The Progress of a Five Year Autism Boy

I always say that I love the age Antonio is at all the time. Truth is every day he changes and I LOVE IT.  I love seeing him grow. Isn’t that what parenting is all about?  I am SO proud of this kid. 

Lately, he is SO independent. He literally doesn’t like to ask for help unless he HAS to. He loves getting dressed, undressed, putting his clothes away, and giving himself a bath. There are so many chores that he has to do each day and really likes it. In fact, he really LOVED setting up the Christmas decorations all by himself. I let him decorate anyway he wanted to because he really enjoyed it. I couldn’t pull him away from the Christmas tree; I am excited for Christmas this year with him.

He is a good listener. He literally is a rule follower and listens *most* of the time. I mean he is a toddler and sometimes I have to say things a few times, but he will listen and do what is asked. He is very curious about so many things. When he wanted to help with cooking I had to make sure that he knew the kitchen was not okay to be in without mommy. He picked up on it pretty quickly. 

He is so creative. Back to his Christmas tree.., it does not look professional but it looks adorable and he used his imagination. He put a Santa hat on top of the tree, he wanted it. I am very open to allowing my kid to use his imagination and think outside of the box. Even, when he plays with his Legos he has so much imagination and creates so many amazing things. 

All of these things might not seem like a huge deal, but as an autistic mama, IT IS. He is still incredibly behind with so many things and whenever I see progress improve, I get so excited. 

It makes my heart so happy to see him growing each day and having fun. I love seeing how much progress he has made every day. Hang in there mama’s this too shall pass.

After working in the agency and corporate world I saw so many businesses missing out on creative opportunities. There is nothing worse than going to from a website to social media only to think to yourself “is this still the same company?” Because their branding isn’t consistent! This is how businesses lose leads.

I help mid-size businesses bring in new leads because of their digital branding.

I turned my passion into a profitable business as a single mother to an autistic kid. I love filling in the gaps that are missing in businesses I crave this!

I am the Art Director of visions2images & invested over a decade mastering the digital design world and was an early insider to the Digital Marketing space learning the twists and turns of exactly how to bring that physical brand to the online space.    

Susie helps businesses grow their brand presence and connect with their target audience.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days 

The Journey of A Non-verbal Four Year Old.

Every time I hear my son make a new noise I cry a little bit 

I’m so proud of that kid and how determined he is. Ask anyone and they would agree that he is the hardest working determine kid ever. 

No doubt. I work hard to get him to communicate verbally. Even when he makes a new noise I get so excited. When he makes a new word I get excited. I keep enforcing all the good things he does by clapping and smiling after all it lights me up. Here’s the thing though.. I can’t even imagine how hard and frustrated he is because he can’t use his vocals as well as he has hoped. I can’t even imagine.  Sometimes I want to break down and cry because it is so hard for him, but he keeps smiling and laughing away. It is hard for me to see him struggle sometimes because I want to make it all better. His determination is what helps me every day. 

He tries sooooo hard to make the noises when asked to. It is so cute and fun to see how hard he tries. I begin to think why can’t be put the noises and words together? I begin to wonder if he thinks he is making the noises. I wonder what is going on inside of his head. Sometimes they sound right on but most of the time not so much. The one thing I do know is when music is on he tries to imitate the noises more than ever.  

I love the support he gets and how excited everyone gets. Just over the past 50 days he has made such critical progress including some random ya, na. So many people have cried when he makes such progress and I couldn’t be happier. People love listening and hearing his journey. This has been such an amazing journey to have him home with me and help him increase his noises. 

But he can make consistent noises when asked “up” and “oh” this is huge and has been such a blessing. I learned from his teachers how to shape the words and how to implement them with him. He has mastered these and is still working on new ones. With a non-verbal child you have to really open your mouth and show them the noises, tongue, and mouth. At first, Antonio thought it was so funny, but now it is a habit for him to make those faces when he makes those noises and it is the cutest thing ever. My closing thoughts to anyone struggling with a non-verbal child; hang in there and keep working at it all the time. Support your son, cheer him on, and love him; he will appreciate it and become even more determined and excited. 

The one thing I know is that with all the love and support he has he will be fine. One day he might talk one day he might not. It’s all in God’s hands, to be honest. But I’m here for him every single step of the journey. 

The Best Autism Parenting Books

Being a parent is no easy job, especially when you have an autistic kid. I really enjoy reading the different books that are about autism parenting books. These are all fantastic books that will help you develop a better relationship with your child.

