The Diagnosis.

For years, We've known that there was something special about our son.  He sees the world through different lenses than most people.  We have marveled over his verbal skills, his ability to recall memories that most kids wouldn't remember, his ability to create just about anything out of Legos, his detailed information about Star Wars or any other special interest, his zest to learn, his fondness of numbers and Math as well as Science.  He is quite an incredible kid and a great thinker.

Over the years we started noticing other things like food adversions, due to texture and gag reflex, a heightened sense of pain, smell, lights being too bright, sudden loud noises, heightened anxiety to trying new things or even seeing a new movie or reading a new book series, irrational fears, such as volcanoes erupting under his bed, a tornado coming to destroy our home, a comet hitting our house, he has a very strong sense of fairness and is very black and white.  Most recently our son is noticing other kids are teasing him and he is quite sensitive to it.

Our sons school suggested we test him and we got the results in this week.  He is diagnosed with High Functioning Autism(HFA) which is virtually the same thing as Aspergers Syndrome(AS) and qualifies for Autism Spectrum Disorders services through our school district.  This brings about a sense of relief and a sense of loss at the same time.  Relief because it verifies what we have thought for a while now, a sense of loss because the way we looked at how things would work for our son are a bit different now.  We are questioning the HFA versus AS.  Even though they are very similar and are treated in the same way, the difference is categorized by the onset of symptoms, particularly language development.  Our sons language at an early age was advanced for his age.  He was speaking in full sentences by 18 months and using words that most 18 month olds didn't use.  He did not have the typical language delay, so we are wondering why he wasn't given an Aspergers diagnosis.  We are going to meet with the diagnostician before our son's ARD meeting at school just to clarify and find out their reasoning.  Honestly, the treatment would be the same and in the larger picture it doesn't really matter.  He will get the help he needs with his education and social issues.

There has been a bit of a change in our journey with our son, but we are still going forward in our journey.  I'm not saying it will be easy.  God has given us this boy and given us the tools to raise him up and with His help and staying in community with our friends, and getting the help our son will need, we will succeed.  We are so thankful for the friends in our lives that have been there throughout this process, who have encouraged us, prayed with us, cried with us, laughed with us and stood in the gap for us.  We have amazing friends!