April is Autism Awareness Month

You will probably be hearing a lot about autism this month, as April is autism awareness month. Autism is very personal to me. My precious, sweet son, Evan, was diagnosed with autism when he was three years old. As a mom, I feel a responsibility to be part of spreading awareness about autism whenever I can.

If you don't know what autism is, here ya' go. Autism is a neurobiological disorder. Today, it effects 1 in 150 children/individuals and is four times more common in boys than girls. Autism effects one's communication, social skills, and self-help skills. All children that are diagnosed with autism are different, which makes treatment somewhat difficult and frustrating, as what works for one child to improve may not work for another. Autism is now at epidemic proportions. If you don't know someone personally, whether in your family, at your church, or a friend, I fear that you will soon with such staggering numbers. There is no "cure" for autism, but children are being recovered and improved with intensive therapy intervention and biomedical treatments.

For my family, Evan was diagnosed at age three, although we suspected he might have autism around 12-15 months. The first clues for us was that he didn't look at us when we called his name and he really didn't have any words. We initially thought he had a hearing problem, and when his hearing checked normal, we entered this frightening world of autism. I had no idea at the time what autism was really. To be honest, we received his diagnosis and was told to get him in speech therapy, but that was pretty much it. We were on our own. You are handed no manual for this diagnosis. Everything we have done to treat Evan's autism has been through our own diligence and research. It was such a frightening time. We felt so lost. We immediately got Evan into speech therapy and then into a therapeutic preschool. Occupational therapy and physical therapy were also implemented. I can not stress the importance enough of early intervention for a child diagnosed with autism. It can make all the difference in their life and their future.

Evan has made extremely wonderful progress. His language is still delayed, but he is talking, which for any mom with a child with autism will tell you, it is a HUGE thing. He is very smart and has a cute little sense of humor. We feel he is ready for Kindergarten this fall, as he has a lot of Kindergarten skills already, knowing his alphabet, counting (even in Spanish), knowing colors, shapes, everything you would expect a child in Kindergarten to do. Evan also is extremely bright when it comes to the computer. He can maneuver around different windows, load up the computer, and get on the internet to his computer games all by himself. It amazes us all the time! I am anxious and excited about this transition to Kindergarten for him. I look forward to seeing what this new adventure will hold for him and us. I actually think he will do better than me! :)

With all this said, I wanted to post the warning signs for autism. This is from the Autism Speaks website. I think there may be someone out there that reads this and is wondering about their own child and doesn't know what to do next and this might help...


"Watch for the Red Flags of Autism (The following red flags may indicate a child is at risk for atypical development, and is in need of an immediate evaluation.) In clinical terms, there are a few “absolute indicators,” often referred to as “red flags,” that indicate that a child should be evaluated. For a parent, these are the “red flags” that your child should be screened to ensure that he/she is on the right developmental path. If your baby shows any of these signs, please ask your pediatrician or family practitioner for an immediate evaluation:

• No big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter

• No back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles, or other facial expressions by nine months or thereafter

• No babbling by 12 months

• No back-and-forth gestures, such as pointing, showing, reaching, or waving by 12 months

• No words by 16 months

• No two-word meaningful phrases (without imitating or repeating) by 24 months

• Any loss of speech or babbling or social skills at any age"

My advice to anyone who thinks their child might be on the spectrum of autism would be "don't wait" and get them evaluated now! It will make all the difference. You can get a ton of good information from www.autismspeaks.org. I am pretty much an open book on this subject. I'm not an expert by any means, but if anyone wants to contact me privately, you can e-mail me at leighahorton@sbcglobal.net.

In closing, I wanted to ask you to join me in praying for a cure for autism. Autism Awareness Month is a perfect time to start. You can download a "Turning the Tide" prayer calendar here or if you could just remember these precious children and their families in your regular prayer time, I would so appreciate it. If you want to pray specifically, here are names of Evan and some of his friends: Evan, Alex, Collin, Daniel, Bradley, Caleb, Tyler, Jonathan, JC, and Rachel.

It is so important for the awareness of autism to be widespread. I hope there is soon a cure, but in the meantime, my hope is that all of the young children and parents of those children that come behind us, don't feel the lost feeling we felt, that there will be more resources for them and some sort of guide on how to get help for their child. I do believe this can and will get better.

This journey has been a difficult one. My heart has been broken, but by the grace of God, He is carrying us through. I know in my heart that God had led us to Evan's wonderful school and the angels on earth as I call them (all his therapists) that work with him so diligently every day. God has also provided physicians that listen to us and are willing to help get Evan better and a network of friends that are going through the same thing we are. Evan is making progress! We are learning every day.

If you read this and take time to pray for my precious son and our family and all the other families out there affected by autism, I thank you from the very bottom of my heart!

Much love!

Evan, age 6