About us, about Chase

Well where do I start? The beginning......it was 3 years ago (4 this coming June) when Chris and I were sat down in our living room and told what we already suspected, Chase has Autism. I remember we just looked at him and thought why him, what did he do to deserve this? What did we do wrong? There were no answers then, there are still no answers now. Naturally he started speech therapy (he is nonverbal) and when he turned 3 they put him into a special classroom for children with speech and language delays. Looking back on it now I should have said something, I should have said "No this isn't good enough" but everything was in such a fog and you should be able to trust what professionals are telling you so we did. At this point at 3 years old he still had no words, no communication. He had some sensory issues, loved to be held and squeezed, wouldn't let anyone near his mouth and loved to spin everything and line everything up nice and neatly. There was some flapping but not a whole lot, it certainly didn't take over his concentration. The school year ended and he didn't progress at all, the teacher blamed Chris for Chase's attendence being so poor (Chris was home with the kids then) like she didn't believe us when we said that Chase was sick. So at 4 he started his second year of school, this time at a different school. He was enrolled into the Marvin E. Beekman Center, it is truly one of a kind in my opinion. He still wasn't in the AI room, he was put into another speech and language delay room but this teacher understood him, she had been doing it for years and had experience with Autism, that alone meant alot. We saw progress! He was using some sign and using some PECS for things he wanted, this was huge! He did lose somethings, he didn't like to have the weighted vest on anymore or the weighted blanket. He gained the need to flap more, alot more. The toe walking started about this time also. So another school year passed, this time with wonderful news, Chase would be starting in the AI room in the fall! Plus he would be in summer school in that room so he would be there year round. Chris and I got to meet the teacher, Karen Pruitt and we fell in love with her right away. She knew Chase the second she saw him, she understood him, she knew how to communicate with him, a bigger bonus: she knew how to teach us what to do so that we were a team. That brings us to the current. Chase is 5 years old, he will be 6 in July. He is still nonverbal, but has many "happy" sounds and sounds that might possibly be words one day. He still has sensory issues which have now increased to eating everything nonedible perfering rubber, plastic or foam. He still toe walks about 80% of the time and he is constantly flapping or finger popping. He can be mean, very mean actually and is able to take me down to the floor easily when he wants to. Meltdowns still come but usually only when he has over stimmed himself so we try to avoid letting him do that. He likes to throw things when he is mad and he has a pretty good aim, he nailed me in the head with a hotwheel from across the room, and he likes to drop down to the floor when he doesn't want to do something and if you have ahold of him you are going down too. He hisses when he is made and pushes his chin into you really hard so you know he is mad. In a nutshell that is Chase as of today, as for tomorrow only time will tell.