Autism is a neurological disorder originating in the brain. It is usually first recognized when a child is between two and three years of age.
Ryan was a really good baby. He rarely cried and slept through the night earlier than other babies. My husband and I could listen to him play and giggle in the mornings. He liked being in the playpen and in his crib! When his brother was the same age, he had a hard time falling asleep.
Ryan didn't yet walk at Christmas when he was 17 months old, but he was cruising and getting around every other way a baby could. We bought him a "Little Tykes" shopping cart. Within 3 days he was walking!
When Ryan was 18 months old, the pediatrician noted his
develop> Ryan was visited twice a week by a lady who would work
on getting him to make eye contact. He would sit on a
Sit-n-Spin as she would sit in front of him. Each time he
would look at her with even a glance, she would spin him
around! It worked! More eye contact was made! Ryan learned
that he could get things he wanted that way!
When Ryan turned three, he was eligible to enter the public school system. We enrolled him in the early childhood education class. He went to school half a day and was given a lot of one-on-one attention. There was a bus available for him to ride, but we chose to take him to school ourselves. After Christmas break, I finnally mustered up enogh courage to put him on the bus. He loved it!
Ryan would go to speech therapy, physichal therapy, music therapy, and occupational therapy, as well as have story time and play time. We were happy that he was getting the help he needs.
We kept a notebook in his backpack to communicate to his teachers and therapists the accomplishments, and concerns of each day. And they too would write in this notebook. We still have these around and sometimes I read over them and see how far Ryan has come!
One concern we had was that he didn't know how to use a straw. One day, while I was set up at a craft show, we went to get lunch. The only problem was that the food they were serving was not something either of our boys would eat. So George (my husband) went to the local grocery store and bought "lunchables." They include a "Capri Sun" pouch drink. Ryan realized that when he would squeeze the pouch, he would get a drink! Eventally he was sucking the straw! It seems so small an accmplishment, yet it was a great milestone for Ryan.
We were at a huge flea market. We had a leash on Ryan and Daddy had the wagon. When we parked. we discssed how we were going to find the car when we left. (that's how big it is.)
It was almost time to go home when we finnally found something Ryan was interested in. We wet to the back of the booth to pay the lady. I let go of the leash to keep the money from blowing away and turned around.
Daddy and Jonathan were at the wagon. "Where's Ryan?!"
He just vanished along with the books he purchased!
George went to the office to have them announce over the loudspeaker about our missing child and his description, while I scoured the rows and rows of booths. Telling anyone who would listen about Ryan.
About 45 minutes later they called me to the office. I thought they had found Ryan, but was wrong. They wanted me to wait in the office until the police arrived!
Meanwhile my husband, a policeman who was working at the fleamarket and several others were out looking for him.
I was in the office for only three minutes(which seemed like hours)when a young boy (about 13) came running in carrying Ryan!
All I could do was bawl and hug Ryan. The boy said that Ryan was at what he assumed was our van sitting on the ground by the door reading one of his books!
It was our van! We found his books right where he left them when the boy picked him up! We have a white Dodge Caravan. There must have been twenty vans that looked like ours! He must have been listening when we were talkng about how we were going to find the car as we enterd the flea market!
I praise God for the angel who found Ryan and that we got him back safely.
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Part Two
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