Simon Speaks 2 All Of Us

Well, here we are.

As if I don't have enough craziness going on in my life, I have decided to start a blog. Or, I should say, ANOTHER blog. My first kinda fizzled out when I became a Facebook junkie :), because it seemed anything I wanted people to know could be found on my "wall".

Yet, as of lately, I have found that there are so many things running through my mind that it might be helpful to have some sort of "diary" to keep track of them all. Posts can only be so long on FB, and my sometimes off-hand ramblings might not be of much interest to any of my friends to be bothered with.

With that said, let me take a step back.

As many of you who will probably read this are aware of, our Simon is Autistic. He is 3 years old, and a WONDERFUL little boy. He warms my heart and I am proud to call myself his mom. However, life with Autism does present with challenges. MANY of them. I'd be lying to us all if I said it didn't.

Since his diagnosis 2 days before his 3rd birthday, I have been through the gamut of emotions...I have felt sad, I have felt helpless, I have felt alone...and I have felt joy. The last has been slow to come, but it is there. When you look at your child and get a smile back, or a big squeeze, how can you NOT feel joy? He is my son, and no matter what, I will love him with all my heart.

One of Simon's primary areas of delay is in language. When we had his evaluation done, he was saying maybe 5 words, really only 2 with repetition. A couple of weeks ago, we could count 25, and I'm sure we missed a few. His progress so far has been outstanding, and we have a team of people to thank for that. As of lately I have found myself excited - with caution - about what our future could hold for us, and my soul has been put more at ease.

I decided to start this blog after I recently attended the Autism Society of America's National Conference in Dallas, TX. Seeing adults who are successfully living with Autism along with numbers of people all there to share a common interest has renewed my spirit in tackling this thing head-on. I also found that I have so many thoughts and ideas that I just need to GET OUT of my head...so, what better way to do that than to blog? I feel there is so much to be learned from our experiences and those of others that I want to share them openly and encourage others to do so as well.

Even though Simon doesn't have many words...Simon SPEAKS. He speaks in ways that don't need words...literally, he uses body language, gestures, picture cards and sometimes just a good 'ole push to get what he wants. More than that, he SPEAKS to me in ways that are teaching me new things about him, myself, and the world that I wouldn't have been challenged to learn otherwise. I just have to make sure that I am paying attention - LISTENING - and taking advantage of the opportunity.

In this same way, I think that Simon can SPEAK to us all. Who of us couldn't use a different vantage point on the world once in awhile? It is only through education and understanding that the world will become more accepting of Autism and help us in our journey. My hope is that maybe if I share our world and my madness with you :), maybe it will bring us all a step closer. Oh, and that you will learn to enjoy Simon just for who he is, Autism and all!