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HOW MY SON'S ISMS ARE POINTING ME TO GOD

  IF YOU ARE FAMILIARED WITH THE SON-RISE PROGRAM YOU KNOW WHAT AN ISM IS. IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH AUTISM YOU MAY KNOW ISMS AS STIMS.  ISMS ARE AMAZING!    TODAY AS WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO VISIT OUR COUSIN TO HIS UNIVERSITY DORM WE MADE A BRIEF STOP AT A GAS STATION TO GET SOME SNACKS. IT WAS THERE AND THEN THAT IT DAWNED ON ME.  THE BEAUTY OF THE ISM IS POINTING ME TO GOD! IN OUT EVER CHANGING CAOTHIC WORLD WE NEED SOMETHING TO GROUND US AND ANCHOR US BACK TO SAFETY. THAT IS WHAT THE ISM DOES. EVERY TIME MY CHILD ISMS HE IS FOCUSING IN THE BEAUTY OF THE PREDICTABLE  AND BEING SOOTHED BY THE CLAMING EFFECT OF THE REPETITIVE SAMENESS.  MY SON'S FAVOURIT ISMS ARE: TURNING LIGHTS ON AND OF, OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS, STUMPING HIS FEET ON THE FLOOR ("IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT STUMP YOUR FEET"), CLAPING ("IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS"", FLIPPING BOOKS, PACING AROUND A ROOM....  THESE BEAUTIFUL ISMS FILL OUR DAY WITH FUN AND CHAN...

Why I didn't suspect my son had autism.

Up until my son was three and a half years old, I had no suspicion of his autism. Several things made me think he just had a simple speech delay. For instance, he has great eye contact, and he loves to smile at people while looking at them. I often get compliments from acquaintances and strangers alike about my awesome smile. Also, he loves pointing and possesses great joint attention. He does not like playing on his own and often loves Mom and Dad to be involved in his play, which includes imaginative play like cooking soup in his toy kitchen and feeding it to us or to his stuffed animals. Besides these, he does not have obvious gross motor repetitive behaviors.  I also strongly doubted he had autism because his pediatrician at the time was not at all concerned. My son had met all his milestones within the regular timeline, and there was nothing amiss. As I mentioned before, the only thing I was concerned about was his speech.   When our son turned two years old, we took...