The Beginning

According to our doctors, Wayne was a typical little boy. Boys always develop slower than girls. He hit all the major physical milestones but never really developed language. Wayne then slowly started to regress. It took him forever to potty train, there were some fine motor things, that he could do before, but then couldn't do. Wayne still couldn't really talk. At least no one out side the home could understand him. He struggled through kindergarten and had many accidents along the way. He was not fully potty trained until he was 6.

He developed some language skills through speech therapy and constant repeating to him. But was still hard to understand. It wasn't until after we had a diagnosis for a muscle disease and saw a neurologist regularly, that the neurologist suggested testing for autism. I had heard of autism before, did a report on in my freshman year in college. I thought I knew all about it! (Amazing what people learn from 1997-2005) I also knew my son was no "Rain Man." Literally, that was all the research that was available at that time. So, I started digging and doing some research on my own. I contacted some people. Finally, I had decided that Wayne had enough quirks, that testing might be worth it. Not because I wanted to fix him. I had kinda gotten used to all of his "isms." But because, if I knew what was wrong, then I would know how to help him fit in and make things easier for him.

We got his diagnosis the spring of what should have been his second grade year. He was about 7. When we went in for testing, they psychologist pulled me aside and asked if we spoke any other languages in the home. Then played for me the conversation Wayne was having with the toys during the interview. Because of his developmental milestones, and the weird language that he talks while he plays. They diagnosed Wayne with full blown autism. There were other factors. I was also reassured that he was high functioning. I do not like the high functioning term. At least not at first. It sounds like a house hold appliance. High functioning washing machine. But we took it.

Now that we knew a name for how he was thinking, it helped us look at ways to help him and push him to fit in better in regular society. This does not mean that we have normalized him by all means. But we have taken the socially unacceptable behaviors and found ones that are more acceptable.