  1. Positive Parenting for Autism: Powerful Strategies to Help Your Child Overcome Challenges and Thrive
  2. Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism 
  3. Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew: Updated and Expanded Edition 
  4. A Parent’s Guide to High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder, Second Edition: How to Meet the Challenges and Help Your Child Thrive 
  5. Autism Spectrum Disorder (revised): The Complete Guide to Understanding Autism 
  6. Autism Breakthrough: The Groundbreaking Method That Has Helped Families All Over the World 

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Asthma in Toddlers, How To Cope

Antonio was diagnosed with asthma about a year ago. We had two-three episodes where he had to be hospitalized for a few days. We had to put him on an inhaler for a long time, and we started to wean him off of it because he was doing better overall and got through some of the sick seasons without issues.

We were doing fine, alright. We went about five months off of Antonio’s inhaler when we had an episode. He was starting to get sick on and off but was acting normal. You know how sometimes being sick is crazy and unpredictable. Well, I picked him up from school, and he had a cough, the cough was worse than the day before. We went home, and usually, he takes a nap on the way home. This time he took a nap, but it was short. He woke up as soon as we got home and he was coughing horribly (almost like a choking cough) and couldn’t go back to sleep.

My husband was away for the day and wasn’t going to be home for a little while, so it was up to me to do this on my own. We came inside and tried to do activities, but he just seemed SOO tired and out of it. He started to cough more; the cough at this time was a dry cough. He didn’t have much of an appetite (which is SO unusual for him). By the end of the night, his cough worsened, and he was coughing up gunk. I started to give him his emergency inhaler, cough syrup, Tylenol, and even Claritin. He has horrible allergies and sinuses just like me.

I was worried about him going to bed; I just had a feeling. When your child coughs like that, you constantly worry if they are going to choke or stop breathing. He kept trying to fall asleep but waking up due to his cough. It was a LONG NIGHT. I brought him into my bed because he couldn’t fall asleep, and I wanted to monitor him. I thought I could get some sleep monitoring him. All that said, I started to worry more. He was wheezing and gasping for air. I was on the phone with my dad, and he said “Susie, what do you think? Don’t you think his breathing is kinda bad?” I said yeah, but no one wanted to believe me. I knew he was off and it started hours ago, but I couldn’t prevent it from happening.

It’s one of those things where it has to take its course. SO, I didn’t even think twice, hopped in the car, and took him to the ER. We were in the ER for about 4 hours (till 3 AM!). The staff did a lot of breathing treatments (with a nebulizer) and then gave him some breathing steroids. It was a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG NIGHT. I don’t even know how we stayed up that late.

Finally, they said, “You need to go to Akron Children’s Hospital and get admitted for the night.” I tried talking myself and them out of it mainly because I wanted to sleep. I said okay let’s just go. They put him in an ambulance while I ran home to get an overnight bag and let the dogs out (again, my husband was gone, so I was the caretaker).

Once I arrived, I was panicked. I didn’t know where my son was, the hospital was all locked up (which is good), but I literally couldn’t get in or find my son!!! It was so quiet and dead during the 4 am rush. I was worried… Is my son here? Is he sleeping? Did he throw tantrums? Did he scream the whole way? What was really going on? I just want to sleep. My hands are full. All these thoughts running through my mind.

I finally got to his room and let out a sigh of relief. He was SOUND ASLEEP. The ambulance ride put him right to sleep. I was so worried that he would need me, or be scared, but he wasn’t!  The nurses said he was a champ. I won’t get into too much detail about asthma because it is complicated. I crashed hard for the night and relaxed finally knowing that my son was in good hands and recovering.

They kept giving tons of treatments through out the night. People kept coming in and getting vitals. The saying is you won’t get any sleep while you are in the hospital. I felt this. I woke up next morning, knowing that we could go home soon. BUT, he wasn’t passing his tests for breathing.. I thought he was fine, but it was better safe than sorry. It was better to leave it to the professionals…

We had to stay ANOTHER NIGHT. There were lots of things happening, and, again, I won’t get into much detail. But, I realized that Akron Children’s Hospital took incredible care of us.

Here are the elements I liked the most about our stay at Akron Children’s Hospital:

  • The food…

Hospital food isn’t horrible. We were able to order food up to our room for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had access to the kitchen on the floor so that we could get other food at any time as well as drinks. There were so many options to choose from for food! It even had healthy and heart recipes noted on their menu.

  • The people…

The people were the NICEST and answered all of my questions. This instance wasn’t his first time for admittance, but I still needed my nerves to be calmed, so I kept asking questions. Talking to people calm me down and I needed this at that moment in time.

  • The overall feeling…

I felt safe, secure, and on top of the world. The hospital isn’t meant to be fun by any means, but I honestly can say that we were taken care of and had the best two days there considering. I left the facility knowing that my son was well-provided for, and they REALLY did care.

All in all, here is something that I took away from this horrible visit:

Always follow your gut and motherly instinct. I second guessed myself and tried to explain it to my husband and parents; they didn’t understand because they weren’t there. I kept talking myself out of going to the hospital, but I needed to go.I knew I needed to, but kept trying to talk myself out it. I was so glad that I was able to take him to the ER.
antonio asthama

 

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