Hi, My name is Terry and I have a 5 year old son with Autism. I am grateful everyday to have him. I have learned so much from my son. He has taught me so much as I have taught him. I feel like I have learned more from him though than he has from me; like to never take life for granted. Things can happen at any time and you just need to be prepared for when that happens. My son is always happy and he never lets anything get him down. I feel that we can all learn from him, especially other children. I get stares from people in the stores when he gets upset because he is having a meltdown. I used to let people bother me when they stared but I don't let that happen anymore. My main goal is to help my son calm down or we leave the store because I wasn't able to get him calm down. I have thought about how would my life be so different if my son didn't have Autism, but I will never know that and to tell you the truth I don't even want to know. I love my son so much the way he is. He makes me so happy being with him. I wouldn't change anything in him. All he has to do is smile at me every day and I know that he loves me as much as I love him. He got diagnosed when he was 2 1/2 years old and I am happy that I was able to get him diagnosed early. I believe in the early intervention because my son would not be where he is today if it wasn't for catching it early. We started services right away with Speech, OT, and developmental therapy. Then when he turned 3 he went into preschool. It has made so much of a difference for him. He is starting to have a few sentences but whatever he can't say in sentences he knows some of the words. He also goes to a regular daycare and interacts with other kids who don't have Autism. We’re still working on the potty training but I am not rushing him. We are taking things in steps when it comes to potty training but he has the idea. Easter Seals has helped me with a lot of things that I couldn't afford and to get the resources that I needed. I am grateful that we have a place that can help parents out when they need it. His school has also helped me a lot. Whenever I find out anything from other people I make sure that I pass that information on to someone else so that way if there is someone else who needs information, they can get it. If there was one thing that I would want taken away from my Son I would say nothing. He is perfect the way he is. Thank you very much for reading my story.

Terry Parisot