Our 2nd annual autism event!

We had our second Autism Event yesterday! It went so well. We raised enough money to help stock up their rooms (they have 4 AU Units at his school) with much needed equipment. We also will be giving a portion to another school that has 2 classes. We tripled the amount raised from last year!! We are also working on getting a tx id number to become a non profit for next year! I wanted to simply add a few things about Autism and Autism Awareness. I can't speak for every family affected by it, but here is a walk in our shoes. Autism is a neurological disorder (brain) It effects behavior, communication, and social skills. Jaiden actually loves people and being around them. His communication is improving every day, and we're finding that he likes to talk and make jokes. (A joke to him is asking someone where mommy is and they say at home and he laughs and says I'm in P.E....and when they get there, he picks someone out and says, "there's mommy". He thinks he is quite clever. His fine motor skills are very weak, but are improving also. He is 7 yrs old and not fully potty trained, but working very hard with that. There is so much that goes in to having a child with Autism (from diets to all of the wonderful people who work with him) I appreciate every single one of them. He has a diagnostician, an awesome teacher, 4-12 assistants that assist him with everything from, taking him to a kindergarten class for reading, PE, and music, to helping him potty and ride his bike. He has a physical therapist, occupational therapist, and speech therapist. He also has in home who come to our house every week and work with us a family. He has an autism specialist, who works in all of the schools and goes around helping the kids and teachers and even comes to our house to do evaluations to see what he needs. She alos, provide focus groups for parents every month. She helped a lot with our event. Her sister goes around the schools working with these kids also. I mentioned diet and toxins above. This plays a huge role also. Most of the kids restict their wheat, dairy, sugar, and proccesed foods. We don't stick to it 100%, but some do, and it is HARD. I love that all of the kids at his school know him and say hi to him ALL of the time. They love to help him, introduce their parents to him, they invite him to their birthday parties, and even talk to him when we see them out in public places. He knows people I don't even know lol! These are real people, even if they don't seem like typical kiddos. He loves to swim, ride horses, listen to music, watch tv, dance, read books, Elmo, and he loves to eat cupcakes! He also, (just like the rest of us) gets grumpy, gets his feelings hurt, fights with his brothers, and gets upset if things don't go his way. He follows a schedule by looking at pictures. He LOVES this and it helps him so much. This way he knows what is going on for the day and will respond to the daily activities much better! He is about the sweetest little boy ever, and he will touch and be a blessing to everyone who gets the chance to know him. He loves to smile and will do it all day long =] Thanks to all who love him, and work with him, who care about him, and pray for him. You mean more than you'll ever know!