Yesterday I drove past a teenage boy, his hair cut in a Mohawk, walking with a Slurpee from Seven-11. If you didn't pay attention, you would miss these details- the muttering to himself, mild flapping of the hands. I pay extra close attention whenever I see him. He is Autistic. I feel conflicted when I see him. Happy that he is now independent enough to walk from his home, by himself, to Seven-11 to get a Slurpee and sad because I wonder- is he lonely? does he have any friends? Do others see him think he is a weird kid? Is that the only independence he has?

It's been way too long since my last post. So much has happened. First I want to thank my husbands cousins for the unbeliveable benefit they held for Robbie. The therapy that Robbie is recieveing is incredibly beneficial but costly and mostly out of pocket. The benefit- for the Hummel special needs trust - was awesome. A tremendous amount of family an friends were there and we felt very blessed for the support.
Additionally my sister ran the philadelphia marathon for Autism Speaks and raised a very large sum for the NJ chapter as well. She had a picture of Robbie on her back the entire race and we were all proudly waiting at the finish line. (Robbie LOVES his Aunt Suzie!)
We are seeing results. Slowly- but results. Speech is coming more easily and behavior is begininng to be more easily modified. Rob and I think the cause is a combination of things. Robbie is growing up. He will be 5 years old in March. School is challenging him. 9am to 3pm five days a week- with ABA, speech and OT all included. Two afternoons a week he recieves ABA at home for two hours- 3:30pm-5:30pm. One day he recives private OT from 8am-8:45am before school. Additionally we are continually working with him at home. As I have been explaining to various family members and friends- everything takes much longer for Robbie retain. The benefit is, at times, it feels more rewarding when he masters a task. We still have a lot of work to do. We still don't know if he will be that teenager walking to Seven-11 by himself. The reality is- that's not the worst thing in the world.
As Robert Frost said
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep