On September 22, 1995 Allison Leah Decker entered my life. I was a young mom, naive and scared about raising a child. My husband shared the same apprehension and joy regarding being parents. Allison seemed normal for the most part, despite the 3 months of colic. At the age where babies begin to focus on objects, discovering their hands, we realized Allison was not entirely “normal.” She could sit in her infant seat and stare at her fist for hours.

I was a fan of the group Enigma. There was this song titled Carly’s Song that would send Allison, (3 months old) into a screaming fit. She was terrified of it. It was unusual but still, I assumed it was just her personality.

At age two we struggled to understand her. Allison would grow very frustrated as she couldn’t even comprehend vocalizing her thoughts, instead she pointed and grunted and then screamed. We knew something was wrong. We still pressed onward hoping for a break through on her own. She began Kindergarden and that is when the school staff sat us down and told us she seemed autistic. We both worked for the Allegany ARC and dealt with Autism, we had suspected it. We brought her to the Kirsch Center and they diagnosed her with Autistic Spectrum disorder none other specified. She has more characteristics of Autism but not ALL. With a diagnosis in place, we were able to work on teaching her to speak, socialize, and become herself. Allison is now going to be 13. She is a bit immature and does take things literally but she has come a long way and has grown so much. Thanks to all of the support systems from the ARC, Kirsch Center , and school staff we have been able grow with her.

Each mile stone is a challenge and not often easy. But she has come a very long way and I am proud of her.

Our story is about our son, Michael. He was diagnosed with autism at 2 years old. At thart time we were told not to expect much from him, that he would never speak or be able to be on his own.

But they were wrong!!! Michael is now 14, and doing very well. He is in middle school and has been on the honor roll all year. It goes to show you that nothing is impossible. My wish to all of you, is that your children do as well as Michael has done. My hats off to Steve, Jennie, Jeralyn, and Tom for putting this all together to raise awareness for autism. It is a wonderful cause for alot of great kids.

An amazingly perfect pregnancy brought us our beautiful, perfect baby boy, CJ—all 9lbs 10oz and 23 inches of him. Aside from being lethargic and needing some breathing assistance after birth, he was perfect and in our arms within minutes. Not long after bringing him home we faced challenges—with breastfeeding, reflux, special formulas, and sleepless nights. At 6 months we noticed he wasn’t meeting typical developmental milestones. He was not cooing, not yet making eye contact. Pediatricians were less than supportive and did not provide guidance. They encouraged us to be patient with our son. When CJ was 12 months old, he was not crawling, not walking. He did not feed himself, and could barely roll over, but was able to speak clearly and even knew the planets in order from the Sun to Pluto.

Seeking help from the Kirsch Center at Strong, evaluation results confirmed our suspicions—CJ was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism. We were successful in getting him into an aggressive therapy program and immersed ourselves into learning more about Autism. Our miracle workers are the SEIT specialist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, and social worker. With their care and support, our little boy enjoys playing soccer and riding his bike. He is able to verbally and physically interact with us and his brother, and while he shows signs of his syndrome (gets overwhelmed in social situations, does not understand sarcasm), his team has helped him tremendously to manage his feelings and adapt to situations. We’re blessed by the support we've received and know that CJ will live a normal life because of it.

Our son was a perfect, healthy 9 lb. 1 oz. baby at birth. We couldn’t have been happier! Although, we did notice that he wasn’t a very cuddly baby and when he was hurt or scared, he DID NOT want anyone to hold or caress him. We also noticed that any loud or sudden sounds would cause him to scream and cover his ears. He didn’t speak much and rarely made eye contact. When he was very young he had a repeated series of ear infections which led to the placement of PE tubes. We talked to his doctor and decided to start speach therapy. The thinking at that time was that all the ear infections caused Alex not to develop language. After working with his speach therapist, she noticed that he had many sensory issues as well and that is when we start occupational therapy. Even with all this help, we still that we were missing a big piece of the puzzle. Luckily for us, Alex was in a special pre-school through BOCES and the teachers there advised us to have him tested. We took him to the Developmental Primary Progam at the old Genesee Hospital where he was finally diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Finally, we had a diagnosis! Having a real diagnosis really paved the way for us to get Alex the help he so desparately needed! We’ve been blessed to have a group of fantastic therapists and teachers at Thornell Road School in Pittsford and Alex has made incredible strides and now is almost completely integrated in a “normal” 3rd grade classroom. Alex still has difficulty with transitions and doesn’t much like physical contact, but in ever other way he’s a funny, happy child!

When you have an autistic child, you have this puzzle that you are constantly trying to solve. My son’s childhood days were at turns frantic, sad, frustrating, confrontational, and victorious. Those days were spent in the doctors’, therapists’ and yes, the school principal’s office. When I think of them now, I am still exhausted, and my son - now 23 is relieved he does not have to be in that setting any more. I won’t dwell on the school years right now because I suspect that the majority of you reading this are living those years right now.

The story that Jason and I want to share with you in an accomplishment that we are both excited and happy about every day – Jason’s Driver’s license. Jason has autism and is high functioning, just under the spectrum for Asperger’s. He has accomplished many things that we were unsure would happen when he was younger – these accomplishments just take a bit more time to complete. A driver’s license was not something that Jason or I dreamed about. When he first showed no interest in taking his permit, even though he’d had every page memorized for two years, I was a bit relieved. I wasn’t sure how things would go, but I did know that most things are very black and white in Jason’s world and the words brake and gas and brake now! took on very scary connotations. Well, reality set in, Jason had a part time job that I drove him to, Monday through Friday 8pm to 11pm, soon to be a full time opportunity for him. So Jason did take his written test when he was almost 18 and he did pass it the first time – it was a proud moment for both of us. Then reality set it, there are many things that Jason and I learned together over the years and one of the most valuable is that, I could not teach him to drive.

Fortunately for us, we have a wonderful organization in our area, Rochester Rehab. We were referred to the program through Jason’s BOCES support team. Rochester Rehab helps adults, both able and disabled to achieve the freedom of driving a car. Jason was first accepted for the program for six months, it ended up being an 18 month relationship that ensured that Jason passed his test. It took two tries but the instructor even drove him to his test and then took him to McDonald’s to celebrate! We are thankful for this program and for the wonderful support we found there.

The story doesn’t end there; Jason had had his license almost two years now and last month, he received his first speeding ticket! That may seem a bit strange to some one reading this but perhaps if I remind you that Jason sees everything in black and white – with little or no gray, you’ll understand. I think that Jason finds his freedom in his driving and though I do not wish to see more tickets from him, I find that ticket very reassuring because I know he is experiencing joy while he is behind the wheel.