Slideshow of Britney

Slideshow of Tyler

Seeing Progress Every Day

I had a meeting with Tyler's teacher yesterday. We went over some goals that we are going to implement for his upcoming IEP meeting. We went over his progress report and report card and I am amazed at how many of his goals he has mastered! I am so happy that my little guy is doing so well. Ms. Santos even told me that one day Tyler and his friend Brian took over her role one morning. Tyler and Brian grabbed her pointer, got all the schedules set up and began the day. She said she just stood back and let them go with it. It showed her that Brian and Tyler were not only interacting, but they were trying to teach the others. It was such a cute story she shared with me. I met the speech therapist yesterday too. She said she cannot believe how much Tyler has changed since October. It makes me feel good about my decision to place him in the autistic classroom. Tyler needed it, and his progress is getting better every day.

At our IEP meeting, we will also be discussing if we are going to send Tyler for ESY. ESY is extended school year. He would be going half a day for 4 weeks. Its not that much, but it will keep him from regressing and retaining the skills he has learned.

Happy Birthday Kevin!!!

Today is Kevin's 37th birthday! I surprised him and went to Dunkin Donuts after dropping the kids off at school. Not sure what we will do the rest of the day. Kevin is not really big on celebrating being another year older, but I think it would be nice to have a little something with the kids. We will see what happens...

Sleeping Issues

Tyler has been having horrible sleeping issues for almost 6 months now. He starts out by laying in his bed for maybe 10 minutes then gets up and climbs in beside Kevin. Once he is sleeping, I will put him back in his bed, but that dosen't last till morning lately. In the middle of the night, he was climbing back in our bed and keeping us up with all the rolling around and kicking. I figured out how to get him out of our bed. I put extra pillows and a comforter on the floor for him. That worked for a bit. The "spot" for Tyler is next to the dresser. If Tyler moves, he whacks his head and wakes up. That is what happened at 1:30 this morning, and he has been up since then. He took a little nap earlier and I had to get him back up so he would go to sleep at a somewhat normal time tonight. He was a total bear for about a half an hour but now he is ok. He's happily eating pizza and playing on his computer. I really don't know what to do. Maybe he's just growing up and his habits are changing. I hope tonight is a better night...

What a week!

I have not had to work since Monday! I have been playing catch up around the house with things that I have put off because I haven't had the time because I have been working so much. Finally got the tire patched on the van today. It was becoming a pain in the neck to keep filling the tire with air every morning. 75 cents adds up! Although it took over 2 hours for the tire to be patched, good thing is, its done now!! The dealership even throws in a free car wash. For the wait time, I think they should! Later on today, we may take a ride to the new strip mall down the street and check out the stores. Tomorrow night, Kevin and a few friends are heading to a fight in Tampa. I will just be hanging out with the kids.

The kids are back to their usual routines now that their break is over. The first few days back in school, Tyler was protesting like crazy. He's better now on all accounts, even staying in his bed all night again!

What a week!!!!

First Day Presenting My Story

Today I was given the opportunity to speak to 7 cast members about our personal autism journey and what life is like every day for us and many other families. We started by watching the Souls DVD, followed by a copy for each person of our personal story with Tyler. My co-workers really seemed interested in what I was saying and asked some great questions. I think I opened their eyes more to autism and it made me feel like I was making a difference. As the next few weeks go on, I will be continuing my presentations and when all is said and done, I sincerely hope that by me taking the time, my fellow co-workers will be more understanding and compassionate towards our guests that we see at our ticket windows who have children with autism. Updates to follow in the next few days/weeks...

Rain, Rain Go Away

This time of year, we get rain every day. Most times, the rain comes and goes quickly. The past 2 days have been horrible! We had really strong storms late yesterday and the rain started just as I was heading home from work this afternoon. It is crazy the amount of rain! We had gutters installed almost a month ago to take away some of the water from the house. When I was changing out of my uniform, I looked at the pool deck. Water is overflowing onto the deck from the gutters. Kevin is out playing in the rain right now to try and block one of the gutters so the rain falls down the other side on the grass area. If the rain keeps up, and we can't re-direct it, it will be coming into the house and getting the rugs wet...Rain, Rain, Go Away!!!!

This is my story

This is what I have typed up to submit as my presentation for my co-workers about our personal journey with Tyler so far....

April is Autism Awareness Month


I am gathering you all here today to talk to you about a very special cause that is near and dear to my heart. I know most of you know, but for those that don't, my 6 year old son Tyler has autism. We knew that something wasn't quite right with him when he was a little over a year old. He hit all of his milestones, including walking, not even crawling at 7 1/2 months! We thought for sure we had a genius on our hands. When he was over a year old, we took him to speech therapy. I thought he was just delayed and he could catch up. No big deal. He was my first child, so I just chalked it up to me needing to brush up on parenting 101.

He was in speech therapy for a year and a half. Even during that time, he made very little progress. I was wondering what would come next. He was now turning 3 and would be heading off to pre-school. Before he started pre-school, we took him to the pre-school readiness specialists. They did some tests on him and when they gave us their final report, they suspected he was developmentally delayed.

We took him to a new pediatrician who immediately gave us the number of a pediatric neurologist. We set up the appointment and got a battery of tests done on Tyler to find out what was wrong with our little guy. We finally found out on November 8, 2005 (a day I will NEVER forget), that our son was autistic. His "true" diagnosis is PDD-NOS, which is the milder form of autism. I felt crushed. My hopes and dreams had died. How could I deal with this, who could help me.

The neurologist that we saw recommended a new speech therapy facility for Tyler because we told her we were getting absolutely no where with our current one. We started the new facility in July of 2006. The therapist we worked with was awesome! She actually got my son to speak his first words. Even though I wish he would have done it for me, I am glad she got him to speak. To hear those few words from him was amazing. I literally broke down crying during his session. I could see that all was not lost and my son just may be ok.

Tyler is currently enrolled in a special autistic classroom in Davenport. He has been in the new setting since this past October and it has done wonders for him. He is talking more, spelling his first and last name, counting to 50, singing, reading a little and learning something new every day. He still will have struggles along the way, but I cannot tell you all how much it means to me that my son is learning and is even able communicate simple things to us. Our biggest obstacle is still the dreaded potty training. Tyler is slowly getting it though. Hopefully soon my house will be totally pull up free!!!

I wanted to let everyone know that April is Autism Awareness Month. I know that Build-A-Bear is selling purple satin hearts for $1.00. All of the proceeds will go directly to Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks is an organization that works with families, educators, specialists. They send out emails to let people know of upcoming seminars, walks, etc. Toys R Us also does various fund raising events throughout the year.

The biggest obstacle families face is not being able to get health care coverage for their child with autism. A lot of health care providers won't take on families with autistic children because of the expense that comes along with it. A bill was just put through to the senate to provide health care coverage for children with autism. This bill, once approved, will enable autistic children to be covered for any kind of therapies they need, including ABA therapy. ABA therapy is the most expensive kind of therapy there is. One session could run you $100!

I am including some more information about autism so you can all better understand what life is like every day for families like mine.