I began thinking back about when Zion officially started soccer and I have to be honest, it was so frustrating to watch. Let me explain. Zion did great at practice and here at home when we played with him. He would kick the ball with force, dribble all around us, and played with aggression. However, the moment he would get out there for the game, he would just freeze up. Basically, he turned into a deer in headlights. He held onto his jersey, and I could just feel him becoming overwhelmed. It took a few games, but I kept hoping he would relax as each game passed.

Something that caught me by surprise though, Zion showed emotion. I remember one time when he was the goalie, and the other team scored a goal on him, he began to cry. Although I felt bad for him, it kind of made me happy that he cared. He was usually so passive, and I figured them scoring would have no effect on him…but it actually did!

I want to thank you all so much for the support over the years and for the many years to come. I am excited, every year, that I get to spend the month of April celebrating my military child, as well as Autism Awareness. Zion is truly a special kid and I love that I get to learn from him every single day!

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The school year is coming to an end and I just want to say this- although virtual learning was not for everyone, some kids, like Zion, thrived with online learning. I am being 100% real when I say that Zion did amazing with virtual learning. We decided to keep him virtual the whole school year, and he ended up with perfect attendance and all A’s for the entire year. Saying that I am proud of Zion doesn’t even encompass how we really feel. He adjusted to what needed to be done and he loved it! If virtual learning was an option for the rest of his school year, Zion would be all over that! I did tell him that he is going back in-person next year but he has all summer to prepare for that.

As far as COVID goes, Zion is still pretty terrified of it and still continues to wear his mask no matter where we go. We were taking a walk after eating dinner the other night and as people came towards us on the path he frantically looked for his mask. He is very comfortable wearing a mask and now prefers it for his own safety. I am not sure how long he will want to wear it, but I am willing to wear mine as long as we need to. This is honestly the healthiest any of us have been in years. We haven’t been sick, allergies have been better, and overall we all just feel great!!

Thank you so much for reading!! I cannot believe how fast Zion is growing. I have to be honest, having a child with Autism has taught me so much about myself, Autism, and the world that they experience. Although I will never know what my son feels and goes through, I am doing my best to understand it as much as I possibly can!

Being a parent is hard. Being a working parent with a child going to school online can be even harder. As rough as virtual learning started, it has actually turned out to be a great success! I worried about Zion and his schooling. I thought he was going to fall behind or just not be able to focus. However, this whole virtual learning thing has really done Zion some good! His most recent report card showed all A’s! He had to switch from his normal teacher to the virtual teacher (they combined the virtual kiddos to make it easier for the classroom teachers) and he was not very happy at first. He really likes his homeroom teacher and so he cried about changing. I thought we were going to have to send him in, but he gave her a chance and now he is doing AMAZING!! She is able to differentiate for Zion and has been giving him extra reading assignments as well as 3rd grade reading assignments. I know some may think extra assignments? But Zion needs them. He finishes his other work quickly because he is above grade level so he needs that extra push. I communicated with his teacher that I wanted him to be challenged because he is very capable.

Aside from his succeeding at school, Zion’s home life is still a little rough. He thinks about COVID constantly. Everything he does revolves around coronavirus and if it will potentially make him sick. He doesn’t like to go into stores, he doesn’t want to touch anything, some days he doesn’t even want to give me a kiss because we could spread germs. I worry about his obsessions and how this will effect him. He doesn’t want to go back into school because he fears the germs and getting sick. Whenever one of us isn’t feeling well (even a headache) he will keep his distance. We don’t watch the news if he is around because he listens, he worries. I don’t want to shelter him but I also don’t want to cause him more anxiety then he already carries. I still debate on talking to the doctor about his anxiety. I fear that it will get worse as he ages. Anyone have any experience with Autism and anxiety?

