Diego in 2009!!

Diego is being having a great year. He is very stable, comfortable and happy all the time.

Diego just turned 10 years old, and he's almost as tall as me. I believe that last time we measured him, he was 5 feet tall! (I'm 5'3.5") I'm not going to say his weight, to respect his privacy :), but let's say he is a big boy!!

We are living in a different state now, and Diego had to go through the process of a move, new house, new school and new surroundings. This all happened last summer. After that and for the following 4 or 5 months (that felt like 4 or 5 years), Diego was in a rollercoaster ride, with some ups and many downs. I will never know for sure if all the changes were to blame, or if it was just an internal process, with the toxicity playing a role in his discomfort.

Whatever it was, it's in the past! Diego is doing great and he feels so good!! It's really a joy to watch him.
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He's using a communication device that resembles a PDA. Really cool! He uses it very efficiently and we are expanding on it very often. For example, Diego uses the device to ask to go to places and pushes the button that says "Let's go!" and then he selects where he wants to go, like "Chuck E Cheese". However, if he wants to ASK where are we going, he selects the same button. That is when, we realize that we need to keep on adding to the device!! Diego is communicating not only by expressing his wants and needs, but by asking questions!!! Maybe you don't realize it, but this is GREAT!!! He also uses it if he wants to play games, like spying colors, or if he just wants to let us know that it's raining outside!! "Rainy" :)

He's been doing great in school, and we are planning activities which are more age appropriate for him. His showing us he can take up more academically and socially, so we just need to keep up with him!!

Everyone around him is very loving. This is very important to me. See, when a child is a little toddler or a young kiddo, you just love him because he's very cute. I was always worried that as he grew older, the cute factor, that used to charm everyone around him before, would go away. Well, maybe it's because I'm the mom and I see him mom eyes, but Diego remains being as cute as always, and he shows everyone how loving and well behaved he is.

I'm very happy to have built a community of friends in our new place, where everyone include him and relate to him so naturally. Diego loves being around our friends and I even had to add a button to his device that says "Friend's House" because he loves going to visit people!

Our new goal is teaching him to type. That way he can tell us anything he wants without being limited by the buttons I program in his device. He is doing very well and I get super excited when I see him writing words in dictation!!! I guess I never realized that we could get here and do things like this already!!

I remind myself every day, that with Diego, the sky is the limit. This child has tremendous potential and he surprises me constantly with the amount of things he understands and knows.

I love you Diego. I believe in you!!!

1 in 97 children diagnosed....

Just a few days ago, the "new numbers" of the autism incidence hit the news. I was very surprised with how unemotional I was about it. I mean, it's scary..., alarming..., an epidemic! I know. But then, I think of how broad the spectrum is, and what these numbers really represent. The Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the term used now, to encompass all the different disorders including PDD and Aspergers Syndrome to mention just a couple. Well, a child with a diagnosis of PDD or Aspergers looks very different from my child.

The study goes as far as saying that 40% of the children diagnosed with ASD at an early age, loose their diagosis years later. Some wonder if they were diagnosed correctly to start with, while others point to the treatments that made it possible to recover the child.

You see, Diego has the classic form of autism, he is non verbal and to be honest, he could be the poster child of a kid with developmental delays, if you watch him stemming all day long. Diego received an early diagnosis and early intervention started even before that. We have followed all the treatments, studied the research, the latest interventions, the diets, the protocols.

I'm sure Diego has benefited tremendously from all of it. But Diego isn't even close to lose his diagnosis. Diego doesn't look like many kids with autism do.

My point is, it's hard for me to relate to the new numbers, when so many of the kids being diagnosed with the same diagnosis that my son has, don't really seem to have anything in common with him.

I believe in treatments. I believe in diets. I believe in recovery. But I have learned that as each child is different, the results of the treatment are also different.

I believe that whoever came up with the conclusion that this disorder is a SPECTRUM, was very right. The manifestations are different and the results to interventions are different.

Well, enough said about that. Let's brief you on what's going on with my little one (really, not so little anymore!!!)