autismdadinthe603

So here we were.  We had a 3 year old son with Autism.  He had an IEP in place for his services.  Our two other children knew that he was different but had the empathy to want to understand.  Not to mention they were eager to help.  Things were on the upswing, right?  

I mean we were in the midst of creating the modern day Autism success story.  That was how delusional I was at that moment. It was like I thought we were just stuck on an elevator for 3 years and now we would bolt to the next floor.  I truly thought it would be that simple.  

I thought with the services he had just started to receive would kick in like a training regimen.  Why wouldn’t I? He was progressing.  I had two eyes and I knew what I was witnessing.  

He was running, he was talking more appropriately, and he even showed some interest in some playing.  It was like we were breaking barriers at the Rubin household.

The dilemma with the elevator ride is that once it stops, you have to get off.  This is what happened as we met with Sawyer’s team to go over his VBMAPP results.  For those of you wondering the What is vb mapping for autism? It is according to Mark Sunberg, “The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program: The VB-MAPP is a criterion-referenced assessment tool, curriculum guide, and skill tracking system that is designed for children with autism, and other individuals who demonstrate language delays.”

At 3 years and 10 months his developmental level was at 22 months.  It was a moment of clarity that woke me up.  All of the progress I saw was farsighted.  I now look at it as just hope and faith.

We had quite the elevator ride ahead of us and the 4th floor was just months away.