A Year Post Diagnosis

Wow, in a few days it will be a year since our world turned upside down with the word AUTISM. I think we all suspected it to some degree, but let me say we still have hope. We say Dacotah has autism vs. Dacotah is autistic. Why? Because Autism does not define who he is. He is still our three year old son who is still making leaps and bounds.

I have dealt with negative comments and most of the time the positives outweigh the bad, which helps me not strike out at someone who has no clue.

The Good

So in the past year since his Dx we have come a long way. Dacotah babbles, and talks. This week he has started repeating almost everything we say. This is huge because it builds up his vocabulary. It's a small step but it's very meaningful. We were once told we would be lucky if he ever talked. He talks! So for those mommy's out there reading this Remember DO NOT let anyone tell you that your child can't or that they never will. Work with them diligently each and every day. Our babies are in there, they want to talk and we are their only hope to get them out of there.

So now for the REALISM of our life  THE BAD

Dacotah is now 3.25 years old. He is still not potty trained, it saddens me seeing the boxes of pullups sitting in the floor, and the diapers we buy for him to wear at night-time. We are working on it again at home and last night was the first time in his life that he stayed dry overnight. I cannot tell you how many times we have woken up to a pee soaked bed. Gross yes, but you know what this is our reality. I don't want to sugar coat what is, because I am tired of hiding the realities of our life to please other people.

THE UGLY:

Dacotah self-harms. He bites himself, the worst event happened a couple nights ago, we were in a drive thru (HE HATES FOR THE CAR TO STOP PERIOD). Big sister rolled her window down, so he hollers "me down" as he points to the window. The van has child proof windows with a built in safety feature, his doesn't roll all the way down, so he gets mad, goes into a full on meltdown and bites his hands over and over and over. This went on until we finally got our fries, by that point he was too upset to eat but it was enough of a distraction to stop the full meltdown. This is our reality this is our normal.

We are starting to understand that Dacotah has no concept of "Elapsed" time. We figured this when I left for my trip, came home, and Dacotah proceeded on with his usual routine as though I had never been gone more than a day, little lone six. Anyone who follows us on Facebook knows we had a special cat named Frappe, who Dacotah thought the world of, the cat went outside one morning and never came back. Well yesterday we found another cat, that looked remarkably similar with a great personality, and Dacotah started talking and playing with it and said "kitty back". It was as though we just let Frappe out and he was coming home that afternoon. It has been several months, but in five minutes Dacotah and this cat were off playing with Dacotah "talking" to him and to us.

I picked him up from daycare the other day and he ran out into the street. I know people say how can they run that fast. I have never in my life seen a child that can run as fast as he does. I swear his braces give him a turbo boost that we cannot see with the naked eye. Thankfully no one was coming, but it gives me a heart attack EVERY single time he runs.

He has figured out our keyed hasp lock, he finds the key and unlocks the door and heads out. BAH.... So I found a $25 lock that only an adult can open. We will get it on the door in the den so he can't get out of it.

I am pleased with the milestones that Dacotah has made. In reality he is still around a 2 year old level verbally, but the good part is he is growing and learning every single day. I bought "Once upon a sound" and plan on working with him on it after the holiday.

We did find out our pediatrician gave the referral to the Olson Huff Center in Asheville, so now we are waiting on them to send us paperwork, so we can mail it back and *fingers crossed* get an appointment. Someone made the comment why bother... well you know they have one of the best autism centers around and as a mom I want to make sure we are getting any and every service we need to give him the best chance of living a normal happy life.

So we will keep updating, we will keep taking one day at a time, one step ahead and we will get there.