Carson Alexander Dromgoole was born on February 27th,2019. He was nothing short of a miracle. From the moment he came into the world he was a bubbly and bright-eyed bundle of curiosity. Carson was a great baby he was always calm, quiet,happy, and giggling. He hit all of his milestones early. He was rolling over by 2 weeks, sitting up by 2 months, talking by 4 months, and walking by 9 months. He seemed like a completely ordinary child at first but around 18-24 months everything changed. He began to stem everyday starting with head banging and rocking against the wall for hours on end. Our once bubbly bright-eyed curious baby started to become quiet, reserved, and self isolating. He stopped making eye contact, he no longer wanted to be touched or held, he would no longer accept help in any sort of way he just wanted to be alone and self-efficient. During this time he also became mute aka nonverbal. It broke our heart to see what seemed like all the happiness leaving his little body. A child once full of smiles and laughter was now just blank stares and meltdowns. We voiced our concerns to his doctor many times and we were always met with the replies of " not all kids developed at the expected rate", "all kids are different" and "boys will be boys, there's nothing to worry about" but there in fact was something to worry about. His pediatrician told us there was nothing we could do until he was three because they don't like to diagnose children with any disorder until around that age anyway and that it was best if we just wait it out. Under the advice of his pediatrician we did just that and honestly it's one of my biggest regrets. We knew without the support of his pediatrician it was only going to be an uphill battle from there. Once Carson hit 2 his behavior started to really regress. he began acting like an infant again, he would smear his feces, eat anything he could get his hands on, "baby talk", he stopped playing with toys, and he would self-mutilate all the time to the point where we would have to physically restrain him so he would not harm himself. He dealt with severe sensory issues. We had trouble with getting him to wear clothing, brush his teeth, wash his hands, use the potty, bathe, touch grass, ect. He would have a meltdown doing the most basic of daily tasks multiple times a day. He would hardly ever play or do much during the day besides rock against the wall or bang his head. We had to come up with nonverbal ways of communicating like learning sign language, gesturing, and basically just coming up with our own nonverbal language in order to just communicate his basic needs. He had no concept of fear and little to no response to pain. Around 2 years old he was running and fell into a furnace and split his head, he did not cry. When we brought him to the hospital to get the stitches, he did not cry. This was a major red flag for me and I immediately called his pediatrician. At this point his doctor still refused to show any sort of concern or get him any services so we began looking for a new doctor and unfortunately we were not able to switch him until around his 4th birthday due to local availabilty and insurance. In the meantime his father and I did extensive research on autism because we knew that's what he had. With the help of Youtube and Google we were able to construct a structured plan and daily routine in order to work with him on his behaviors and provide almost like a mock service for the therapies he should have been receiving. We worked so hard with him and luckily we made tons of progress over those 3 years without external help. We had to find ways to help him cope and regulate himself when feeling overstimulated and we also had to find ways to keep him regularly stimulated throughout the day too. Due to this I have not been able to work as we have chosen to homeschool him because its what works best for him and his progress. We managed to get him to wear clothing and finally around 3.5 we had him saying words and basic phrases again. At this time we had become pregnant with our second child, and if I'm being very honest we were nervous about how Carson would respond to being a sibling. However we never expected the change that would come with him becoming a big brother. It's like a switch overnight happened once his sister came into the world. She helped transform him. He tries extremely hard to impress his little sister its like she motivates him everyday. Thankfully we were able to get him into a new doctor prior to his sisters arrival and they immediately agreed with us and gave us a referral to an Autism specialist in Latham,NY. There he was diagnosed with level 3 autism and ADHD. And with the help of that diagnosis we are able to get home services that allow the needed therapist to come into our home as often as needed to work with him and us. He has made so much progress especially in these past 2 years. Carson is now 6 years old and full of life again. Everyday is smiles and hugs. Now he wears clothes everyday and gets himself dressed, he brushes his teeth, bathes regularly, talks in full sentenses and even other languages, helps prepare his food and feeds himself, he even helps with his sister. He likes bringing her toys, bottles, snacks, and just entertaining her. He thinks she is funny and just runs circles around her all day while laughing🤷🏽♀️🤣 He enjoys going hiking and playing outside and in the pool. He even took a liking to sledding and water balloons which really surprised me. He helps clean his own room and he even helps with chores around the house. He enjoys playing video games with his dad and having music time with his sister. He loves to read and draw. He only rocks/head bangs when super tired now. He no longer self harms or has aggressive outbursts when overstimulated. He works so hard everyday on trying to regulate his emotions and using the strategies we teach him to self regulate and I think that is inspiring to be so self aware at that age. But Carson is not just his autism and the little quirks that come with it. He is just an incredibly impressive human being. He is so emotionally aware and empathetic of others. He is the kindest and most helpful little boy. He is an incredible artist, he can draw almost anything and he likes to draw out the scenes of movies/shows he watches during the day and he does so just based on memory. He is so incredibly smart for his age, he is only 6 years old and he can read and write beyond his years, his homeschooling program currently has him on a fourth grade level accademically. He is a spelling champ. He's also an incredible little engineer he can build and design crazy things. He is a tech whiz. He can name every dinosaur, every country, and every planet. He knows where every country is located on a globe. He is really into history and the culture of other nations. He also knows some Mandarin and Spanish. He has great rhythm and loves to play many instruments. He's also not too bad of a singer. He can be a little trickster too haha. Carson is the sweetest, funniest, and smartest little boy. He really melts your heart and everyone who knows him can't help but fall in love. He has changed my perspective on life and he has opened my mind up to a whole side of life I never got to see and has installed in me a deep empathy and compassion for others I never knew possible. A lot of people that I speak to often express pity or sympathy on me and my partner for being the parents of a child with autism however I think it's been our families greatest blessing. Carson and his autism has made such an impact on our family. It has brought us closer as a family, we are very tight-knit and protective bunch. He has brought healing and understanding to our own childhood wounds. He has taught us patience and empathy. He has taught us what true unconditonal love feels like. Children and adults with autism are so incredibly gifted and only once you spend time with them do you really get to see how beautiful the world could be. Autism has changed our life but I wouldn't want any other way. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of resources or research out there for autism still and we need to raise awareness and come together to help expand the support of the autism community. Please join us this May in celebrating the life of those who make this dark world a tad bit brighter just by existing. 🙌🏽💕
Thank you for supporting the Autism Alliance of Northeastern NY!
