About Me

I am the proud mother of 6 children. 5 of our children have autism. We do not feel our world has ended, but just begun. We do not chelate, intervene biochemically, give shots of any kind, practice ABA, etc. We treat them as we treat any humanbeing. We treat them with kindness and respect and expect the same from them. They are exceptional children.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

SPEECH-LESS...

I was told, this morning, that our 8 (almost 9-year-old) son will be dismissed
from Speech services in May. This means that he no longer qualifies for any
services...AT ALL !!!!
What does this mean?
Does this mean that our son, who has been diagnosed with Autism is recovered or
cured?
Patrick has been working very hard, since he was born, to be able to speak in a way
that everyone understands him. He has been in speech services ever since he was
10 months old. Patrick has gone from pure frustration where no one understood a
thing he said...Meaghan would be our translator (she has a gift), to where for the last
2 years, Patrick has had a major speaking part in the school plays.
So, recovered...no, that is what you do to furniture!!
Cured...nah, that is what you do to meat!!

Patrick has succeeded by pure determination, undying devotion from therapists and
teacher's, great friends and family members who saw his greatness since the day he
was born.

Patrick still has many sensory issues and is a very sensitive little boy. He has a heart
as big as Texas and wears it on his sleeve. He is adored by all that meet him and has
had the same friends for years. He adds to his list of friends all of the time.
He loves baseball, football, wrestling and now hockey.

I cannot wait to tell Patrick the good news when he gets home today. He might
be a bit sad, because he has been seeing Ms. Marsha since he was 3-years-old.
She has helped him gain his voice and articulate better than any other 9 year old boys.
Marsha glows when she talks about Patrick...she is so proud of him and gladly
releases him from Speech...now, that leaves me SPEECHLESS.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah such good news. I remember when we first started speech therapy many eons ago and I also remember a big 'to do' when a child that we knew well 'graduated' from speech therapy i.e. no more therapy. I was greatly surprised that anyone ever graduated from therapy. So glad to hear your good news.
Best wishes

Anonymous said...

Wow! He articulates better than any other nine-year-old boys?
That's astonishing.

The Animator's Wife said...

I love you "recovered" and "cured" examples. I may borrow that some time!

Way to go Patrick!

Anonymous said...

Very happy to hear this!!!