I have recently found some videos of Zion when he was younger and how much he struggled with his speech! It is crazy how in 4 years, my child went from barely speaking and being 80% unintelligible to speaking to complete, full, and clear sentences. He talks so much now that he actually is speaking too fast! That is starting to be addressed now in speech. However, I honestly think he will be exited out of speech this school year and I am actually pretty excited about that thought!! Next blog I will post a before and after of his speech progress once I get the videos together..it is amazing!!

Thank you so much for reading. It has been a rough couple of months with all the changes happening in life so writing this blog has been a great outlet. Sometimes the month slips by me and I feel like I missed an opportunity to express all the things that have been happening, but Zion is succeeding, he is doing amazing! Although we have hiccups and challenges, Zion has shown to be resilient. Autism does not define him, it just makes him extra unique.

We have been missing for a minute but I have to be honest, this last month and half have been REALLY tough! Between the growing impact of COVID-19 and trying to get a firm grip on what was going to happen with school, it has been a rough time in this house. So to start, Zion has been obsessing about Coronavirus and what the numbers are doing. I don’t like to shelter him from things, but we have started turning off the news and doing our best to not talk about the virus. Once he hears about it he will ask 100 questions and for the rest of the day it is all about the virus and what if this or what if that. It causes him a lot of stress and I have noticed his anxiety has really spiked these past few weeks. I know some people say this is the new normal, but I really do not want this to be that because my son is stressing out and it is breaking my heart.

So school officially started here (August 24) and both of my kiddos are currently doing virtual learning. We have the decision to send them in person on Sept. 8th and we decided to send Amaiah in person to Pre-K but keep Zion with the virtual learning. Zion has pretty bad asthma so I’m just not ready to send him back yet. Amaiah will be going to school with me so I feel confident that my campus has proper procedures in place to help keep her safe. I also have a plan for when her and I get home in hopes of not spreading anything to Zion or Jeremiah. The next option for in-person learning will come on Oct. 13th. I hope we can send Zion in at the time, but the district has certain protocols in place as to how many students they are letting in at one time. He does get 1st priority since he is classified as Special Education, but I am going to watch the numbers here in San Antonio, and if the trend continues to go down, then maybe we can send him back. I will say the one upside to all this is that Zion actually really enjoys virtual learning. He is pretty socially awkward and does not attach to people easily, so going to school in-person is not something he really misses right now.

Zion completed his first 5K earlier this month! I found a minecraft looking medal for a 5K and explained to him how far a 5K is (3.1 miles). So one Saturday morning we set out and started walking. We walked to the front of our neighborhood and back which is a little over 2 miles. So then we walked up and down the street a little more. We got to 2.7 miles together and I let him keep walking basically right by our house by himself as I watched him (like .10 out and then back). He finally got to 3.1 and was so excited!! He did so awesome, didn’t complain, and was determined to finish and earn his medal! I am so proud of this little boy. He amazes me daily and I love him more than words.

Thank you for reading and the support you have given us. Change is hard on all kids, but especially those with Autism. Zion is so resilient and he proves to us daily that he can conquer all the challenges placed in front of him. We love you Zion!

See here in San Antonio the cases are rising and it is getting worse. We have stopped taking the kids to the stores again and have started staying more inside of our house. When we do go out Zion does tolerate a mask for a while and he understands how this virus can be spread. Remember, Zion is extremely intelligent, so he is highly capable of comprehending everything going on around him. I think that is why he ask so many questions. However, his question asking also raises his fears. He has told me he doesn’t want to give me a kiss because he is afraid he can spread the coronavirus, and that absolutely breaks my heart. He has been asking us questions about what happens when his dad and I are gone and how long are we going to live for. Why is my almost 7 year old asking me these things? Is this everyday 7 yr old questions?

Speaking of almost 7 years old.. Zion’s birthday is July 5th!! I cannot believe he is going to be 7. The growth that he has made since entering ECI and Special Education Services 4yrs ago has been absolutely amazing. Four years ago I could not understand anything my son was saying to me, and now we have full on conversations about topics that he knows more about than I do! He has been really into outer space lately. I feel like as he gets older he may go the marine biologist or the astronomer path. It is a toss up at this point. He loves space and he loves sea animals. Either way, Zion is pretty amazing!

