About Us

We officially entered the world of autism in December of 1997, when our oldest son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS. For us, the diagnosis was a relief. It had become painfully obvious that something was wrong, and now we at least had a name for it.

Our son had become terrified of babies after we had been at a birthday party where a baby had been crying off and on. The next day, I was to keep the nursery at church, and what a nightmare that was! After my son's loud, tortured screaming was heard throughout the building, another mom in our church took pity on me and watched her own baby in the nursery so that we could leave. That was just one of too many incidents that had us seeking professional help.

Driving home from the pediatric specialist's office, I remember reading about our son's prognosis, and how it wasn't very optimistic. Our greatest fear was that our son would one day be at the mercy of strangers and unable to speak up for himself. I however, am the eternal optimist; and when I read that one psychologist had achieved success, I had to find out more. The next statement in the article claimed parents lacked the education and resources to have similar success, and I took that as a highly-motivating personal challenge.

At the nearest university library, I was soon tracking down every article written by or about a psychologist in California by the name of Lovaas. What I didn't know, was that God already knew our needs. A child psychologist specializing in PDD who was familiar with Lovaas, Greenspan, and other researchers in the field of autism, had just set up an extension office 15 miles away. If you understand rural Texas, you know just what a miracle that is!

Our goal was to help him reach his full potential, whatever that may be. Following early intervention, our son was able to go to mainstream kindergarten with a teacher's aid to "shadow" him. He entered first grade all by himself, and hasn't looked back since. He does well academically, participates in the gifted/talented program, and has even taken up soccer with his friends on the playground. He's not "cured," but he has the capacity to love, learn, and enjoy life -- a far cry from the scared, confused child (huddled in a corner screaming) that he once was.

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