On Saturday, we joined hundreds of people at Walk Now for Autism Speaks to raise awareness for those affected by autism and raise funds for autism research. This was our first walk as it has been one year since Will's official diagnosis. We were proud to walk with our beautiful son and among friends and family who love and support us. The last year and a half has been a whirlwind of doctors, specialists, therapists, evaluations, lifestyle changes and learning. It is the perfect opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and exactly why we walk.
Two years ago, we took Will to his very first zoo. We walked the entire zoo, and Will never noticed one animal. It wasn't that he didn't like the zoo or that he was scared of the animals, it was as if the animals didn't exist. He literally didn't see them. That was the first time I really knew something was off. It was a trying time as we were desperate to not only understand why Will was not developing on a typical path but to simply just understand our son. He couldn't talk to us, couldn't explain why he was so angry and frustrated all of the time or why he didn't seem interested in enjoying the world around him. In the last year and a half, Will's independent words have increased, his ability to follow instructions has improved, he smiles all of the time, interacts with us on a daily basis, learned how to swim (see following Facebook post for video), is potty trained and is ready to start learning how to play with friends among many other things. I realized that we have come full circle when we brought Will over to a therapy horse who was at the walk for the kids to visit. He not only saw the horse but was eager to pet him, told us the horse was "soft," desperately wanted to ride him, learned his name and told him "bye bye Charlie" when we had to leave. This is why we walk. Because our kids our worth the time it takes to understand their learning differences. They deserve to have researchers spend countless hours determining the best ways to reach them, teach them and interact with them. They deserve every opportunity to be happy and succeed in this life. While it may take more effort for those of us with "typical" brains to understand our friends on the spectrum, it is completely worth it. Thank you to my dad, sister and our friend Jason for braving the rain to walk with us and for the many of you that committed to walk but couldn't because of the weather, sick children, etc. Thank you to my mom for watching Andrew so we could be at the walk with Will and a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to Autism Speaks in Will's name. Your love and support mean the world to us!
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Charming, quirky and incredibly loving. Will loves his friends, swimming, the iPad, the Avett Brothers, observing the world upside down, climbing, jumping and being chased.
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October 2017
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