Rountine change and in good hands.

               Routine completely changed today as it was our first day of many to come at the Olympic Peninsula Autism Center. The long wait is over and the intake is complete. I was a bit worried this morning when my son wasn’t adjusting to the routine change with ease. He was in crisis mode and extremely clingy, but the clingy part was actually good because he was still allowing and wanting me to touch him. If he reached the point I could not touch him, we would have been in big trouble.

                We left a bit early to turn in paperwork and spent 20 min. in the main lobby, which was a good thing also because Phillip was overwhelmed and appeared to right on the edge. He stood in the corner looking around with great caution and a bit of fear. He was also running on a completely empty belly since the routine change caused him to refuse breakfast and anything to drink. As we waited many other families began to stream in with their children. All ages, all races, and all different levels of the spectrum. This was extremely interesting to me to see but I was concerned about the chaos level in the state Phillip was already in. I will tell you as I sat and watched something did come into my mind and it was simply this, there is no way autism is purely genetic. I just couldn’t see how all of us that came in the door just flat out carried the same genetic trait. That thought almost seemed unrealistic to me while I was looking around at how everyone was so different and yet there for the same reasons. I was almost a bit overwhelmed myself taking it all in because even in Montana we were never exposed to anyone else with autism or other families. I was in a room full of people who knew all the things I had spent so much time trying to explain to others, and they understood.

                Soon we moved into a large room with toys and a trampoline with three therapists. One of the therapists and I stepped into a smaller room to do a bit more paperwork and I could still see my son. I answered questions and watched him play along with the other children. One child had already gone into a meltdown and I watched to see how Phillip would or even if he would react to it. He was completely unfazed and went about exploring. I also watched the therapists who really do work as a group and one on one at the same time with the kids. They followed the children and but did not in any way force behaviors or try to train them so to speak into behaving a certain way. There was not one hint of that tolerance test I we ran into in the past with other therapists. These people had no intent to test tolerance just to seek ability.  When the questions were done I felt very confident my son was in excellent hands and I snuck out of the building.

                There I was sitting in the minivan with the engine running and could see him through the window. Time to drive away but it was much harder than I thought it would be! I did it and even managed to fend off the tears before I left the parking lot. Why would I have to fight tears when he was finally in a place that will help him? That alone is one very good reason why and another is I have never simply just left Phillip in a new place with new faces, ever. It has never been an option because no matter what something had to be familiar. Many times I have left him with someone and known they do not entirely understand him but he is home so he alone will follow his routine and be ok. Even then he has always been very familiar with the faces around him. This was an entirely new event for both of us and knowing he was in the hands of people who spend their lives for this very purpose was a feeling that is almost impossible to describe.

                I spent an hour trying to figure out what to do with myself and wondering how he was doing, so I did head back a bit early. I wanted to be able to observe how they would interact him and I was just dying to see him. The best thing that could possibly happen was I would walk into the room without him even noticing I had returned and that is exactly how it turned out. Even when he did notice me sitting there he continued to play and show them his abilities. He was exhausted when we left and once we came home he flew right back into his daily routine. Soon we will have his set schedule and two things are priority to work on for him to work on, communication and learning to function in a preschool setting so he can begin school in the fall. At this very moment he has tucked himself in bed for a mid day nap as I expected and the future is looking very good!