{"id":111,"date":"2015-04-02T12:07:53","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T12:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/?p=111"},"modified":"2015-04-02T12:07:53","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T12:07:53","slug":"autism-awareness-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/?p=111","title":{"rendered":"Autism Awareness Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My husband and I\u00a0knew from early on that\u00a0our son was different.<\/p>\n<p>As\u00a0our other quadruplets\u00a0progressed, he seemed to lag behind.\u00a0 And then\u00a0there was the spinning.\u00a0 We had a wooden riding airplane with a propeller.\u00a0 He would sit in front of it for long periods of time just spinning it.\u00a0 We suspected autism; it was confirmed soon after his third birthday.<\/p>\n<p>Even though we knew in our hearts what the diagnosis would be, it was difficult to hear.\u00a0I was handed a large manila envelope with brochures about therapies, agencies, organizations, and support groups.\u00a0 I was also totally overwhelmed.\u00a0 I remember going home and sifting through all the information.\u00a0 The more I read,\u00a0the heavier my heart got.<\/p>\n<p>How far would he be able to progress?\u00a0 Would he ever speak?\u00a0 Would he ever stop\u00a0throwing tantrums? \u00a0 Would he be able to go to school with his siblings?\u00a0 Would he make friends?\u00a0 Would he be able to hold a job?\u00a0 Would he be able to live on his own?\u00a0 Would someone want to marry him?<\/p>\n<p>Some of thos<a href=\"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/WP_20150402_003.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-116 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/WP_20150402_003-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"WP_20150402_003\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/WP_20150402_003-169x300.jpg 169w, http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/WP_20150402_003-576x1024.jpg 576w, http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/WP_20150402_003-450x800.jpg 450w, http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/WP_20150402_003.jpg 918w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/a>e questions are yet to be answered.\u00a0\u00a0 They linger in the back of my mind, coming out from time to time\u00a0creating anxiety and stirring up grief.<\/p>\n<p>I know I&#8217;m not alone, though.\u00a0 There are many of us out there with more added everyday; people caring for and loving\u00a0those on the spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>So during this month of\u00a0autism awareness\u00a0I&#8217;m going to share some of our adventures with autism.\u00a0 And I invite you to share your stories with me here.\u00a0 My hope is that we can encourage and strengthen each other as we walk this path.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My husband and I\u00a0knew from early on that\u00a0our son was different. As\u00a0our other quadruplets\u00a0progressed, he seemed to lag behind.\u00a0 And then\u00a0there was the spinning.\u00a0 We had a wooden riding airplane with a propeller.\u00a0 He would sit in front of it &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/?p=111\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.karen-gustafson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}