Caleb arrived on April 9th, 2006 @10:06am on a Sunday morning, <strong id="el-1334777394974-398">seventeen weeks (17) ahead of his due date</strong> weighing 1 lb 6 oz. If you open the NICU book on all the things that a preemie could go through you would see Caleb's name next to it, from NEC to ROP he struggled through and survived it all. You can see his baby story on [url=http://www.babysites.com/sites/rnancoo/default.asp?page=myjournal&seq=1]Babysites.
<br id="el-1334777467513-390"><br id="el-1334777467513-391">Caleb walked at an early age and started babbling very early for his age as well. Because he was so early we could never tell what was normal developmental milestones for him.
At 2 yrs old we noticed that he could not tolerate when babies would cry, that would send him into a full meltdown of tears and pure terror trying to get out of the room. He never played with normal kids toys nor approached any children his own age.
He was also babbling and saying mummy and daddy and making baby sounds at an early age. At some point during that time he lost significant speech though not all of it.
Last year April 2010 to be exact we were ask to visit his school psychologist to discuss his tests. At the end to summarize the most upsetting day was to hear and by the way "we think he is on the Autism spectrum." I would say here that there needs to be more training on the schools part on how to deliver news like this to a parent and to having a plan once you do. This school did not do this right not just by my own standards but for any parent there should be some follow up and a plan on what that parent should do next.<br id="el-1334777394975-399"><br id="el-1334777394975-400">
None of this was in Zach or my plans when we though of having a child. We do not know what it means to be happily pregnant nor do we know what normal is for development milestones other than what we read in books. In a nutshell Caleb gets away with nothing and everything is attributed to "how can we change this behavior via ABA." We too are still trying to figure all this out to get and provide Caleb with the best services we can to help him along.
<br id="el-1334777467513-394"><br id="el-1334777467513-395">Life is not without its struggles for us especially on days when we get the calls that he has had a meltdown and lashed out at crying children. Still we would not trade any of this if it means we could not have our sweet angel boy. We believe Gods purpose in everything including Calebs life. We see such pure joy, pure innocence when he laughs, sings and dances.
We are grateful for Terry and the Central Autism Institute. She has been the biggest educator and champion for us in the last year.
The issue with Autism remains raising awareness and needed therapies to families who cannot afford it.
In Honor of Caleb and children like him help us to raise money and raise awareness! Please share with everyone! Also visit http://www.cfaii.org for more information.
<br id="el-1334777556161-401"><br id="el-1334777556161-402">Thank you,
Zach and Ria