Mark’s first nephew, Henry Ian, was born on October 19th.

Mark has passed the half way point in summer school. He wrote his first paper completely by himself! I proofed it and made suggestions. He used most of them. I thought he did a good job for his first solo paper, but knew it was weak in analyzing a piece of art work. (I was an Art Major in a previous life) I figured he at least had a C paper. Later when he received his graded paper back, I was delighted to see that he got a B-. The teacher did say the analyzing was weak and he also thought he should have included a photo of the piece. I had told Mark to take my camera because I can put the digital photos directly into the computer. No, he insisted on using Steve’s phone and there was a problem where we couldn’t get the pictures out of the phone. Mark did a good job photographing it with the phone. He took all four quadrants and then a photo of the entire painting. My thought was if he had to write a two page paper, a photo can take up some of that space. He’s not going to make a living writing papers, but at least he can write one. Mid-Term exam was short answer and essay, so we will see.

Mark started college tonight.  He’s taking an Art Appreciation course this summer at the local junior college.  He survived the first day of class and sounded somewhat positive about the experience.  I don’t know if he’ll appreciate art after taking the course, but I’ll appreciate that he has one class under his belt at the end of  July.

3rd Quarter grades:

Contemporary World History……….B-

Religion 12……….B

Physics……….A

Computer Applications……….A

World History……….B-

Analytical Geometry……….A

Current Events……….B-

4th Quarter grades:

Contemporary World History……….B-

Religion 12……….A

Physics……….A-

Computer Applications……….A

World History……….C+

Analytical Geometry……….B

Current Events……….B-

Semester Exams:

Contemporary World History……….B

Physics……….A+

Computer Applications……….A

World History……….A+

Analytical Geometry……….A-

Current Events……….A

Semester grades:

Contemporary World History……….B-

Religion 12……….A-

Physics……….A

Computer Applications……….A

World History……….B

Analytical Geometry……….B+

Current Events……….B-

We’re pretty proud of him!

In July of 2007, for my birthday, we decided to go on a camping trip to Olney, IL to see the famed white squirrels. Mark and I had seen these once before, but Steve never had. We camped at Red Hills State Park. We were letting Mark do whatever camping chores he felt up to. This was our attempt at trying to treat him like a normal teenager (whatever that is!). One of the days, Steve was off fishing and Mark & I were supposed to be getting dinner ready. We weren’t expecting a lot of fish to show up, so Mark started to prepare a fire for hamburgers. He did a good job and got it going. I then sent him off to find his Dad. A little while later, I see Mark coming back to camp covered in muck up to his butt looking something like the…Mark had managed to walk into a bog. Considering that he was covered with stinking, rotting vegetation, he was remarkably calm and handling it quite well. Being the sensitive, caring mother that I am, I immediately reached for the camera to immortalize this Kodak moment.Between my taking a picture and laughing, Mark began to get a little perturbed at Mom and started to show normal teenage attitude, which is evident in this next photo:At this point, I figured I better help him out of this predicament or risk losing my “Mother of the Year” status. I didn’t want to send him to the showers in his condition, so we went to the water pump and at least got his boots off and feet somewhat clean. (I had envisioned mud all over the shower house floor) He also washed his hands so that he could carry clean clothes and towels. Then I sent him off to the showers. While he was in the shower, I had to call his DAN! doctor and tell her of this latest adventure. She laughed too, so I don’t feel too bad. The date on the photographs is 7-28-07 which was just four days before Dr. Edelson removed Mark’s autism diagnosis.

Epilog: Mark has refused to go camping with us ever again!

Back in 1979, before I had any children of my own, I watched the new made-for-television movie, Son-Rise: a miracle of love. It is the story of Raun Kaufman, son of Barry & Samahria Kaufman. At a young age, Raun, was diagnosed as severely and incurably autistic. I was inspired by the dedication of Raun’s parents. They invested themselves fully in researching and treating their son’s autism. I remember thinking that someday I’d like to be as good of a parent as they were. I’ve heard it said, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Well, in 1990 I had my third son, Mark. He developed high functioning autism after a vaccination error when he was 8 months old. In two separate incidents, when he was between one and two years old, I remember him sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. His back was to me and I was calling his name trying to get his attention. He was not responding and he was also doing something repetitive with a toy. This spooked me. My only knowledge of autism was from the movie Son-Rise. Raun Kaufman had profound autism and did not speak. I remember thinking to myself about knowing the Mark could hear and that if he wasn’t talking our legs off, I’d swear he was autistic. I also made a mental note that if he ever lost speech, I’d have him to a doctor in a heartbeat.

Mark had many quirks which we explained away. His “shyness” was actually selective-mutism. His finger twisting that he did when nervous or excited was similar to hand flapping. Because he was high functioning, we didn’t even know there was a problem until fourth grade when his teacher started to complain. From this point forward, I took my inspiration from the Kaufmans and did my research at the “University of Google”. I would not accept that there was nothing to help my son other than psychiatric meds. I heard of parents helping and even recovering their children with biomedical intervention. I set out on a course to do exactly that. I am thrilled that after approximately five years of biomedical, Mark did recover.

I actually met Raun Kaufman at Autism One 2008. I spoke with him and told him how I admired his parents and how his story inspired me to help my son. I also asked whether the movie was available.

Last month, at Autism One 2009, I happened to stop by the Autism Treatment Center of America™ booth. I noticed that they had a sign up sheet. I looked to see what it was for. It was for receiving a free DVD copy of the movie Son-Rise.  Today, I received my long awaited copy.

I watched Son-Rise tonight. It was strange to watch it again after so many years and after recovering my own son. Instead of being in awe of the Kaufmans and their dedication to Raun, this time I felt profound gratitude to them for having made the movie and planting the seed that allowed me to recover my son. I was more than a spectator this time. In my own way, I”ve lived their story.

Be careful what you wish for?

I wished to be as dedicated a parent as the Kaufmans…I am!

I wished to recover my son from autism like the Kaufmans…I did!