Hello, my name is Jenn. I'm a 24 years old, married, and a work at home mom to three year old girl named 
June went by insanely fast. While we were busy with a three day vacation on the NJ shore, mini-golfing trips, several outings to the pool, and a trip to an amusement park (Dorney!), I have also been physically and emotionally busy with my son, Ryan. On June 11th, 2008, Ryan was diagnosed with autism. While this doesn’t come as a surprise to me, having my suspicions and worries confirmed verbally and on paper was a blow. We had him evaluated last January, and services (a special instructor and occupational therapist work with him for an hour a week each) have been in place since then. Now that the diagnosed has been confirmed, we’re going to up the occupational therapy and introduce speech therapy.
I feel that speech therapy is especially important right now, since Ryan turns two on July 26th, 2008 and doesn’t speak. He grunts, squeals, and does the whole ba-ba-ba/da-da-da/ma-ma-ma thing, and recently picked up “uh oh”, but he does these sounds and words because he likes the sound of them and likes to imitate us, and not because he knows what the words mean or in what context or situation to use them.
I have been reading The Autism Sourcebook, and I can’t wait to pass it on to my husband as soon as I’m done with it. It’s a very good, informative read, even if it is heartbreaking at the same time.
