My youngest grandson’s birthday was on October 31st and he was 10 years old. 10 Years ago I was fortunate and blessed to be present at his birth. 4 years ago I was fortunate and blessed to be present when his mother received his diagnosis of Autism. AJ was diagnosed as severely autistic. He was non-verbal and “a runner”. Keeping him safe required extreme vigilance and kept his mother busy. She and my son had just gotten divorced and she had moved to Wisconsin, near her family. A couple of weeks after AJ’s diagnosis, my husband and I asked my daughter-in-law and grandson to move in with us. We were already “running an Autism friendly house” since my middle son had been diagnosed at age 16 with Asperger’s and we had plenty of room. I have never been sorry about that decision.
The progress that AJ has made in the past 4 years has been amazing. He is now in the 4th grade, at grade level and is as talkative as any other 4th grader. Both he and my son are on the DAN (Defeat Autism Now) protocol and the gains both of them have made are wondrous. AJ has improved so much that he would now probably not easily be diagnosed as having Autism. I love AJ’s extreme literal thinking and he brings so much delight into my life. He said something the other day and I laughed. He asked me if I was laughing at him and I told him no, that he brought so much joy into my life that I was laughing because of the happiness and love he gives to me. Then he laughed too!
Here is the special birthday card that I made for my sweet Halloween grandchild.
Supplies are pretty easy here so I won’t list them. I used our retired Hooligans Paper Pack and the Party Animal Stamp Set (D1437).
Hope you all had a Happy and Safe Halloween!
your story of your grandson is heartwarming and brought tears to my eyes and I have not been touched by autism. Thank you for sharing!
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