When you hear the word autism, what do you think?
That’s right, the spectrum is so large that no one really knows what to think. This is how two parents reacted when trying to help their child…
When our son Marcello was 3 years old, my husband and I realized he had autism, so we decided to take him to occupational and speech therapy. After one year of sessions he improved his ability to identify objects to only 25%. Having observed the therapist, we then worked with Marcello at home and three months later he could identify objects at 100%, but still not speaking.
At age 4 he started attending a special preschool, and we were very pleased with his teacher (Mrs. Valade) and his Para-pro, (Mrs. Radcliffe) who adored our son and worked really hard with him. When Marcello first came to class he was extremely sensitive to sights and sounds, but within two weeks he was no longer covering his ears and was sitting with the rest of the class without wearing a weight blanket. One special moment was when Mrs. Valade taped a session where he was doing the motions with the rest of the class to the “Wheels on the Bus.” It was so emotional… I cried, and she did too.
Mrs. Valade also bought a little plastic microphone that echoes your voice when it’s spoken into, and worked with Marcello. One day when I picked him up from school she was so excited, and holding Marcello close, she grabbed the microphone and said “Hi” into it. Looking first at her, then at me, Marcello leaned his face into the microphone and said, in his sweet little voice, “Hi.”
That was the most unforgettable moment, because for the first time we knew our son could talk! Now today, as I write this, he’s learning to put sentences together...
Rochester Hills, MI
