My son, Aden, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 15 months old. Before he was diagnosed with autism, he was receiving occupational and physical therapy at the age of 12 months to help him with his visual impairments. When Aden was only 3 months old, he was wearing his first pair of glasses. He is extremely far sighted and has a condition called congenital nystagmus, which causes his eyes to i
nvoluntarily move or jump around, causing him to have a difficult time seeing a still image. Our Help Me Grow coordinator was the one who helped us to pursue an official diagnosis for Aden. We went to Akron Children's Hospital in Akron, Ohio and Aden was seen by the Neurodevelopmental Department where they performed many tests on him to determine the source of his "developmental delays". He had an MRI at 11 months old, followed by audiology testing, genetic testing, psychology studies, low vision screenings, occupational, speech and physical therapy evaluations, a retinopathy, a swallow study (because he refused to eat anything other than baby food, yogurt or pudding), and different meetings with the feeding clinic at Akron Children's Hospital. The end result is that we know Aden is a moderate to high functioning autistic child with severe visual impairments that make him legally blind. However he is the most amazing child we have ever met! He loves music and likes to play on his keyboard making his own songs. He is funny and says and does the cutest thing sometimes! He is loving and affectionate and gives us hugs, kisses, cuddles, and "Eskimo kisses". He goes through phases of which toys or items he likes to play with, and sometimes they can be quite funny (his fascination with hangers, or spinning Pediasure bottles). Because of his low vision, he prefers toys that are brightly lit and that he can see well. He used to only want to play with toys that made music or had lights, but now that he's becoming a "big boy", he is playing with trains, and cars and trucks too! He also likes to watch Baby Einstein movies, which his low vision specialist told me that a lot of visually impaired children prefer to watch Baby Einstein movies also. That is the only thing he will sit and watch on television, and he requests them by name! We just love to hear him talk along with the movies or sing the songs, it is so cute! He is currently 5 years old and attends a special school that integrates children on the Autism Spectrum with their "typical" peers. He receives occupational, speech and feeding therapy as well as training with an Orientation and Mobility specialist for his low vision needs, and also a Teacher of Visual Impairments works with him weekly for his low vision needs as well. We started an ABA therapy program in our home for him in August of 2010, and now that it is fully in place, he receives about 40 hours a week of ABA therapy, which includes the aides attending school and other therapies with him. Aden truly brings us the most amazing joy we have ever known. He is our blessing and we thank God every day for giving him to us. We hope you enjoy what you find on our website. We love and cherish our autistic child and we are proud to show our support of him and his condition. Wearing Autism Awareness jewelry is just one way you can show your support, and since I love to make jewelry, that is what I've chosen to do :) Please email us if you have any questions or if you have any suggestions for us! You can read my blog interview: http://tinyurl.com/ALHinterview
