well, here it is...another monday evening. usually i get home from work, change into jammies, feed the children...you get the picture. we keep a fairly stringent schedule around our home. but tonight we ventured out and reached out at the same time.

we have been in a sort of limbo since sir dantes' therapies ended with t.e.i.s (tennessee early intervention services) when he turned three. in the back of our minds was a lingering question of "well, what do we do next?" there has been plenty of activity to help us not really concentrate on the lingering question, such as our big move into the new house (and the big flood last week). however, we weren't really sure where to start.

Follow up:

home "therapies" have not ever really stopped. everyday is filled with activities such as using sign language or coloring, reading, playing. but again, we are not professional therapist and we know that there are a lot of bigger issues out there that need to be dealt with. education is a big one, especially since we plan on home-schooling.

anyway, as i was saying, we knew we needed to go somewhere but were not really sure where to go. since i work full-time my husband has spent a lot of time on-line looking and reading. he came across a support group that meets nearby once a month. come to find out one of the "founding" members is an old classmate of his who happens to be on the spectrum. my husband didn't know in school that this gentleman was on the spectrum and i don't believe that they were really close friends.

after the initial contact was made we still didn't go. we said to ourselves that we should go check it out but that was about it. in my mind i am a little leery of "support" groups. in my experience most people sit around and complain or argue; then they go home. i didn't want that. i only imagined that an autism support group would be much worse given some of the intense debate between different schools of thought on what causes autism and how to "cure" autism. i really didn't want to end up in a room filled with a bunch of generation rescuers that would berate me for not using controversial therapies.

so, we didn't go. then this nice old classmate of my husband came out to our house to deliver a copy of a book he wrote (turns out the guy is a ph.d, an author, and an acclaimed photographer) and a personal invitation to attend the upcoming meeting. so we starting talking about it again. but, we still didn't give it much more than an "okay, let's see how monday goes..."

well, then on sunday night the friend calls to remind us that monday is coming up and there is a meeting. well, they say that people on the spectrum are consistent! this time our conversation about attending went a bit further. we were either going to go or completely disappoint this man, or he would bug us until we went. well, thank god (or whatever higher power exist) that he did. because we went!

we were a little nervous about it. we had no idea what to expect or how we might be received. it is always tough to be the new kid. i rushed home from work and my husband made sure the children had an early supper. we loaded up the car and drove over. the meeting was held in a large, large church downtown. the actual meeting was held in a small conference room. besides ourselves there were only seven people!

they were so nice and accepting of us. they asked questions and offered resources and advice. there was a little conversation about d.a.n and diets, but no arguing or scolding whatsoever! they were just what they said they were; a support group. my husband's old school mate played with sir dantes and took our picture. ms. maxie behaved beautifully and they were all understanding and kind to our children. overall, a nice group of people.

what surprised me the most was that there were not more people there. one in every 150 to 94 people being on the spectrum is a lot of people! where are they? you can find then on-line fairly easily, but not at a support group. it could have been a slow night? but, using such a small conference room tells me that they were not expecting to many people.

we had a very welcoming and nice experience. these people were very helpful and nonjudgmental. they have had similar experiences and had plenty of resources to mention. they are going to e-mail us some links to check out. there are so many free servies or the cost is on a sliding scale to make it affordable.

i want to thank this man for his willingness to contact us and to keep contacting us until we went. we plan on going back and so, for any of those facing uncertainty, i encourage them to find a local group and go. you may be pleasantly surprised. thank you!