Imagine it was a Sunday morning. You are watching your little brother, who is nine months old eat Cheerios in his high chair. Your mom was trying to feed him those Cheerios that he loved as he giggled endlessly. Her spoon does the airplane motion towards his mouth as he enjoyed them with delight one by one. He shares eye contact with everyone around him lighting up the room with his smile.You notice each Cheerio as some of them fell out of his mouth, in fact he began to laugh and babble baby talk, "more".
Now imagine one day waking up on a Sunday morning, he is a little older now, about fifteen months old. Your mom is trying to feed him those same Cheerios that he loves. Her spoon does the airplane motion towards his mouth but it drops at her feet. He doesn't notice much, in fact he doesn't notice anything as he just stares blankly past her with no facial expression, reaction, or babbling.
It was like a light switch went off.
It all started for my brother Matthew at the young age of fifteen months old. He was a lively normally developing child, until one day something changed in him. He had loss of language and social inability with my family and I. He also began to flap his hands, walk on his tip-toes, and spin in circles for stimulation. My mother was in a sudden panic. She took him to the pediatrician. At the age of two, the doctor told her to give him six more months to grow and evaluate how his language and social skills developed. My mother would not take that for an answer. She knew something wasn't right. Two women came to our home from Early Intervention to evaluate him. His therapy started soon there after in our home. My parents took him to a developmental pediatrician. After evaluation and testing, my brother was diagnosed with Autism. Autism is defined as "a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts." My family and I were devastated and in shock, but we knew we had to get my brother the help and accommodations he needed early on.
As for schooling, he was first put into the Pre-k disabled classroom at age three and worked with the school's teacher's, occupational therapist, and speech therapist to assist him with sensory integration and speech delays. He started to talk at age three and a half, a sound my mother never thought she would hear again. He then was put in a Special Education classroom with a one on one aide, who worked with him up until third grade. Due to his progress, by third grade, he no longer needed a one on one aide. This carried over into fourth, fifth, and sixth grade as he advanced to taking some Special Ed classes mixed with some General Ed classes. My family and I are extremely proud of him for how much he had developed.
"Hey Matt, hold your horses!" I said.
"What, that's insane! I'm not holding any horses", my brother replied.
My brother Matthew is the most literal person you will ever meet. He has no concept of personal space. He is strict with rituals and routines. He is full of facts. He talks about topics most kids avoid. He has been called "weird" and has been bullied often. But, we don't see it that way. We see him as a blessing. At the age of twelve and in seventh grade now, his sense of humor and smile light up a room. With the help of my family, therapists, and school Matthew could now talk so much so, that your ears would ring! He is highly intelligent with an advanced vocabulary and a love of Science. He teaches me things that I never even knew. He can watch a movie and memorize the whole script, only to tell you what it is about, like it is nothing, word for word. Matt is also the most loving boy you will ever meet. He is always willing to give you a big bear hug.He has come this far, there's no going back. He has a great future ahead of him. He aspires one day to be a famous Scientist making ground breaking discoveries that will one day help the world become a better place. Despite all the challenges he faces day to day, there is more to my brother than what meets the eye. They say you take one step forward, only to take ten steps back. But, Matthew's been leaping over every hurdle that he has encountered in his life thus far, gradually establishing his amazing abilities.
