Welcome

Welcome family and friends

I remember when my second son, Grant, turned 2-years-old, demonstrating all the developmental traits that delight a father – the babbling that gives way to short sentences and singing the alphabet song and the curiosity of wanting to grab everything within his tiny reach. As parents, it seemed as though our Grant was well on his way to be like his older brother, a typically developing child allowing you to dream ahead to kindergarten and tee ball and Disney World trips.

But then, as quickly as it takes a light to dim when a switch is turned off, Grant began showing startling signs of regression. Suddenly, no more short sentences, just one-word utterances. No more singing, in fact, he could no longer recite the alphabet at all. His pre-school teachers noticed it, too. They noticed a change in his behavior for the worse and greater challenges with academic retention. They immediately suggested it might be attention deficit disorder, delayed speech development or some other ailment. As parents, we had his pediatrician evaluate Grant for all of the above. But other than an obvious case of delayed speech that seemed to grow worse by the moment, there was no firm diagnosis for what was failing Grant. And with no proper diagnosis there could be no proper plan of treatment.

It would take us 24 long months before we would finally get a proper diagnosis for Grant. He has autism. ‘What is autism?’ I can remember wondering and asking. I would soon learn. And I also learned there was no cure for autism. And what scared me most was that my best hope for helping my son learn to live with this neurological disorder was to get him intervention services as early in life as possible. In my mind, we had already lost more than two years of potential treatment while we struggled to find out what ailed Grant. And even with the diagnosis, it would take nearly a year before we could find a treatment – still not convinced it was the right treatment plan – to help Grant.

Today Grant is a teenager still learning to live with his condition with the loving support of his family and friends. Given that early intervention is key, it is my wish that no parent will ever have to wait two crucial years before learning their child has autism. Living Beyond Autism hopes this report and resources will serve as tools of awareness and education for our communities, especially those living in underrepresented minority areas where an autism diagnosis is most often missed. There is hope. Together, we can teach those around us about autism and help those living with this condition live fulfilling lives.

Kind Regards,

Reginald Fields Living Beyond Autism, co-founder