Thank you so much for reading. I don’t have very many pictures this month because we haven’t really been able to do anything. Hopefully I can get some pics of him celebrating his big day, even though it’s just here at home with us.

Well, the end of another school year is upon us! I don’t know if it is in my head or the weeks have really just flown by. Since getting out for Spring Break and not returning back, I feel like the rest of the school year just flew! Zion for sure had moments of success and moments of stress and frustration. For him, participating in Zoom and Google meet calls is not easy because he isn’t the one that is front and center and ready to talk in front of his classmates. His teacher would tell me that she struggled to have him participate at times and I feel like it was happening more toward the end of the year. He would get on his meetings and just be ready to be done with them so he could start his work and basically have his school day be over with. Zion is very bright, so the work he was assigned was often way too easy for him. I think that was the biggest part of distance learning that I didn’t like. I don’t feel like he was challenged enough and that is by no fault of his teacher. She assigns work in the classroom for every student and I know from experience that it is much for difficult to differentiate work through virtual learning. I am just really hoping that he can go back to school in the fall and that he is prepared for 2nd grade.

As some may know we live in South Texas so the Spring and Summer months can often be filled with pretty severe thunderstorms. I personally hate them and as we recently found out so does Zion. We left my sister’s house one weekend and tried to beat the storm home. Well, it started as soon as we got into the car and Zion immediately had a massive panic attack. He started screaming, crying, and had shortness of breath because his anxiety just took over. I did my best to try and calm him down, but as a parent of a child with Autism, sometimes it just isn’t enough and I sat in the front seat trying to hold back tears because my son didn’t want me to touch him or comfort him. This is so hard for me and sometimes I don’t think my husband truly understands why I cry or why I get so sad. As a mom, you want to comfort your child, you want to protect them, and because of my son’s sensory issues I usually can’t do that. It breaks my heart because I feel helpless. People often think “oh he is high functioning you don’t face the same barriers and challenges as other parents” but in reality we have our own set of barriers and challenges.

Zion has Autism and he will always have Autism. No matter if he is high functioning or severe, we face obstacles daily and we celebrate every single success. You see, nobody really knows the path that we walk because they aren’t walking in our shoes. As a parent of a child with Autism, we are all so different but bonded by 1 commonality, we have a child with Autism. I sometimes feel alone in this journey because although I am part of FB groups and things of that nature, I don’t really feel like I have anyone that would understand what I go through with Zion. Our challenges seem so minor at times, and I feel like people would just roll their eyes at me. Any other Autism parents out there and feel this way? I can’t be alone in this right?

Thank you for reading.. for listening to me vent about Autism life. Honestly, I would not trade for anything in the world though because Zion has made me a better mother and person in general. See you next time!

So I have to be honest, with everything going on right now, Zion has actually been doing really well. He has been doing really well with his distance learning. He meets with his teacher everyday and I write down a small schedule for him so he knows what assignment is next. I know for some this is not easy, but for us, writing a schedule works not only for Zion but myself as well. I am a teacher so I have meetings and a schedule with my own students as well. Putting it on paper for both of us has actually instilled some independence in him because he’s reading his schedule and going onto the next task without being so dependent on me for help. His assignments are not difficult and it is more of a review for him. Zion continues to read on a daily basis and he has now made it to a 4th grade reading level (he is 6 and in 1st grade). I have always been the first to tell people that I have never made Zion sit down and do academics on a daily basis, but he genuinely enjoys school and learning new things.

