Walking to raise money so autistic children like our sweet Garrett Paul will have the resources to go to accomodating camps; transition into adult hood and gain the life-skills to live as independant of a life as possible.

Our Autism Journey---

Garrett Paul was a typically developing sweet, chubby, happy baby boy born 10/17/2018. We didn't see any differences in him from other babies and he reached every milestone at the "normal" age. Then in March of 2020 when Garrett was 17 mos old, my mom realized Garrett's wasn't adding new words to his vocabulary. By summer of 2020 he started virtual speech therapy (due to Covid). A few months later we noticed some sensitivities to sounds and what the therapists later referred to as additional "global developmental delays". Then we added additional play and occupational therapies. We were doing 5-6 virtual therapies a week and he was working sooooooo hard. Then Jan 6, 2021 while I was discussing his progress with his case manager she said to me, 'This sounds like autism" I remember exactly where I was standing and the overwhelming feeling of shock and disbelief. I said, "But how? He makes eye contact, seeks interaction with us. How could this be autism?" The next few months he went through more evaluations. And his doctors said he was "tricky" and they weren't sure it was autism. We analyzed every move he made trying to determine our son was actually autistic. As we watched his little brother develop it became clear to us that Garrett was autistic. We worked hard to get him an appointment for another autism evaluation. This seemingly took an act of God since every practitioner had a 1 year + waitlist for an appointment due to a Covid backlog. Knowing that early intervention was critical for his development there was no way we were waiting that long. We worked tirelessly and got him evaluated/disgnosed in the next 2 months. We had just moved to a new state; had new jobs; and now an autism diagnosis. After swallowing the sadness and shock of it we came up with a plan and got him the best resources available. It's been almost 3 years since his diagnosis and he is thriving. He's the smartest, most affectionate, loving, happy, cunning, and handsome little guy. He doesn't talk like other kids do. He can't tell us how his day was at school, if anyone was nice or mean to him, or what he wants to be for Halloween. But God made him perfect the way he is and intended him for our family. We celebrate his wins no matter how small. Other parents are excited about their kids learning to read but we're so excited that he's starting to say "hello" to people. In many ways his brain works differently from other kids. But in many ways he's so similiar- He wants to be hugged, loved and to make people laugh just like they do.

I pray for others to have the eyes to see the best in him and all people with disabilities or differences.

Thank you for reading this,

Laini