just a few months with diet and using some of the techniques from the Son Rise Program® that we learned before and after we attended their Start Up class in April. He started babbling again and is now spitting out all kinds of sounds that seem to make great sense to him:) He has said “UP”, “OUTSIDE”, and reached up at his golf clubs and said “TAP” (tappers). He is using these words in the correct way! He has better eye contact and responds a lot to sounds and when you say “look”. He looks outside through the window and watches kids playing and cars going by. He has been so aware of every thing around him. He gives high fives, brushes his teeth and feeds himself his yogurt with a spoon!!! He started pulling us towards things again (all the time;) and has just started to bring things to us when he needs help!!!! He tried to pet Cotton Belle the other day; he seemed to have never noticed her before. He looks at us to read, and shares books with us. He is starting to mimic sounds and body movements!!! We spend a lot of time inside and outside tapping, and at times it’s an interaction that he initiates. He takes us to the tappers to tap with him. He is inviting us into his world slowly, and we are so excited to be a part of it.
We are blessed to have found such a great program that not only fits Beezy but teaches us about acceptance and attitude. This therapy has given us joy and happiness because we have found a way to be with Beezy, to be a part of whatever world he decides to be a part of. We are tap’n with Beezy in his world and in ours and we are enjoying every second!
Rick and I have never needed the Lord more and He has let us know that He is here and that He is watching over us. We feel that He is guiding us in the right direction and we continue to pray for His guidance.
Share Our Story & Spread Awareness
-Ayme & Rick Orwin
In the fight to help spread autism awareness, I am asking you to take the time to share their story. If your heart so desires please feel free to make a donation to this great cause. Below you will find links to Beezy's site and on there you will also find links to other great sites concerning autism. In honor of Beezy I will be donating some children's books to him! For all my readers/followers ill be taking recommendations all week for Beezy's library!
I love you Ayme & Beezy!
- Dr. Books (mel)
http://beezyssonrise.com/our-son-rise/
https://m.facebook.com/beezyssonrise?id=100003901680834&_rdr
