Kim
Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I am a family member

Our story is like many others. Around 18 months, we started noticing differences in our daughter Gianna. She wouldn't always respond to her name and seemed to be slipping into her own world. We lived in Boca Raton, Florida, and took her to Miami Children's Hospital/Dan Marino Center where we saw child neurologist, Dr. Roberto Tuchman. He was excellent and told us in no uncertain terms we needed to start early intervention quickly to get Gianna to her maximum capability. We continued seeing him and other doctors at Miami Children’s. We lined up approximately 30 hours a week of ABA Discrete Trial Therapy, 8 hours of speech therapy, 3 hours of occupational therapy and 2 hours of physical therapy. Gianna received these intensive services until she was about 4 years old. Then it was time for her to enter our local preschool program for multiple-disabled children as there was no autism program. After my husband and I looked at the program, we both agreed we needed to make a move. I called my old school district in Norwood, New Jersey, where I received a wealth of information. The next thing we knew we were heading north. We had to leave both of our families, move my husband's established law practice and pull our 7-year-old son away from his friends. We knew, however, Gianna only had one chance, and it was up to us to give it to her.
 
We have been in New Jersey for almost 10 years now, and Gianna is 14 years old. Although she still has limited speech, she uses some sign language and an augmentative device. These have been a godsend for her. When she entered kindergarten, she had no form of communication, and would throw herself on the ground, cry and scream. I am so proud of her now. She is in an MD program in the 7th grade and has lots of friends. She interacts, smiles, hugs, laughs, rides the bus to/from school, goes shopping and out to dinner, attends parties, goes to the bathroom and dresses herself, gets herself something to eat/drink, follows directions, writes her name, colors, plays, and, most importantly, LOVES! I am here to tell all parents and caregivers who may be at the beginning of their journey that it DOES get better! My daughter amazes me each and every day. Sure, we have our bumps along the way, but overall she has made huge gains over the years. I am so proud of her and love her more each day.

As parents, it is our goal to teach our children everything we can. Sometimes, it might mean putting them in situations they aren't comfortable with, so that one day they can be self-sufficient. Keep at it—it works!