Did you see this today?

The Combating Autism Act has been approved by the United States House of Representatives! See more about it here. I am excited to see what new opportunities will become available for those with Autism, and their families. Treatments for Autism are very expensive, and 90% of families who need these services pay for them out of their pockets, with no insurance help whatsoever. This is huge.

Nathan update: Right now Nathan is going through the assessment process at school to see where he falls, if he falls, within the autism spectrum. With the research I have done, and through talking with his therapists, etc., I believe he may have PDD-NOS, (Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified), which is also called atypical autism or mild autism. It means having differences in the same areas as in autism, only not to such a great extent. The process of getting him diagnosed takes quite a while to complete, but is necessary for us. It won't change any of the things that we are currently working on, we just want to know.

We are so far from where we started six months ago in learning all of this stuff, yet I feel there is still so much to learn. Even without the diagnosis, Nathan's treatment (which consists of Early Childhood Education through the school and speech therapy twice a week), has helped him make tremendous leaps in his langiage and comprehension skills. We have enrolled him in a more intensive program (the TrainIn program at The Kaufman Center) in the afternoons (after school), which will help even more. This program is everyday for four weeks throughout the month of January. People come from all over the world to attend this program and we are lucky enough to have it in our backyard! This program not only works one on one with Nathan, but works with the parents through parent groups and meetings, and teaches parents how to work with their children at home. We also get a more detailed report on what he has accomplished through the program and what his new goals will be when he is done. This is just what we need, I can't wait for him to get started!

So that is where we are now. I hope to have major improvements to report in a couple of months. Keep your fingers crossed!;)