Weimer Group Blog

Ryan's HopeRe: Ryan's HopeRe: Ryan's Hope

6/15/2010 11:10:15 AM

A grandson is born!  What excitement that is for his family.  The future is bright and hopeful and filled with dreams of what this child will accomplish in his lifetime.  And one day all those dreams are shattered!

 

Recently, this happened to our family.  My grandson was diagnosed with Autism.  At about 18 months we started noticing signs that he was not keeping up with other children his age.  The most noticeable at the time was his unresponsiveness to sound.  He seemed deaf but after sending him for hearing tests, was decided that he could hear perfectly fine.  Then why didn’t he answer to his name? 

 

Well, as time went on, the full spectrum of autism spectrum disorder symptoms were clearly made apparent.  He has difficulty expressing his needs, little or no communication, not wanting to be cuddled, and the list goes on. 

 

But what does this mean for this little boy of 2 years of age.  Once diagnosed with this dramatically increasing disorder (it is now estimated that 1 in 110 births will be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder), he will begin intensive therapy to teach him to express his needs, learn to talk, practice socializing with other children and prepare him for the world in which he lives.  With early diagnosis and intervention, the prognosis is good.

 

Our families’ hopes have now shifted.  We again see a bright future for this child.  We embrace his disability and hold in our hearts that he is “special”.  With this disability comes years of struggle, but with perseverance and faith and trust in the educational system, he will overcome his disability and prove to be a contribution to society and bring extreme pride and joy to his loving family!


At The Weimer Group, we are family!  We share each others' joys, heartaches and successes.  We are more than just insurance professionals, we are real people!  Contact us today and find out why we are different from the rest.

Back to Article List...

Share/Bookmark