Journey with Dawson

There are two questions that are asked of Ruth and I about Dawson very often. The first is when did you know that Dawson had autism. The second is what were some of the signs that led you to believe Dawson might have autism. There are many different stages that take place in this process and I will be as open and honest as I can how things transpired. Dawson was born and did not have any problems at all. All we knew on Jan 31st, 2004 was that we had a beautiful blue eyed baby boy. He hit all of his milestones that docter’s look for in a baby as well–rolling over, sitting up, eating baby food, sleeping through the night, growing in weight and height.  He babbled and made “baby sounds” as much as any other kid does saying dadadada, mamamama, so we thought all was going well.  At some point before he was 2 years old he stopped making those sounds and regressed to making hardly any noises at all.  So we did what our Doctor in NC told us to do–put him in Speech therapy. I’m not sure what caused this incredible regression some people say shots, some say you are born with autism–the truth is I have no idea. Autism is very real in our world 1 in 94 boys are diagnosed with autism. Our Doctor did not think there was a problem which led us to believe Dawson was simply speech delayed. I’m going to list out my thoughts to you so you can understand what a parent goes through.

- We noticed Dawson wasn’t babbling

-I noticed Dawson enjoyed watching the wheel on the stroller go round and round– this is a stim

-He began flapping his arms whenever he was happy

-He didn’t engage with other kids (during playtime)

-He didn’t play with his toys appropriately–He would line up all of his toys into a straight line across the room

-He enjoyed watching things spin (ceiling fan, toys, etc..)

We kept thinking and praying He would somehow snap out of it, as months went on He never really snapped out. The first person who gave us a clue that Dawson had autism was the Gwinnett County School System. They informed us they were going to take him out of his Special Education class and put him in a autistic class. This was like a HUGE DEAL in our lives. We pretty much knew at this point Dawson had autism but were still in denial. Let me put it into perspective for you, I have lost both of parents this was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to accept. God has been good and Dawson continues to grow and develop next post I’ll focus on the positive. I just wanted to be Real with you. Thank you for your prayers and support if you would like to help Dawson through giving a gift through our church here is how you can give a gift that is a tax deduction. Thank you.