NWR...My almost 2 year old son Blake was diagnosed with Autism

I'm very sorry!!

This news doesn't change the person that he is and all the joy and love that he brings.

I am a teacher for children with autism. First of all... .

Second of all, my advice. Find out your options and fight to get your child in the best program possible for his individual needs. You are lucky..i know it may not seem this way, but you found out relatively EARLY!! The earlier the better. You can make strides to helping your son learn to live. Your son will always have autism and they can not cure him right now. We don't know how. But if you are patient with him and consistent with him and place him in a structured, friendly, loving school environment, we can teach him how to live in the everyday world to the best of his ability.

My prayers are with your family. Feel free to FM me if I can be of any help. Questions you have or recommendations you need.

I'm so sorry that you are going through this right now. My prayers are with you. I'm sure that everything will be okay, you just have to have faith which I see that you do. There is so much Knowledge today and so many things for Blake to be involved in to help.

Mel I am so sorry. I will keep you and your family in my prayers. We're all here for you.

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Posted by hayleyandsteve



Have you read the Welcome to Holland story?

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.'

'Holland?!?' you say. 'What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.'

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.


I work and have worked with infants, children, and adults with Autism. I understand the struggles that you'll go through and the heartache - but please know that there is SO much love and life in your child! There are a ton of different services that your child can receive. We have some children with autism at the school where I'm working now and many of them are mainstreaming and have made such significant progress.

If you need to talk you can FM me! (I'm a speech-language pathologist btw)

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Thats a great story!! I think it really says a lot!!

Melanie, your family and blake are in my thoughts and prayers! Many autistic children are extremely bright and there is so much info out there on this. I'm sure with 2 great parents that blake has he will have the best care! If you need anything, I'm here!!