Small Victories

Autism is all about - what I refer to as - small victories.  It's pretty self explanatory.  Nearly every single thing is a battle with Autism, no matter how high functioning.  This is mostly due to the lack of social skills.  He doesn't know how to talk to or make friends or his own family sometimes, including the great and powerful mom.  He argues and fights like a teenager would in a 7 year old body.  He is stubborn, unmotivated, mouthy and smart, with the last one being the most dangerous. 


Anyway, back to our small victory this week.  Ben visits many people for therapy throughout the month; he takes therapeutic riding lessons once a week, sees a psychologist once a month for medication checks, a speech therapist twice a week, an occupational therapist once a week and a behavioral coach between 1 and 3 times a week. I would like to say his improvements are in leaps and bounds, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way.  His moments come far and few between (he's stubborn remember!?).  He was at an appointment with his behavioral coach and he was learning about being a "space invader".  Pretty self explanatory - learning to not invade a persons space and stay an appropriate distance from them when interacting with them. The coach invited other children to join the "game" and at the end of the game when it was time for one little boy to go home (one who is known for being hateful to Ben), the little boy looked at Ben and said "Ben, you ARE special and I'm happy we got to be friends today".  I would never have known this if his coach hadn't called and told me this.  I cried almost the whole way home because it made me so happy for him.  He deserves to be acknowledged for his amazing personality and what he has to offer a friend.

I am proud of my son regardless of any diagnosis he may have.  I can't wait until kids his age can understand him better to see what they are missing out on!