My husband Brian and I started having concerns about our son Ben when he was just 18 months old. He spoke very few words and wasn’t keeping pace with his developmental milestones. When Ben lost the few words he had learned, and started having major melt downs and temper tantrums over situations most children would be able to handle, we knew we needed to visit Children’s Specialized Hospital.
When Ben was diagnosed with autism we were overwhelmed and scared. Thankfully, the team at Children’s Specialized was there to help us, and our son immediately began speech therapy and occupational therapy. Before therapy, everything was a challenge for our family as Ben often had temper tantrums and we were not sure what had set him off. As we incorporated the tools we learned in therapy into our daily life, things started to drastically improve.
The Children’s Specialized staff warmly greeted Ben and helped him have fun during his sessions. He wasn’t Ben the little boy with autism – he was just Ben. Much of his success in therapy was the education we received about his identifying “triggers” that would cause him to have a meltdown. The therapists also gave us tools to help Ben if he became upset or overwhelmed.
The therapists also helped Ben learn strategies and how to cope with the meltdowns himself. It took a long time to see improvement in Ben, but through consistent and continuous efforts, he began to thrive. Practice and repetition is something that was engrained in our entire family’s routine in order to help Ben learn the new strategies.
Ben is now 13 years old and we still use the tools that the therapists gave us. We also found great support and encouragement from the other parents and families who had children in therapy. The families that we met over the years became a special support system for us, and we still keep in touch to this day.
Ben continues to make progress at his own pace. He talks in simple sentences and enjoys reading short stories. He loves to be out in nature and can often be found riding his bike, hiking, swimming, or jogging around the neighborhood.