From Donna, Mother of Wesley
From correspondence with our BEDROK group on July 30, 2004
I posted this on Babycenter.com, Autism Spectrum Support Group. I really believe that BED was the last piece of the puzzle for my son. I posted a while ago, because I was concerned about his play skills… well they seem to be coming along nicely (slowly, but nicely). Even his pretend play is emerging and he is starting to potty train all on his own. Here is the posting from Babycenter.com:
I feel like I need to post because I often only post when I’m feeling overwhelmingly blue and I know that when I read success stories of children, it gave me hope and strength to persevere in my quest to help my child have a happy and healthy life.
Well it was only last mother’s day 2004 when I poured my heart out to this board, crying tears as I typed. My extended family was having a party and I was much too depressed to go. My 26 month old still didn’t call me mommy or even mama, he was rarely interested in toys and his interest in his grandparents was nil, never mind other children. We still worked with him daily to keep up his receptive language but he still had days that he sat in the bathtub and couldn’t show me which toy was the rubber ducky. His strengths came and went, it was a constant struggle. His energy was extremely low and he much rather be in bed that playing with toys. He was constantly crying and often times parties were miserable because he cried for food the whole time.
Well in July of 2004 we started on another diet, the Body Ecology diet, I introduced some different grains and I made him drink lots of young coconut kefir juice. He broke out in a full body rash for a couple of days and became super stimmy for weeks, then within 4 weeks he started to speak words. Then all of a sudden he started to call us ma ma and da da, then within 2 months he started to speak in sentences. And another wonderful thing happened, his energy level increased 100%! He started waking up smiling instead of crying.
Well fast forward to Christmas 2004, we hosted a Christmas party with roughly 30 guests and Wesley had the time of his life. He didn’t beg for food, he had a good dinner, had about 5 gluten free cookies (he hasn’t had sugar in a long time) and when I brought him upstairs to change his diaper he said “I want back downstairs”. He had NO transition problems, he sought out the kids and ran around with them laughing and singing, he LOVED Santa Claus (Santa came to the house), he totally understood presents and kept asking for more presents.
Christmas day Wesley woke up and asked for his little brother Will and asked for more presents. He ate a great breakfast and was excited to see his cousins. He jumped on the couch with his cousins and said Hi to all the aunts and uncles when asked of him. All this and he is only 34 months old.
I put Wes to bed tonight and covered him up with his blanket, and he said “mama, cover up Pooh too” and I did and then he said “cover up Elmo too”, yes he sleeps with both Elmo and pooh and yes his pretend play has emerged nicely and continues to emerge. I heard him the other day talking to his stuffed animals……OMG never ever did I think this kid would play with his stuffed animals never mind be so attached to them! Wesley keeps amazing us with the things he says…….he tells us when it is dark outside, “mommy it is dark outside” and when I get angry he says “mama is sad”, he talks all the time and he is picking up words and phrases left and right. Also he runs to his grandparents and even gets jealous when his little brother Will gets attention. I think the best gift this Christmas is his constant laugh and smile.
One year ago today my child didn’t smile, had little receptive language, no expressive language, he was very clumsy and cried almost all the time. He had no natural imaginary play and no interests in new toys.
This Christmas God has blessed my family with more than I can ever ask for. I truly believe Wesley has beat this thing and I hope my story someday will help someone else.
Thanks for listening………..and thank you for all your help and support throughout the year!
ps……Wes will be attending a mainstream preschool in February!
Donna
Mother to 2 wonderful boys:
Wesley 02-12-02
Will 07-12-03
