An Anniversary and a Milestone
Five years ago this week, DS was officially diagnosed with Autism. It was a week after this birthday and a week before Mother's Day.
On that day, I had a lot of questions and worries about DS's future, like:
Will he ever be able to really make friends with other kids?
Will he be able to go to school in a regular classroom?
Will he ever drive?
Will he be able to go to college?
Will he ever make his First Communion?
Five years later, I still don't know the answer to most of those questions.
Yesterday, DS made his First Communion. It was a week after his birthday and a week before Mother's Day.
He did wonderfully at Mass. He didn't participate in all the "extras" that the kids did (procession, songs, gathering around the alter, etc.), but we left that decision to him and he did what he was comfortable with. The religious education staff and the priests were very understanding and supportive of him. DS had worked very hard to be ready for this event and I am so proud of him. I cried my eyes out.
(His party on the other hand, was a complete disaster, mostly due to family members who still - after 5 years - do not understand autism and who did not care to acknowledge the importance of this event. I felt awful for DS. But that's a post for the BP.)
Gena
DS, age 11 and always amazing
“Autistics are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It's that you're destroying the peg." - Paul Collins, Not Even Wrong