As a Mom, I am famous for my "life" talks. Before my son even learned to talk, I was speaking about life lessons to him. He was my little sidekick, so wide eyed and adorable! As he got older, I began to notice how much he was struggling with our talks, around the age of 3 I noticed this blank look coming from him and could feel the wheels turning in his mind, he looked stuck. When he would speak to other adults he would simply parrot the things he heard me say to him, making him seem as though he was this incredibly insightful child/young man.
This made the task of getting teachers and doctors to listen when I told them something was wrong. A little background; when my son was born he was SGA (small for gestational age) born full term and only 4 1/2 lbs. We were told they believed he had a lack of oxygen to his brain during fetal development but insisted that would have no long term effects and he was just fine. We were ignored, and written off. All the while, my sweet boy was deep in his silent struggle that only we could see.
I will tell his story in pieces throughout this blog connecting to different things that have become Tried and True in raising this amazing young man. Fast forward to the age of 14 he still struggles with all conversation and social skills that he struggled with at the age of 3. I had a friend over in the Summer of 2021, who just happens to be a very talented Speech and Language Pathologist. She asked me to search for a social skills group for my son to take part in, she was very determined to make sure I understood that this was a key component for him.
I found an organization called Ascent Autism, based out of California. As I read the description to my friend Llee, her response was simply they're amazing, sign up I don't need to hear any more! 😂 I made contact and they called me very quickly to talk about my son. They were so in depth in their questioning; they wanted to know his likes, dislikes, struggles, strengths, all of it. They have a process where they group them based on those answers as well as their age. Every group is moderated by a trained facilitator so that there is structure to the group but it also is free flowing so the kids can be comfortable and grow through the process.
When my son began in the Summer of 2021 he was put in a group of kids slightly younger than him as well as having more difficulties than him. Throughout his life he's known other Autistic children that also had more difficulties than him and he goes into helper/teacher mode immediately just wanting to make them feel comfortable and help them. In classes he was unable to focus on the group, would play a game on the other screen while group was in process. I wasn't seeing too much progress during that time. I reached out to the facilitator and she offered a meeting, she set it up right away.
We spoke more in depth about my son's tendency to help others, while ignoring his own needs and growth. Being in a group like that allowed him to stay in his comfort zone, so we decided to have him try another group with kids that were slightly older than him, with less difficulty since that is a challenge for him. This is when I began to see him skyrocket in his growth. Over the course of only 8 months, he is able to focus on the group, his self awareness, ability to actively listen, self reflection, asking in depth questions and participating in the conversation after asking, recognizing his moments of anxiety, learning to ask for help, it has all increased. As my son and I have conversations at home, I will send messages through chat to our facilitator either thanking her or letting her know things he may be struggling with and they work it into sessions because they tend to be things the other kids deal with as well.
They are always listening and improving. They now have a private online platform where they upload the progress reports after each session, as well as a parent to facilitator chat option built in. They even launched a private chat group for the kids to interact with one another in between group sessions to give them even more opportunity to apply all that they are learning in group. All of these improvements obviously increased their pricing as well, but existing families were grandfathered in. Not many businesses do that anymore, it shows just how much they value their families.
I can confidently and honestly say how happy we are to be a part of the Ascent Autism family, they have truly changed my teen son's life!
If you're interested in learning more, you can check them out here and sign up for a free consultation. You won't regret it, they are Tried and True.
Jazz
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