What day is this?

I guess you could say we aren't even really to day one yet of dealing with our son. We've known for a long time that he was different. We've known since he was three that something wasn't quite right, but because of other issues going on with the family dynamic, it was usually attributed to that for him.



At three years old his preschool teacher warned me that she was concerned for the child I was pregnant with.. that she feard my older son might hurt him. She suggested we have him tested for Autism. Since that day it's always been in the back of my mind. The signs fit. He had most all the signs of Aspergers. Family members have voiced concern, friends have pointed out odd things he does or his speech.. it's always been there. We've taken him to different pediatricians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists. Since that day when that preschool teacher said the word Autism, though, it's always been in the back of my mind. As a mother, it's a nightmare when you're left wondering why your child is different and watching him struggle to make friends, missing social cues, not understanding consequences, and so on. It's confusing to know that your child is so incredibly intelligent and to see such beautiful things in him, but at the same time seeing how lonely and dark his little world can be when it should be bright and happy.

Well, through it all, we've faught for him and looked for ways to help him. When his psychologist finally said the word "Autism" I about jumped for joy, which was a really odd reaction. It's not that I wanted to hear that about my son. I certainly was not happy about it... I was just so incredibly relieved to have someone finally see what I had been seeing for so long. I actually went home and felt all the air leave my body and just sunk into the couch and cuddled with my laptop for a while to escape the reality of what had just happened. Then, after a little while, I started researching again. I started talking to my friends and making connections with people that knew what I was going through.. what we were all going through.. and could help me start the journey. I was guided by a friend of a friend (who has now become my friend in turn) to Jenny McCarthy's site. Okay, I must admit, I am a HUGE fan of Jenny McCarthy. While I was on bedrest with my middle child, I was given a copy of Belly Laughs and I just devoured it. I of course remembered her from her MTV days and was perplexed by the idea of her writing a book about pregnancy.. but it was a great read and kept me laughing through my terribly difficult and trying pregnancy and the premature birth of my son... soon after which I was given Baby Laughs. (Yeh, my family knows me.. laughter is what keeps me going!!!). I read Life Laughs almost as soon as it was released and eventually picked up Mother Warriors just because she wrote it, but never read it. Anyways, when I started reading the site http://www.generationrescue.org/, I felt this calm come over me. I had a direction.

Within a day, I had also found the Talk About Curing Autism site as well and dug my Mother Warriors book out of storage. It was time to make a change for my son. I was willing to try almost anything. Medicating him was breaking my heart, but I'm also still terrified to stop completely. Regardless, we decided to give the Gluten free/Casein free diet a chance. Our son had always had problems with an upset tummy, so this could only help. He was already on limited dairy, it couldn't be too much more work to cut it out completely, right? HAHAHA.. I had NO clue what all had gluten and casein in it!!! Really, it wasn't that hard though.. we just had to rethink our way of buying and cooking. We have found alternatives to almost everything that our son likes... some more expensive of course, but we're doing a lot of fresh, whole foods as well and that really helps keep cost down. We've been on the diet about a week or two now.. I can't even remember... but so far so good. We're learning as we go and we're getting through it as a family. We're already seeing a change in his attitude and he's starting to follow directions better. He also came to me and told me his tummy didn't hurt anymore. That right there makes it all worth it. This is by no means easy on him... it's hard to tell a 8 year old he can't have chocolate chip cookies like he always had before, but we're learning and finding alternatives!