the day has finally come...

Its been a long time coming,.. I have been waiting for this day... Knowing will not only alleviate my anxiety and worries but it will also help us move forward. Jorel's pending developmental assessment took awhile because the public system queue is very long. I had just tobe patient since its a free system and the Children's hospital is the best in Sydney.

It's is official, I am a mother of a special child. I had dreamt of how I would feel once its been confirmed. With my Special education background I had more or less diagnosed my own son, I knew that his developmental age was in the 1 to 2 years age bracket (and the test confirmed that).... He has mild to moderate autism, they refer to it as GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT DELAY. There were no tears, just maybe a huge relief -- it was like a weight over my shoulders were lifted. I had longed to know so we can move on, move forward to a brighter tommorow.

So far even after his diagnosis, everything had already been put to place. I had already put him in SPEECH and OCCUPATIONAL Theraphy. He is already at ABC preschool, finished all his blood tests. I had already queued him into the public system's Early intervention (fingers crossed he will ge a place January '09). How timely when I had gotten the results that I spoke to the Pendle Hill school principal and she had asked me to send over the paper to add to my application. I have called up a place called ASPECT -- a private early intervention group that is gov't subsidised as back up, in case he doesnt get into the public system.

During Jorel's Assessment at the Childrens Devt Unit at Westmead, the doctors and nurses were quite impressed with his gross and fine motor skills. His eye contact with us, his parents, were very consistent and he responded well to us. Of course he didnt respond much to them, as they were complete strangers but he was good enough not to cry. He only cried when we made him complete an OT task for testing. He was a cheerful and happy little child whilst we had discussed Jorel's case with Dr. Silove and other specialists there.

Patrick and I were patted on the back because we had already enforced our own early intervention at home and Jorel had developed a great interaction with us and his siblings. As a parent you think of that ---if you are doing enough or if you are helping him come out of his shell. I have to admit their affirmation meant the world to me, its because I had agonized over this, Iniisip ko minsan kung sapat ba ang ginagawa namin para sa kanya.

I keep thinking how GOD had prepared me for my special boy.. coincidence -- tell me how strange of a coincidence the series of events are --- its as if GOD had just put things in its proper perpective, one by one...
* I met hubby and needed a reason to stay in Manila -- I had gone to St. Scho to study EDUCATION because we had a preschool. Itook SPECIAL EDUCATION (1997) by default because I had no other course that was closely related to Elementary education.
* I had difficult pregnancies, even on my 3rd one with Jorel. However before I delivered him, Patrick and I were balling our eyes out as they wheeled me out to go to the delivery room. I even wrote a 'just incase' letter to hubby if anything had happened to me. It was such an emotional delivery. I was shaking before and after my delivery,...
* Patrick and I made a major decision to ligate so Jorel would be our last child since each pregnancy met with hypertension... Now we both agree it was a wise one not just medically (for me) -- because we can concentrate on our child's education from this day on. We do have 3 years till he goes to preschool... It is our hope he can develope communications skills by then.
* Patrick decided finally to leave for Australian in 2006 and in 2007 we migrated to O. Our arrival in OZ was just a few days before Jorel's 2nd bday when we left Manila.
* At 2 to 2. 5 years, I gave Jorel the chance to develop language and when he didn't I had began his tests with the pediatrician's advise.
* A few days before he turned 3 he was diagnosed with AUTISM... Patrick and I had been way ready to accept the diagnosis -- prepared na kami.... We just needed the piece of paper to state what we had to deal with and we are moving on --- hoping, believing and praying that GOD and our love for Jorel will help him cope and heal....


I am still so blessed to have Jorel. I have had to admit this out loud that among all my kids Jorel is the sweetest.. He gives you hugs and kisses all the time. I love the way he seeks me out when he wants me to help him with something. When he wants to sleep, he leads my hand and we walk hand in hand to the room and we lie down side by side. He expresses his delight with me embracing me ever so tight. I love the way he looks into my eyes and his face break into a beautiful smile. I love to hear his giggles and laughter and the way he shows me his cheeky look when he has done something... His face is so angelic, so sweet and so true.. God really planned to give my son Jorel to me, to love me forever and to make me feel like the luckiest mom in the world...