Embracing autism instead of fearing it

Without The Son-Rise Program, I would have seen Nathan’s scripting as his deficiency, his autism, a tragedy, the brain injury the doctors saw from his baby brain scans. Thankfully, I see it now as my son trying his very best to communicate given what he has.

About 6 months ago, Nathan would string the craziest words together like, “dragonfly-spam” or “pumpkin-faucet” I would join him by stringing the same words together in a song or peek-a-boo manner, which made him laugh.

It was not what was said that mattered but how exciting it was repeated, how he looked at me and maintained eye-contact and how willing he was to keep this interactive game going.

Today this scripting game has evolved into an interactive game with questions and answers. One of us will ask while the other would answer then we would both laugh and cheer at how funny and interactive the game was. We ask silly questions like: What’s the sound of Teacher Eden sneeze (cough, laugh, fart, etc)? Then move on to anything under the sun like: What’s the sound of ? What’s the sound of ? Who (should make the sound next)? In the end we would have asked tons of questions all in lengthy “conversation”. Yes, a conversation with my son with autism!

We started our Son-Rise Program 2 years ago. Back then, Nathan had no intentional speech, he had very little eye contact, he would not even respond to his name. Back then, his future, or at least my impression of his future, was bleak.

Today, he is learning to spontaneously ask and answer “what” and “who” questions without dropping his glance. He is learning to make conversation. He craves for attention and approaches me anytime of the day wanting similar games to play. This is all because I chose to celebrate his scripting instead of fear it.

Life is beautiful! Thanks to the Son-Rise Program!

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Anything is achievable

When I see a 3-year-old, climb up on the wrong end of the slide, I think, “Wow, strong kid!”

When I see my 7-year-old climb up, turn around half way and slide himself down, I think, “FANTASTIC!” Even with his Cerebral Palsy (limited ability to walk or move lower limbs), Nathan can achieve anything he sets his mind on doing! While celebrating his climb, I must have sounded like a whole stadium cheering for their favorite sports team.

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So simple yet so blissful

After helping Nathan up the school bus, I had a small chat with the driver who said that Nathan has improved a lot and so has his twin sister, Amor.

I turned to look at Nathan and he said with an big smile “Bye-bye.” I gave him a big hug and blew him a kiss as I waived. He blew the kiss right back at me!

Wow! More than a year ago, the bus had to urgently leave as soon as Nathan is seated because he couldn’t understand waiting and would tantrum, even threaten to bite. Though at that time, he started saying “good bye”, his interactive attention span was not long enough to blow me a kiss. But today, it all seemed so simple for him 🙂

Life is good!

Understanding concepts

I’m so fascinated at how well Nathan has been expressing his understanding of concepts. He says:

I want water. Are you thirsty? (Translation: I am thirsty)

I want a snack. Are you hungry?

Look o. All the kids like it (scripting probably from school. Then, few minutes later:)
Can you see, all the children like it.

Unlike nouns, I was never sure if Nathan understood concepts like: hungry, thirsty, look and see. Apparently, he does.

Amazing how all in one day, so many concepts, well understood, are mentioned by Nathan!

“Healing” autism

When Nathan was about 3, I asked his Developmental Neurologist why he never sweats. She answered, “It’s normal.”

When Nathan was 4 and regressed further into autism, I asked a well known autism doctor if Nathan’s constipation had anything to do with his autism. The doctor said, “No.”

As I expected, my instincts were right. Now that I learned more from research and encountering many parents “healing” their kids with autism, I have learned that sweat is an important detox route. I have learned that 70% of health is on the gut. Chronic constipation is a sign of a very sick body.

Doctors, who were supposed to be helping me through life with a child with autism, couldn’t give me answers. It took parents to figure it out.

Today with many biomedical interventions, I’m finally noticing sweat beads on Nathan’s head. We’re opening a detox pathway! This is so important for a child who’s body is heavily loaded with toxins that he cannot handle.

Today, we’re finally healing Nathan’s gut, which has been compromised with constant constipation from age 3 to age 7, because I wasn’t getting expert advice back then. Constipation became chronic and worse as he got older. A big difference from his good bowels as a baby and toddler.

As Nathan’s body is healing, we’re seeing him slowing come out of his autism shell.

I’m blessed to have met so many parents on their journeys healing their kids with autism and lighting the path for us new parents.