Thriving

This summer Ryan was diagnosed with PDD-NOS. So on August 2nd, he started attending ICA for therapy five days a week. Now what do all of these acronyms mean? PDD-NOS stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. ICA stands for the Idaho Center for Autism. My six-year-old son, Ryan, has been found to be on the Autism Spectrum...VERY high functioning. They don't give him the diagnosis of specific Autism because he does not exhibit all of the characteristics, only some of them...that is where the "Not Otherwise Specified" comes in. In all of the research I have done I think that Ryan most closely resembles Asperger's Syndrome. The thing I have realized about kids on "The Spectrum," as they are sometimes called, is that they are all so different. No two kids are alike. Ryan has made huge strides and we continue to be impressed with how far he has come in these few short months. We have gotten so much help, advice and therapy from ICA. They have been amazing. Ryan receives three hours of therapy from ICA every morning and then goes to Kindergarten every afternoon. In addition to this, Ryan receives 1/2 hour of Speech Therapy, 1 hour of Physical Therapy and 1 hour of Occupational Therapy every week. This summer I was so worried about where to send Ryan to school and if ICA was right for us. I just kept telling myself that if September came and Ryan fell apart, that we could make adjustments. Not many decisions are permanent, right? Well, as of right now, he couldn't be in any better place! He is thriving...really thriving.