My baby boy...

My 6-year old son was diagnosed with Autism (PDD-NOS, specifically) almost 4 years ao. Thanks to countless hours of occupational therapy and a fabulous special-ed pre-school (which he attended between the ages of 2.5 - 5), he's doing very well. He has been completely mainstreamed into regular-ed and no longer receives any special services save for language therapy with a speech pathologist twice weekly. To be honest - his diagnosis is something I only occasionally think about anymore.

For the past few days, though, it's been on my mind a lot as he's been having a rough time with things. We've seen a number of these "rough spots" throughout the past 3+ years. They're always upsetting and cause us fear that we're going to lose him to some Autistic "funk". (We never have so I know the fear is un-founded - emotions are what they are, though.) We've noticed a fairly predictable pattern - the "rough spots" are almost always followed by a period of tremendous growth developmentally, physically and/or cognitively. It's kind of like a "two steps backwards, one step forward" thing. Even with that knowledge, though, it's easy to get discouraged when we see regression and wonder if maybe he might not pull out of it this time. It's so hard to see him, after months of doing so well, suddenly lose the very skills/abilities that he just worked so hard to gain, "get" and master. It's hard to see him struggle. He's such a special and incredible little guy who has had to fight/work so hard for things that come to "typical" children so easily...

(Reminding myself...) Patience, Mom - trust in the past and have faith...