In great news… we had Zion’s annual ARD recently and his speech therapist said that he is now only going to see Zion 1x every 6 weeks because he has mastered all of his speech goals!!! That is very exciting, especially because I didn’t think he would exit speech services until 3rd or 4th grade. It is crazy to think that when Zion was 3, he was about 90% unintelligible to people that did not know him. And even to those that did, he was about 75% unintelligible. Zion found ways to communicate with us and it was very impressive. As he entered speech service through the school district (he got them through ECI but would refuse to participate) his speech rapidly improved. By the age of 5 we could have a conversation with him. I am forever thankful for the speech services that Zion has received. Now, he will be working more on social skills and conversation starters with his inclusion teacher mainly. Zion tends to not automatically say “hi” or “bye” to people and instead needs to be prompted. He won’t actually carry a conversation unless it is something of interest to him. Zion also lacks empathy.

We have obviously been able to have a lot of family time during this pandemic. We have spent a lot of time working on our flower bed, taking family walks, and honestly just driving around and getting fresh air. My children are used to getting up and going some place every weekend. We were always exploring new places. Parks are still open (not the playgrounds) so we have been going to exploring nature. We painted some rocks, walked along the riverwalk, and just enjoyed the fresh air. I know one day my children will get to play again and do things like we used to, but for now, we are honestly just taking in every moment we can together as a family.

Thank you for reading! Together we will get through this. It is such an odd time in our society and so many things have changed. People don’t realize how much they don’t like change until something dramatic happens. Well unfortunately, in the world of my Autistic child, this is how he feels with the smallest things in life sometimes.

HAPPY AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH

HAPPY MONTH OF THE MILITARY CHILD

So March was going like any other month. Zion was in school, excited for spring break. We were making plans for day trips among other things. And then, BAM, life just slowly shut down. And by slowly, I mean from one week to the next we were able to move freely, to being stuck in our house. We have had to explain to Zion and Amaiah, in the best way we can, that life is a little different right now and we are not just free to go to the places we used to. My family is used to getting out every weekend and exploring parks and other places for them to play and have fun. They actually have not gone to the store with us in about 3 weeks, and they miss going grocery shopping with us. It has been a rough time here, but we are adjusting.

Here in San Antonio we have close to 200 confirmed cases on the virus. It hits pretty close to home because Jeremiah works on Lackland AFB and he is considered “essential” so he is still working everyday. So for now, Zion is doing distance learning and I am teaching from home. Oh yea, did y’all forget I am a teacher, so I’m doing double duty at home! The first couple of days were chaotic, trying to get us both on a schedule. I am a Special Education teacher so I have ARD meetings almost weekly (sometimes 2x a week) for the Special Education population. So in my mind I knew I had to make a schedule for us. Zion is very much a creature of routine, he needs to know what is coming up and how long until he can do specific things (like use his computer). I started making him a schedule and writing his assignments down with breaks in between. This has worked out so much better and Zion’s anxiety has calmed down. He NEEDS to know what is happening, and that is so hard when our world, at this moment, has been doing nothing but changing.

On a positive note, Zion has been taking a lot of walks with me and going into our garage gym with me as well. He walked almost 2 miles with me, which is HUGE for Zion. He has poor muscle tone and has always had trouble walking for long periods of time because he gets tired. He also has asthma, so walking has really helped strengthen his lungs up. I was told putting him in swimming lessons can also strengthen his lungs. We can’t do that right now, but hopefully in the future we will be able to. We have been doing body weight exercises to help him build muscle as well. He is slowly getting stronger, and he is pretty excited! So see, it isn’t all negative out there. This has taught us to appreciate the little moments, and to take in every moment that we can as a family.

Thank you so much for reading. We are currently in a lockdown situation here in SA until the end of April, so it is time to start getting more creative with kid friendly projects. If you have ideas (that do not require Zion to get dirty- he isn’t a fan) I am all ears!! We will see y’all next month. Please stay safe out there! Oh and don’t forget, WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY is April 2!!

