My priorities have shifted
About a year ago I began noticing that my son, who was previously ahead with his speech and development, began losing words. Within just a few months he had lost almost all the words he had previously learned. Where he once loved other children, he began having crying fits every time I'd take him in public. Soon after, I noticed he had a hard time looking me in the eye. I had him tested for autism. We found out our sweet, barely two-year-old son had a rarer form of autism called regressive autism. Nobody knows how it happens or why the regression starts or even where it ends. It was a very difficult time for us, but we came to realize that our sweet little boy, Lincoln, was still our son, disability or not, and he was in there.A gift to the world
With a lot of therapy, Lincoln has since regained much of the speech he lost, but it comes and goes. He will be 3-years-old at the end of October and he is just barely beginning to put two words together again, though sparsely. He is doing so well at saying yes or no and pointing again as well (HUGE milestones for autistic children). He is also doing much better socially. He has friends that he asks to see on occasion. I believe that one day he will speak conversationally, but it might be awhile. In the meantime we have noticed our son has many gifts. He is able to hike for miles! We took him to Grand Teton over the last weekend and he was able to hike and most difficult of hikes and keep up (and often lead). He has the ability to put together puzzles that no other two-year-old would be able to put together. He has a penchant for technology and is very good at it. He knows his colors and letters, and I believe he can read a few words as well. He knows how to manipulate his mother like no other ;) There's a very, very bright young man behind his silence. I hope that one day it can be revealed to the world, as it has been to me.Losing... and gaining... and losing again
When I originally discovered Lincoln had autism, I went through a bit of a depression. I was grieving for the child I once had... and the child I thought I'd have. After speaking with other parents, I have discovered it is, almost without exception, what every other autism parent goes through when their child is first diagnosed. I lost 10 pounds within just a few weeks because I stopped eating. But something curious happens when you lose weight because of depression: you regain it!I was trying to "cure" my son through diet. So I put him on the strictest diet in the whole world. Tip: Unless you have Chron's disease and a nasty flare-up that you'd rather die from, I do not recommend doing this diet. The Gotschall diet is an elimination diet. It required me to make homemade applesauce, homemade mayonaise, grind up his organic chicken, cook his carrots for 3 hours, etc. I was torturing my son AND myself. I had no time to cook for myself, so I just grabbed whatever was around, which was usually junk food. I thought I wouldn't gain weight, since I was hardly eating anything. It turns out, however, that eating six fun-size candy bars for lunch from the work community candy bowl does NOT equal a healthy, calorie-portioned lunch.
The result? I gained about twenty pounds in six months! Through a series of miracles, I was able to get my son to a GI doc who specialized in children with autism. I have come to the realization that his chronic constipation is a result of his brain having a difficult time communicating with his gut. Where he does have some food intolerances, I choose to feed him a regular, healthy diet. I saw improvement in Lincoln immediately and also with my sanity. I was able to get back to eating a healthy, balanced diet and back to exercise.
