Our son was a normal happy child when he was little. He played with other children, laughed and loved to be hugged. When he was 5 and started kindergarten the teacher started to notice behavior problems. They progressively got worse and he stopped playing with other children and started obsessing. He no longer wanted hugs. Through the next few years he withdrew, became very anti-social and started throwing huge temper tantrums. The doctors first decided he was ADHD, OCD, Severe Anxiety. He started having issues paying attention and became disruptive. Around 8 years old he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. We had an MT a TSS and he was on medication. None of it seemed to help much and we thought our happy little boy was gone forever. We couldn't take him shopping with us, he would climb the racks, run off and make a huge scene. The worst was listening to people whisper that we needed to get control of our child or he is a bad boy. One day our daughter overheard a remark someone made and simply turned around and said my brother is Autistic and walked away. I was extremely proud of her. We spent years with MT's, TSS's, counseling, fighting for an IEP and medications thinking we were never going to get anywhere. When he went into 9th grade I feared the change in school and schedule would set him back drastically. The beginning of October he started to loosen up a bit and then out of the blue he told me he had a girlfriend and he wanted to take her to Homecoming! I was shocked and almost didn't believe him. All of a sudden his awkwardness and his anti-social behavior were getting less. He kept making progress. He was making friends and doing well in his classes. He joined the lacrosse team with his older brother! Our son was back!! It was like someone flipped a switch when he was 5 and turned him off and when he was 14 they turned it back on. He was discharged from MT and TSS services.

Michelle
Lancaster, PA