This is a very good article written by Amy Brown. I would like to share this article with you because I think she said everything I need to say and hope Alex will be like her son. She is an exceptional mother and she made a difference in her son's life.

Acceptance of Autism in your child

Most of us are familiar with the stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Why is it that so many parents get stuck in one of the first four stages when their child has received a diagnosis of Autism? I realize that this is one of the scariest diagnoses a parent can face. I have been there. I know what it is like to be told that your child will never develop social skills, that he would never be able to express love or compassion to others, that all of his social interaction would be self-focused. My heart, too, was broken when I was told that my precious child may never come out of his own little world and respond to my voice or my touch. I cried for days when I was told by a developmental therapist that I needed to give up on my "dream child" and start dealing with the nightmare that I had been dealt.

I have been there. But I didn't stick around. If my child had received a diagnosis of Leukemia I sure wouldn't sit around feeling sorry for myself and the sad future ahead of us. I would be researching and trying every doctor, program, holistic medicine and support group that were available. So that is what I did. I discovered that the diagnosis of Autism is not hopeless. I realized that I was fortunate to have noticed the changes in my son's development and to have gotten this diagnosis so early in his life. This diagnosis was not his death sentence, it was his ticket to a real life. With the gift of this diagnosis I was able to receive help from my state with occupational therapy, speech therapy, developmental therapy and many other resources. If I had waited one more year, my son would not have qualified for this free assistance and I would have had to spend every dime I made to ensure that he was given every opportunity to defy the odds.

I am a mother that didn't wallow in denial, anger, bargaining or depression. I accepted the diagnosis of autism as a gift. I chose to embrace this diagnosis and educate myself, my family and my friends. I would not allow my son to be defined by this diagnosis. I worked with the various therapists to learn how to teach, motivate and speak to my son. I was involved in every therapy session. I sat on the floor with the speech therapist, teaching my son sign language at first and eventually words. I spent hours each day working with him on the sensory integration techniques that I had learned from the occupational therapist - swinging, bouncing, brushing, anything they suggested, no matter how crazy it sounded. I put him on a gluten-free, casein-free diet because the Autism Network for Dietary Intervention recommended it. I used his obsession with cars to teach him colors and numbers and counting. My husband and I had so much fun rejoicing over every new word he learned, every new skill he mastered, every smile and laugh that he expressed. My dream child is still alive because I refused to give up and I was determined to do everything within my power to give my son a reason to come out of his little world into our big one.

My son is now 8 years old. He is gorgeous and bright and funny and loving and compassionate. He gets straight A's in school, plays on a basketball team and has many friends. My son has no idea that he was ever diagnosed with autism and neither do his friends or teachers. Even the pediatric neurologist says he is a normal, healthy child, showing no signs or symptoms of autism. Was he cured? Was he mis-diagnosed? Was it a miracle? No one really knows for sure, except me. I know that I never lost my dream child because my son is and always will be my dream child, with or without a diagnosis of autism. I also know that if I had spent years in denial or anger or depression, my son would still be sitting on the floor rocking back and forth, not responding to his name and I would never have heard him speak the words, "I love you, Mom."

As parents we chose how we will react to this diagnosis and we choose how involved we will be in our child's development. I challenge you to make a conscious choice to go through the grieving process quickly. Your child deserves a parent that has accepted this diagnosis and can begin seeking treatment for it. Every day you spend in denial, anger, bargaining and depression is a day you have stolen from your child's development. There are few things about autism that are predictable, but one of them is that the earlier a child is diagnosed and begins treatment the more likely that child will be to develop the skills needed to live a normal life. Do what ever it takes to keep your dream child alive.