Ok so I have been doing a lot of thinking and it may be time to take Zion back to a developmental pediatrician again. Yes, he still has Autism, he always will. However, I think he may be ADHD as well. For those of you that don’t know, that is Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. There are many signs and symptoms that have developed over the past year.  In addition, ADHD is very often a co-morbid disorder with Autism. Although Zion functions well at school, he is extremely disorganized and often times rushes through work with mistakes. He is very bright, like really smart.. but I think his brain is working faster than his hands and everything else. His handwriting is really, really bad and he will just blurt things out without taking a true processing time. His backpack is a mess, his folder is full of folded up papers, and he is just very disorganized in general. At home, he is a different child. If he is not using his computer, he is literally all over the place. He is loud and just overall a mess. That sounds mean, but it is true. I think it may be time to seek out a doctors opinion. Anyone have experience with ADHD? I have it in the classroom, but not really with my own child. Thoughts?

Zion got a new bed and he is loving it! It has been a long road, but him and his sister are finally sleeping in their own rooms. I often wondered why we had a 3 bedroom house (lol). For a while they were both sleeping in the hallway, then they moved to Amaiah’s room, then Zion got his new bed and they both moved into there. Well now, a year later, they are finally in separate rooms. I have to be honest though, his sister has truly brought the best out of Zion, and I am beyond grateful for that. His imagination has grown and they play really well together. They don’t run and tattle on each other every other second so I totally consider that a win. He plays with her Barbie Dream House with her but instead of playing barbies, he is usually a zombie!

On another note, Zion had a pretty decent winter asthma season. We didn’t have to go to the hospital this year! He has been getting more albuterol treatments than we would like, but we are trying to keep his asthma under control. He still takes his preventative inhaler on a daily basis, but sometimes the coughing can just get to be too much. I was reading and saw the spring allergy season is supposed to be pretty bad. So fingers crossed our baby makes it to summer without any hospital stays or serious issues.

Thank you so much for reading! I am hoping to get Zion in a video next month. You will be amazed at how well his speech has come along. He does get a little more embarrassed then he used to, but I think he will cooperate with me. If you have any tips or thoughts on the ADHD issue please feel free to comment or write to me. Anything concerning the disorder would be truly appreciated!

Well, I will start off with the exciting news..Zion lost his first tooth!! Zion’s teeth came in pretty late as a baby. By the age of 1, he had his 2 bottom teeth and that was it. About 2 months later he had 8 teeth coming in at one time and surprisingly never showed any kind of pain. He lost one of his bottom teeth and the one right next door is loose as well. I was a pretty horrible tooth fairy because I only had $2 in ones and then gave him quarters, LOL!!! However, I am ready for this next one to come out and have had ones on stand-by! I was really starting to wonder when he would lose his first tooth because I knew kiddos in Pre-k that had already lost some teeth. But, as Zion has always done… Zion does things on his time

Zion had his middle of the year award ceremony and he got some great awards! He has had A Honor Roll all year so far, a Reading and Math leader, Math Club, and a couple of other things. We are so proud of our little guy and his academic achievements. He loves to read, he loves science, and he makes pretty amazing progress everyday! Speaking of academics, for Christmas my sister bought him a subscription to Kiwi Co. So basically you choose a box theme (we picked Atlas) and they send you a box every month (for 3, 6, or 12 months). Each box contains different stories and activities to collect and build. Since we did the Atlas theme, he gets a new box about a different country every month. The most recent box we completed was all about Italy. The culture, food, history, and more. He did some really cool activities and it had a recipe to make Bruschetta. The  next box came in and it is about South Korea. Jeremiah was stationed there so we are excited to get that box started.

Now to think about the big questions topic. What I mean by this is me still thinking about the lingering question…Autism. When (or do I..) talk to Zion about having autism? I truly do not know what to say or even how to approach the topic. Is he too young to understand this concept? Will he feel like he is different or will it make him feel awkward? I just don’t know honestly and so any advice would be appreciated. Having a child with Autism can be difficult. And when they are high functioning, like Zion, the challenge becomes how do explain autism, and when?