Thursday, July 17, 2008

Trey ready for the NBA...

Trey showing off his stuff....
Makenna and Jayden just want to play with the Camera...LOL


Makenna, Makenna, Makenna

Makenna is known in these parts as "Queen Flip a Switch!" one moment she is the cutest thing in the world and then she "flips that switch" and becomes 110% 2 year old girl... LOL

Trey is our social bug...

Trey loves to be with someone and outdoors. He is such a great kid....

Noah now 9 months old and weighs almost 30 lbs.

I can't believe how fast time goes but here is our "BRUTE" He is growing like a weed or should I say stump!!!

Newest picture of Jayden

Jayden loves the dirt. Here he is playing with cousins at Grandma's house....

Jayden's and how his brain works.

Hey everyone, as you know we have been testing Jayden for Autism and have found out that he has Autism Spectrum Disorder. I found this analogy about the disorder. ...

Imagine a huge office building with the CEO on the top floor. The CEO directs everything and in a normal functioning brain he communicates with the other departments. Accounting, Sales, Support staff, Customer Service, etc... All of these departments work together to handle the day to day activity of the company. In an Autistic brain, none of the departments talk to one another, or don't do it in an effective way. Jayden may understand something( we are told 10-15% of the time) but he can't get it out. 30-40% of the time he is mimicking things that he has already heard or experienced. Imagine running a company in the same large building without the use of phones, email or Instant Messaging. With children with Autism Spectrum Disorder do not display the kinds of things that a child with classic Autism (i.e. "Rain Man", who was also a Savant) Jayden's diagnosis is that he has a good chance of having his speech become normal around the age of 10. He will be in speech therapy, occupational therapy and specialized school settings as long as needed until we feel like he is caught up. Also there is a chance that he will progress to a point where he stops and that is all he can gain with his brain. The percentage of kids like Jayden that can live a "normal life" is 70-80%. We hope and pray Jayden can understand and conceptualize what is being presented to him as he goes through this process. I know and understand that we all go through trials and problems and by no means do we want people to feel sorry for us... Jayden ROCKS and that is all that is needed to be said. We do have more sympathy for those we hear of going through tough times. Please know we understand! For those of you who want to learn more about this here are some web pages.

www.autism.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

http://youtube.com/watch?v=46ycu3JFRrA (this is a 5 part YouTube article on Temple Grandin)

Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you all and we hope that you all are doing well. Thanks for everything you all have brought to our lives...

With Love,
Kristin, Sterling, Trey, Jayden, Makenna and Noah

Letter concerning Jayden from Kristin

For some this may be a duplicate ...

Well we got through today! This has been a long awaited appointment. First of all, I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your thoughts and prayers you offered in Jayden's behalf. I can't tell how you strongly we felt the power of our Heavenly Father in this process and I know it was because of all of you. What a testimony builder for both Sterling and me!!! Thank you again for your love and support for our family and especially for sweet Jayden.

We met with a psychologist today and got a diagnosis for Jayden. He has been officially diagnosed with autism. He is considered "high functioning" which means he can and will be able to function pretty close to "normal". We were told that he will need some extra occupational therapy to help with his sensory issues and a couple of things regarding his schooling that will help. But for the most part we found out that we can do a lot of stuff with him at home each day. We learned so much today! We had a lot of "oh, that's why" moments and a lot of "well that explains why..." moments as well. I can't even tell you how wonderful today was for all of us. The most important thing was that we got to better understand how and why Jayden is the way he is. We have quickly gained that much more love and respect for Jayden and the hardships he is going through. We have learned more of how to deal with him and what we need to do to help him progress towards where he needs/wants to be. He has a long road ahead of him but we already feel so much more equipped to handle what is ahead. Sterling and I still have so much to learn and are willing and wanting to learn all that we can to help him. I could go on and on about what we learned so feel free to ask if you are interested. There are things that anyone and everyone can and should know regarding how to deal with Jayden and we're more than willing to explain if you would like.

Thanks again for all of your support. As I said, we still have a long road ahead and lots to teach Jayden and help him with but with patience and love we will get through it!! Love you all!!

Kristin