About Babies

From Despair to Hope:
 Our family’s journey with an autistic child, Part 4
By Sheri Hunt

Haidyn was four and full of energy. He enjoyed being outside running and playing on his Jungle Jim. His true passion was, and still is, swimming. We called him our little water boy because he could swim all day if we would let him. I loved it when he would come into our bedroom early in the morning and crawl into bed and want to snuggle.

Last month you learned that we were very excited about the option of working with a group of  Neurodevelopmentalists.  However, we discovered that we couldn’t afford their services. My heart was broken. I cried out to God and told Him my frustrations. In His still small voice He encouraged me to do what I could and He promised to supply our needs. So, we place Haidyn into the pre-kindergarten program.

I contacted the elementary school in our district who provided a program for children with autism and met with the program director, teacher, speech and occupational therapists. Haidyn would go to school five days a week and receive both speech and occupational therapy. We were excited to receive help although we knew that it would take more than a school program to heal Haidyn. We saw that his teacher cared about him and we loved her for that. I started to notice that his class was growing very quickly. They changed teacher’s aides around almost every week. His teacher commented that Haidyn was aggressive with two girls he was assigned to sit between. The girls enjoyed screaming at everything and when they did, Haidyn would push them off their chairs. When I arrived at the end of the school day, I found him in the corner covering his ears from all the noise. Then upon arriving home he was stressed out and angry.

It was the end of the year and time for a parent teacher conference. I looked forward to our meeting expecting to hear how Haidyn was doing. She informed me that Haidyn would get lost in the classroom and is hard to work with. She also told me that he was not receiving occupational therapy because they felt he didn’t need it. She gently suggested to me that we begin to consider placing Haidyn into a group home when he graduated from high school. After the meeting, I remember walking to the car holding Haidyn’s precious little hand in mine and crying. I prayed that God would help us to find hope.
 

Next month will be Sheri's final entry in  little Haidyn Hunt's journey from despair to hope.
She and Larry find the "hope" that sustains them today.