Its Not A Gift

Many Many times I have heard people say that they thought of Autism as a gift. 

In my head I am thinking "seriously?" In no way shape or form have I ever thought of it as a gift for my son. I do not think I ever will and I have had people try to persuade me into thinking different. 

I consider my son a gift. Not his "diagnosis". I know a lot of people will not want to hear this but Autism is a disability. We have to learn how to cope with it. 

My son was given a preliminary diagnosis at the age of 18 months. If it was not for my mother I am not so sure I would have even had the thought of Autism cross my mind. He was (and is) the perfect little boy I always wanted besides having some skin issues and some delay in his development. I actually passed this on as me being a stay at home mom and him not being around very many children. 

My mother pointed it out to me, Melissa, he does not really want to make eye contact. Have you thought about asking your doctor about Autism? Of course I had not. The doctor just always said he is probably just a late bloomer. 

I came home and researched and researched and decided I needed to discuss this with his pediatrician. At 18 months they have checklist of developmental skills your child has reached. Logan failed. We were referred to a Developmental Pediatrician and he sent us on to evaluations where he was given the preliminary diagnosis. They recommended he be enrolled in a day-habilitation program along with speech therapy, occupational therapy and developmental therapy. After attending for 6 months they wanted to re-evaluate. 

He has been and was given the diagnoses moderate to severe autism. 

Not a gift. 

Do you return gifts? Last I checked its not proper etiquette. 

I would take it all away from my son if I could. I would give him the gift of being about to speak. I can not help but wonder what the future holds. Will he be in his teens and still jumping and flapping at the t.v.? Will he never be able to communicate verbally? How long until he can potty train? When will he get over his texture issues and enjoy some good foods?

This is not a gift. The difficulties he has to face is not a gift.

The only thing we can do is learn to embrace it and learn!!!

We have embraced the fact of his disability not the gift. 

I am sorry if this offends anyone who has a child on the spectrum but this is the way I see things through my eyes.