Update on Colton

Chris and I took Colton to the University of Alabama Autism Clinic on Monday September 27th and Monday, October 4th for an Autism evaluation. We were advised to take him to the clinic because Colton has a delay in speech and has a few symptoms of Autism. (His symptoms include the following: flapping of the hands, repetitive behavior, speech delay and minimum eye contact). The first Monday went great and Colton enjoyed playing with all the toys and he performed all of the tasks very well. However the second Monday was a hard day for him. They pushed him really hard in speech and communication and he wanted nothing to do with either teacher that was in the room. It was a hard day for both Colton and mommy. (It’s so hard as a mommy to sit and watch your little one struggle with something as simple as talking and I wanted him so bad just to say one simple word). The evaluation lasted about 4 hours each day and we were all completely drained by the end of the second day. The worst part was that we had to wait there another hour so that the Autism Evaluation Team could discuss their opinions. After a long hour, we were all brought into a room where they informed us that Colton had a very mild case of Autism. At that very instant, I felt as if all of my dreams had been shattered. I’m so glad that Chris was sitting in that room with me because if he wasn’t there I probably would have crumbled to the ground. At a time when I could barely speak, Chris knew exactly what questions to ask and I could never thank God enough for bringing me such a strong Christian man into my life. When we left the clinic, Chris kept telling me that we would make it through this and that God would be walking with us each step of the way. Now 2 weeks later, I feel as though our family of 3 is stronger than ever! We are trusting God each step of the way and we are praising Him through it all! It’s not the outcome that we had hoped for, but we know that God has an Amazing plan for our family and we are looking forward to experiencing it together.

Since that Monday, Chris and I are doing lots of research, reading books about Autism, and we are hoping to help fight this disorder for Colton. We’re meeting Thursday with a new doctor in Tuscaloosa who actually has a son with Autism, so we’re hoping to walk away from the appointment with a little more knowledge about the disorder. We both know that we have a lot to learn and that it’s not going to be an easy road ahead of us but we are love our little boy so much that we are willing to do anything for him. Thank you all so much for your continuous prayers and support throughout the past few months. Colton is a very blessed boy to have so many people who love and adore him!