Happy Friday!
Well - great news all around today!
First off - drop off at preschool was a piece of cake. He walked away fom me and went to play. Not tears...nothing. He participates and uses his language. Still parallel playing beside the kids, as opposed to with them - but heck - it's only day 3!!!!!!!!

And Cuyler qualified for PAS - which stands for Preschool Autism Service. This service provides IBI - which stands for Intensive Behaviour Intervention. It is an amazing program, but only children who score moderate to severe on the spectrum qualify.
Funny enough - even though he qualified (which means he scored moderate to severe) - this was our most significant and best appointment yet. It was a follow up to the eval they did a few weeks ago. The woman we spoke to was like our autism angel. Her name is Aruna and she is a clinical psychologist/psychometrist. She was a beautiful East Indian woman with a beauiful voice. Everything that she said was like music to our ears. She said every single thing we needed to hear...that we've been longing for someone to tell us. And don't think the tears didn't flow - they did - again. It was such a relief and just the push we need to plug on. Today we were filled with a hope and optimism for Cuy that I don't think we had felt yet.


He will be a conversational speaker. He will learn and most likely be able to catch up to his peers. She believes that everything will be more difficult for him to acquire - but he is capable of learning. She said that he will most likely be indistinguishable from his peers, but will probably have difficulties socially.
She said that not many children come through this early and that if he was evaluated next year, he would not have qualified. She said that all the areas he scored low in (uhhh...ALL of them!) he will improve in over time.
Honestly - I cannot describe how Sean and I felt as we left. We just held each others hand and smiled at each other...we didn't need to say anything because we knew what the other was feeling and thinking. We have always been optimistic that Cuyler will do well. But for a professional to tell us what she did was just so refreshing and gave us a whole new drive to pull the best out of him. It will be alot of hard work on our part and those who work with him...but I'm confident that our team is dedicated to Cuylers success.

Life is good.