Today my son turned and waved goodbye to me as he went into therapy. I was astonished and elated. For thirteen long years something as simple as a wave has eluded him. Thirteen years of prompting, coaxing, and demonstrating for the simplest form of communication. I cannot even begin to describe the road Sam and I have traveled searching for help. Research, vitamins, conventional therapy, unconventional therapy, all good – with results arduous and miniscule. But today my son turned and waved goodbye as he went to therapy, it was spontaneous and without prompting.

I was thrilled and a wave of sadness came over me as if mourning a feeling I am very familiar with. I think with autism, parents mourn the loss of speech, childhood, friends, birthdays, school events, independence, safety, and the loss of your child telling you what happened in school today even to answer a simple question of “where did that bruise come from?” And the guessing game of trying to figure out what is wrong when they are sick and did someone mistreat them in school that day. I felt sad because Sam could have been receiving the help he needed and has not received until now.

In just a few short hours of therapy at ABA Academy, under the talented hand of Nancy Wagner and her team of therapists, Sam is responding and making substantial leaps of progress like dressing himself (yea!), asking a for a drink – answering a question with a yes or no – pushing the shopping cart around the grocery store without any help – acquiring vocabulary bit by bit – gaining confidence and acquiring self-confidence. These things seem simple until you don’t have them. As a parent I live in torment of the future and what my child may encounter… my imagination can be brutal. To me the need for his continued therapy at ABA Academy is self-evident without going into tormenting detail of what his future would be without it.

–Paige