Raising a child with Asperger’s Syndrome, I’ve learned to take nothing for granted and I’ve found myself grateful for experiences which might be commonplace for my friends raising neurotypical kids.
This past weekend, my niece was in town playing in a volleyball tournament at the Dallas Convention Center. Ethan was thrilled to have an excuse to ride the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) Train into downtown. I was excited, but also a little hesitant, because we would be in a new environment with potentially challenging sensory input and no car to “escape” to if things took a turn for the worse.
As it turns out, Ethan did beautifully during our day trip into Dallas and even made a new friend!

If you only knew how difficult the road was to get here.
If you only knew the many tears that have been shed, the countless hours of therapy, the tests he has undergone, the fear that he has experienced, the ridicule he has endured, the times he has been laughed at, the frustration he has learned to live with. If you only knew.
If you only knew the hours a mother and a father have spent trying to piece together the past and plan for the future.
If you only knew the amount of money, the friendships that have been lost, and the toll it has taken to get here.

Saturday marked Ethan’s first basketball game; in fact, it was his first game (ever) playing cooperatively with a team. Until this year, (Ethan turned 8 last fall), we didn’t feel Ethan had the self-control and intuition to handle a sport which would require cooperating with other kids while working to coordinate his own physical movements. He has participated in individual sports like swimming and Tae Kwon Do, both of which offer great exercise and fantastic opportunities to develop coordinated movements with both sides of his body, but didn’t force him to worry about anyone beyond himself very often.
When Ethan began requesting to play soccer a few months ago, I started looking for appropriate leagues which could effectively incorporate Ethan but at the same time challenge him. Many families living with ASD find success with leagues offering a buddy (like Miracle League or Buddy League) – Ethan just wouldn’t find that challenging at this age. He wants to be like his friends from school and I can’t say I blame him! Actually, I’m glad he wants to do some of the things his friends at school enjoy.

Isabella is in a ballet and tap class. No, they don’t do both at the same time, though that could be pretty cool…. She doesn’t exactly love to go to dance, probably because everything happens too fast. While she’s just figuring out how to shuffle, the others have already ball-changed on to the next move. We may pull her out soon since she doesn’t care for it, but I really want to find something that she likes to do. I want to find her “thing,” be that a sport, an instrument, whatever. We haven’t found it yet, unless reading books counts.

“Front... (tap, tap, tap) side… (tap, tap, tap) back… (tap, tap, tap) side… (tap, tap, tap)!”
Tap?
“Shuffle! Shuffle left!”
Tap?
“Switch feet! And front!...(tap, tap, tap)…”
(Watch self in mirror, feeling new leotard with hand, shake hips, smile)