Ever come to a place in your life where you’re torn between two choices? Or you’re out taking a walk or hiking in the woods and see a fork in the road?
Both paths seem enticing, both may seem adventurous and full of possibilities. But, you have to make a choice… which one should I take?
I have been at this state for some time now.
I have produced several chapters in a story that’s been in the making for some time, Memoirs of a Super Hero. The story, the characters, the scenes are still very much alive inside me, but the reality I live in keeps influencing me to take a different path.
My youngest son, Nicholas was diagnosed with a condition called PDD/NOS (Pervasive development disorder, not otherwise specified) and later autism after the age of three. It took us many visits to different specialists, but finally, we knew what was wrong. For years my husband and I looked into several therapies, OT (Occupational therapy), PT (physical therapy), ABA, Speech, Floor Time, SI (Sensory Integration therapy), Music therapy, diets, GI testing, and many, many more techniques in helping our son. We even went as far as creating a support group in our local community. We wanted to learn as much as we could. We wanted to share all the things we discovered with everyone we knew, and the most beautiful, inspiring revelations were that, we were not alone.
My son is fifteen now and my beloved husband passed away August 13, 2015 from a sudden massive heart attack.
A few years before his death, we came across a program called the Son-Rise program. It’s located in Sheffield, Massachusetts. The program is totally unique, and by this, I mean it wasn’t your typical, run-of-the-mill type therapy for children with autism. It was originally developed by parents. Bears and Samhaira Kaufman, parents which truly helped their son, and their son’s name is Raun Kaufman. He was diagnosed with the same condition as our son, and today, Raun is the CEO of the Autism Treatment Center of America and studied at Brown University. I have personally met him and I must say he is absolutely an incredible person and inspiring man. I will add a link to the program below. But, his parents took a different stance at approaching children with not only autism, but other related disabilities and the results were and are amazing.
Sadly, the program my husband I had established soon faded when he passed, it was very hard for me to even get out of bed some days. I felt as if a huge part of me had been physically torn from my soul. I can’t even express in words just how deeply his passing affected me. The one thing that kept me from totally losing my sanity was my sons. And still to this day, I strive to help, comfort and love my children.
So, which path have I elected?
The one that may change the entire way I view autism, a path that my youngest son has prompted me to take and so, our journey begins…
This is where I plan to write about our hope for Nick, how we will reestablish our mission, our goals and the program. I debated for months whether or not I should blog about this, and it wasn’t until I had talked with my closest and dearest friend, that it would be a positive thing.
As promised, here is the link to the Son-Rise program – The Son-Rise program
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