My Special Child

Life was going smoothly for me with marriage, job and finances all in place. My first baby was ten months old. As I was an only child of my parents and had no other children, experience with child rearing was very limited for me. Still, I was confident I was doing a great job.

One day I went to see an old school friend of mine who had just moved in the city. I discovered she had three kids, her youngest one was two. I spent a good two hours with her chatting and catching up, and
then she casually mentioned that it might be a good idea to get my daughter checked by a doctor. I didn't see any reason for that but, she told me that she was worried as my child wasn't as responsive as she should be at this age.

My baby hardly ever made eye contact and didn't respond when called to. I had always thought she was too small to do all these things but, my friend told me otherwise. I believed her because she had
more experience than me and so I took her to a pediatrician. Much to my dismay, the doctor sort of confirmed that my daughter was autistic, though he was unsure of where she lay on the spectrum. I
was shattered!

My husband and I grieved over the diagnosis and questioned ourselves for days. We took her to other specialists who confirmed the bad news. They were helpful and gave us ideas and tips on how to help
our child.

Form then onwards, I quit my job and started working from home so I could be with her all the time. I paid special attention to her movements, practiced speech therapy with her as she grew older, and read a lot of material on autism. I was overjoyed to find out that
she was on the lower end of the autism spectrum meaning she was 'not very autistic'.

The first time she said, "Mommy" at the age of two, I couldn't stop crying. She is now four and a half and goes to school. She still does not make eye contact much, keeps to herself, is obsessed with just a
couple of toys in her room, but is generally doing okay so far.

I believe God gives special children to only those who He thinks are capable of undertaking the responsibility. My child is very special to me in every way and I thank the Lord for giving me such a
beautiful gift. Autism is nothing something to be afraid of.