It was about 17 years ago when our twin sons were diagnosed in Columbia, Missouri with autism and mental retardation at the age of 2. At the time we had no clue what autism was, but we had heard of mental retardation (MR). Future for us was now very unknown. I was in the military at the time and figured the best course of action was to provide the boys with stability so we returned home with family and friends around us. Autism is something that takes a large group of family and friends to help with the lifestyle. Autism reaches beyond every parents ability and requires services and external support to improve the child and family’s quality of life.
Our University Hospital visit was in March 2002. As we waited in the waiting room I just wanted to hear the doctor say nothing was wrong and our twin boys were naturally delayed. Optimism was not reality on that day. We were informed the boys had low muscle tone and developmental delays and were clear indications of autism. Prognosis was kind of ominous and we had no answers just lots of questions and no idea where to find answers.
It’s initially hard to accept the diagnosis and how to deal with the obstacles that were ahead of us. We surfed hard on the internet for hours and it was not promising with what we read. We absorbed as much as possible. In Missouri, we were introduced to the Parent to Parent program. This is a support network for parents of children with special needs. The network provides direct access to professionals that quickly assess and place children to gain access to services faster than if tried independently.
We then began our work to find all the support and therapy to treat the boys. There were therapists that came to the home to assess and treat children like ours on the autism spectrum. They recommended, We have the boys hearing checked. I was certain they were not deaf because every time the teletubbies came on they ran to the screen of television listening to the music. We knew they could hear. The testing room for hearing on a two year old is unique in that there are plush animals to look at within and outside the sound booth. As the toys made sounds the technician would record reaction to determine if child acknowledged the sound. After all complete, the boys hearing was confirmed that they can hear.
Now that we had the hearing confirmed, we were able to continue therapy at home and figure out the next chapter of our family’s life living with autism. I then transitioned to the Army Reserves to be home with our extended family we made arrangements for the boys to continue services.
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