Mr. Matt is eighteen years old and has been in school in one form or another since he was three years old. He began with the County Early Intervention program. I had been noticing for awhile that Matt was developmentally delayed, but I was taking him to an older well meaning pediatrician who would tell me things like, ” Don’t compare him to his sister. Boys are slower than girls.” I will admit that there was a part of me, yes a very huge part of me that was in denial about Matt.
Matt was always a handful when he was smaller. Very difficult, and prone to tantrums, largely in part to his lack of communication skills. His heightened senses often made touching, kissing, or showing any forms of affection impossible. Sometimes just combing his hair was a problem. His attention span was next to nothing.
I was blessed with wonderful educators and some not so wonderful educators. They all helped me to help Matt. Matt helped me to help Matt.
Matt graduates from school this year and will begin a new chapter in his life. I will always be his Mother, and his advocate. I am proud of his progress, it came from his determination, and from all of us being aware of autism.
I realize now I have done this to him. I fed him bits of myself, piece by piece. I teased him mercilessly. He became mesmerized by me. I became his obsession. He was intoxicated with my presence.
