In October of 2009, a nine year old boy sits in a small room answering questions and playing with toys while a mom and a dad look anxiously through the two way mirror.
They are waiting for answers to questions of their own, nine years worth of questions that has lead to whirlwind of emotions, leaving the mom and dad weary, emotionally drained.
Finally, after two hours, the doctor hands them a gift
A diagnosis.
Once more a flurry of mixed emotions overwhelm them, ranging from joy to grief.
Grief for the continuing long, difficult road ahead for the three of them.
Joy that their instincts of 'something not quite right' were validated after so long being told that there was nothing wrong, that their son will grow out of it, while their son continued to display disturbing behaviour.
The mom, the dad and the boy, finally had a name for that 'something not quite right'
Autism.
I want to welcome you to this blog I entitled Love's Journey with autism, because the above introduction described my family situation two years ago.
Christian Peter Traverse was diagnosed with high functioning autism in October 2009 after nine years of knowing there was something wrong with our child.
How his father and I knew that the high pitched screams that seemed to come from nowhere, the self inflicted injuries, the obsessive focusing on only one thing, crying out in agony when he heard an alarm or vacuum cleaner. Sensitivity to the slightest touch, were he could not bear his fingernails or toenails getting trimmed, or making haircuts a nightmare, was not normal, to us.
However, to every other medical professional, it meant nothing, just a stage that Christian would grow out of of.
He did not.
It got worse.
Finally, a compassionate teacher believed us, after observing his behaviour in her class and got the ball rolling to the diagnosis.
It took two more years on the waiting list for Christian to see the proper medical professionals, but it was worth the wait to finally know that his condition had a name and he was going to be helped.
I have no technical or statistical knowledge about autism, I can only write about the day to day journey that I am on with Christian as I struggle to understand his struggles as he is living them.
I will be pouring out my heart onto these pages, the ups and the downs, the battles and victories with living with a gift with autism.
Also, from time to time, Christian will pop in and say hello!
I hope you come on this journey with us!
Love, Tina
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