Appreciate the Small Stuff!: HE MADE IT!!!!!

Appreciate the Small Stuff!: HE MADE IT!!!!!: Today was AWESOME!!!!!! But I'm going to tell some back story first. At 18 months, Daniel went from a vocabulary of 75 words to not talkin...

HE MADE IT!!!!!

Today was AWESOME!!!!!! But I'm going to tell some back story first.

At 18 months, Daniel went from a vocabulary of 75 words to not talking at all.  (Give me a break, I was a first time mom.  I wrote down every word he said.)  At three, he still wasn't speaking much, uncomfortable/unconcerned with people, had night terrors, anxiety, but could read.  He was the weirdest but most beautiful boy ever.  He started language therapy with the school district with the ruling of "language delay".  At 5, we were told by a psychologist that he was mentally handicapped while Daniel sat in the room reading "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling (and not the Disney version). We wrote that guy off as a kook, and had him retested.  He was given the diagnoses of "Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism" at 6.  Since then, we have homeschooled, had language therapy, gone to conferences, and read books trying to find ways to helping him.

And then today, we went to our private therapist to have testing done so we could restart private therapy.  AND HE TESTED NORMAL!!!! He has never been in a normal range in the pragmatic, listening, and social language.  But now at 10, he made it!!! He has had a lot of set backs this year.  Anxiety has gotten awful, so we started on medication.  Meds have help tremendously.  This was after we tried everything else first; gluten free, sugar free, carbohydrate specific diet, exercise, and counseling.  I was torn apart by the decision to medicate, but we tried everything else. 

Anyway, he has made such improvements.  We are ecstatic with how well he is doing.  He is in a 7th grade science book, 6th grade math, vocabulary, and social studies book.  Not bad for a "mentally handicapped" kid.  (That Psychologist puts the "o" in "psycho") 

We are encouraged that since we made it to this point with Daniel; we will make it with Gabriel, who was diagnosed last month with Asperger's.  Thanks for the prayers and please continue.