Gabriel's Story
Gabriel as a five year old
From the start, Gabriel had it kind of rough. At the crucial twelve week mark, when an embryo becomes a fetus, there was reason to believe that we had just had a miscarriage. But when the midwife came that evening, we heard his heartbeat for the first time. These sort of comebacks became typical as well.
When Gabriel was born, it took him several minutes to breathe properly. In fact, the midwife gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation to get him going. But after five minutes he was up to speed.
When Gabriel was four days old, we noticed a shadow that seemed to pass over his face occasionally. He did not seem to struggle for breath, but there was a definite grayness that would come and go to his face. We took him to the hospital, where normally cool doctors lost some of their composure and hurried us to the emergency room. His body temperature was 96 degrees, and his oxygen saturation rate was about 75%. (You usually want at least 98%). Extensive tests of his heart were inconclusive, and the doctors decided to just warm him up and feed him and treat his jaundice. Sure enough, after six long days at the hospital, we were given our release home, after we took an infant CPR class.
Gabriel was an absolutely delightful child growing up, but we noticed that he seemed a little delayed with his speech development. His first word was "Ng-aah" for ceiling fan, but other than that, not much else. (Actually, maybe 50 or 100 words total, at 2 1/2). When he was 2 years and 7 months old, we had him tested by Early Intervention, and they agreed that he seemed to be on the autism spectrum.
All I had known about autism was what I had seen on Rainman, and this didn't seem to be quite the same thing. Gabriel had excellent eye contact and seemed to enjoy people, yet what we have learned is that autism is a spectrum disorder, with a wide variety of symptoms and abilities. But the professionals in his life are working a wonder with him, and we are very blessed. He has made marvelous progress in school.
As a youngster in Oregon, Gabriel's favorite activities, aside from the aforementioned ceiling fans, were going to visit the ducks near a local pond and playing with his family and friends. Now we would have to add watching movies to that list, as Gabriel has an encyclopedic mind about when movies came out, how long they are, what they are rated, etc. He enjoys all that Pixar and Big Idea is able to produce. Over the past few years, Gabriel has shown an increasing enjoyment of sports, particularly basketball. He has been successful with various city league teams.
Now ten years old and entering the sixth grade, Gabriel has been assessed to be working at grade level and no longer requires special education services. This is something of a miracle, considering where he was before, and a tribute to all those who helped him when he was three to five years old.
Gabriel is very brave, as autism is mostly a sensory issue, and he has to overcome a lot just to make it through a day. But he always makes it through with a smile.