Hyperlexia

Griffin has speech therapy every week both in his preschool classroom and in a private therapy center. His speech therapist, Nancy, evaluated him and found that his expressive vocabulary is equal to that of his typical peers 3 years 6 months but his receptive vocabulary is only at 2 years 3 months. It is usually( with NT kiddos) the other way around with receptive vocab being much higher than the expressive. The reason why is that Griffin has hyperlexia, which I just recently found out. I didn't know that there was a word for this condition; his love for letters, reading, and spelling.

Hyperlexia: The presence of advanced ability to read compared to the ability to understand spoken language.
Children with hyperlexia have a precocious ability to read words, far above what would be expected at their chronological age or an intense fascination with letters or numbers; significant difficulty in understanding verbal language; and abnormal social skills, difficulty in socializing and interacting appropriately with people.

Now that I know this it helps me to be able to work with him in reading comprehension. Griffin has shown me that he can not only read words but he can spell them as well; just yesterday he came up to me with 4 little alphabet blocks that spelled out P O O L. At the same time he was saying "let's go to the pool". He has been taking swim classes and he either figured it out from the word seen while at the pool or he just figured out how to spell it phonetically. Either way, I say BRAVO little guy!

Living In the Moment

Griffin has taught me many things but most of all I have learned from him that every minute of the day is precious, especially when I am with him. If I am worried about paying bills for instance, and he is in the other room laughing and playing, then I am missing out on a beautiful moment and there's no going back. There are times when I catch myself getting frustrated with him because I am not paying attention to what he is trying to communicate to me. It makes me sad to think of the times when I could have offered more to Griffin by giving him my undivided attention but I have to move beyond that now and make sure that the present is different.

Griffin deserves to have the best of everything that I can give to him and that means making sure that he is always my priority regardless of whatever else is going on. Sometimes it is difficult and it takes lots of practice but he is well worth the effort. It is important that I find beauty in each and every moment of the day to appreciate the smiles, the laughter, and even the tough times. There is something to be learned in every experience whether it be "good" or "bad". For example, I have learned from Griffin each time he has a tantrum because it has taught me to be more patient and to use more positive reinforcement in order to avoid more tantrums in the future.

I must accept Griffin for who he is now, in this moment, and to not place expectations on him because that would only set me up for disappointment. I have chosen to celebrate our every success; even though some may seem small they are monumental to me. I do my best to not take life for granted, to live in the moment, and to love every minute of it!

Griffin's Laughter

There's only one thing that brings me quintessential joy and that is the sound of Griffin's laughter.

Instead of being upset about my child having autism and what may or may not be the cause of it I have decided to dedicate this blog to all the joy in our lives and how we cope with the autism in a fun and positive way. The best way I know to cope with the challenges we have each day is to stay in the moment and take in everything that life has to offer. I give Griffin unconditional love as he has given to me, I cherish each and every smile and hug I receive from my precious "sonshine".

Griffin has been a teacher to me and in many ways his autism has taught me as well. I have learned how to be tenacious, relentless, patient, gentle, compassionate, and accepting. All of these I do with all my heart and not anyone or anything can change the way I feel about my awesome little guy.

We've been through some tough times and I don't think that I would change any of it, for all the experiences and challenges we have faced and overcome have all been a blessing in one way or another and at the end of the day I must say that I am grateful for it all.
Would I take away the autism if I could? I guess that I can honestly say, I don't know because Griffin is who he is and I love him just the way he is. I don't think that it is healthy to think about how life would be without the autism. I can only hope that Griffin lives a productive life and remains the "happy camper" that he is today..........forever!