Sprague Family

Today I am pretty much just going to give you a few pictures to give you a glimpse into what makes Atticus special. :) Atticus did not do pretend play hardly at all until his sister taught him when he was around 5. He then discovered at around 6 blocks/connects/shapes that he could use to build things, and started do more independent play which was awesome. In fact, it would be hard to stop him when he was in the middle of it. I also have a picture of him with pants half up for school and trying to finish a creation. :) His map is hung by his bed, with a world map also on his wall. He loves to be quizzed about them, and yes he has mastered the stack the states app. :) He also has checked out books from the library about space, the human body, animals and different elements. He knows more random facts then most adults I think! The pictures with the kids eating at subway represents our biggest struggle. Atticus can not stand chewing. (Or coughing) especially from Ariel, but also in gene...

This post is about Atticus’s school years (so far!) Like most moms, the idea of finding the right school for my son was very stressful. My child has almost no fine motor skills and can not sit, things that don’t work well in a traditional classroom especially if the teacher is over stressed or not flexible. But God is always working! We attend a public charter school here in Dallas that is amazing. Each of Atticus’s 3 teachers have loved him and accepted him as who he is. And he really loves them! They have challenged him, but not pushed him to frustration (which is a skill!) They are more patient then I am most of the time! In kinder his teacher had a special seat for him to sit on in carpet time to help him focus. She would have her aid next to him if she knew a fire drill was going to go off to help him with the loud noise. All this and more with NO IEP (individual education plan, a document that gives children rights and things that the teachers have to do for that child to help t...

First off, I was blown away by the love and support show to my first post! These are thoughts that have be bouncing around in my head for a while and I do hope they can help someone going through this or just help others understand what it is like to be autistic or have an autistic child! :) Atticus was born in May 2008. He was a big healthy boy! With the blue eyes and blond curls mom always dreamed about. And right from the start, he needed help processing sensory information. He needed to be swaddled and rocked and in movement all the time. Many children need this, and not all of those are on the autism spectrum, but for us we know that he has always needed help dealing with sensory overload. He was a hard but sweet baby, and a crazy toddler. He could run until his legs gave out on him and then get up and do it again! We now know that verbal instructions are hard for him, and in those early years it was very hard to get him to follow all the verbal instructions you give a small...

I am going to put some posts from facebook on here, so they can be shared and hopefully encourage others. It is also a way for me to find them easily. :) April is autism awareness month. And since it is the last week in April I thought I would post some about what Autism means to our family. Atticus was diagnosed with High Function Autism, or ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder last fall. They no longer call it Asperger’s, but that would be another name too. This was an emotional time for our family, but a good time. It was not like he had just come down with a scary disease that we were finding out about. No, this diagnoses was all about getting answers. Now we knew why Atticus did some of the things he did. Why he felt like such a hard child. His brain was programmed different then the average person. We could now read books about what other people have gone through. We could learn about him! We could help him! BUT we could never really change who he is. It was hard for me when it sunk it ...