I had a son 9 weeks early, with many developmental delays. He started therapies at 4 months old; speech, PT, OT, and developmental intervention. He banged his head into metal file cabinets, he pulled his own hair, he cried a lot, and he just seemed like a very tense, angry little person. Our older son has Aspergers, but still, we didn't put two and two together, because they seemed so different from one another. Finally, in 3rd grade, our youngest was tested and diagnosed with autism. Even though it made sense to me, I still didn't want to accept that I hadn't caught it myself after already having a child on the spectrum. He's 11 years old now, and he's gone through some struggles, and continues to struggle, but he's made progress, and that's what is all about. He's suffered through bullying, knowing he's different, desperately wanting friends, but everyone seems to think he's just "weird," and academic difficulties. He has a hard life, but we try to make it as fun and encouraging as possible. The photo I've included is one of him at a military museum near Ft. Bragg when we went on vacation this summer. He is obsessed with all things military, and this is the happiest I've seen him in a long time. He wants to enlist after high school, but I've recently found out that no branch of the military will accept him with his diagnosis and medication. I don't have the heart to tell him. He will join the cadet program at his middle school in the fall. After middle school, he'll join the high school JROTC, but that's probably as close as he'll get to being in the military, sadly. We worry about his future. We worry about his present... We just worry.

Lauren Aranda
Louisville, KY