When we moved to North Carolina a year ago, we took a bright eyed 2 year old little girl with us.  A short time after our move, she seemed to change.  She began screaming almost constantly.  We had no idea why.  She wasn't following directions most of the time and seemed more distant than she had ever been.  We remember sitting in our kitchen and discussing the reality that "Something is wrong." 

In January, we began an evaluation process through our local school system.  In March, Gracie was diagnosed with (high functioning) autism.   If you'd like to learn more about our/Gracie's story, here is a link to our blog: Slate Family Blog The Lord was kind in giving us the grace we've needed to not shake our fists.  He has given us eyes to see that He is good in the blessings of life as well as in our sufferings.  This life is not what we put our hope in and trials are a precious reminder of that reality.  If this life was easy, we wouldn't need a Savior... and we desperately need Him.  This piece of our story made us much more dependent on Jesus in our very apparent weakness.

Our first action step was to look at some of the physical aspects of autism.  Gracie went on a gluten and dairy free diet.  Then we added specific supplements and vitamins to Gracie's daily routine.  These changes definitely helped  and she seemed to come out of the fog a little bit.  Her digestive system improved and she was less prone to screaming throughout the day.  (There are still times now when she will say her tummy hurts and I am considering eliminating a few more foods to see if that brings additional relief.)  We are thankful that some of these things have helped.

In June, I (Megan) finally started to do some reading.  Gracie had improved, but not as much as I'd hoped.  I read that early work with children with autism is very effective because of the plasticity of the brain.  I knew that...but I didn't really know it.  We had been doing therapy once a week with two teachers at our local school, but research was saying that Gracie needed about 20 hours per WEEK of work.  We realized that we needed more help.

I found a book at the libary called "Autism Breakthrough" by Ron Kaufman.  As a child he had severe autism and yet completely recovered.  His parents created a program called the Son-Rise Program which has seen good success for children with autism and other developmental delays. Numerous children have completely recovered and had their diagnosis reversed. Their principles are based on connecting/relationship with your child (i.e. Instead of teaching your child NOT to line up the cars or repeat the movie one more time, you join them in their behavior with the goal of connection).

The initial program is just for parents and is located at their headquarters in Massachusetts.  I will be attending in August and Michael will go in October so one of us can be home with kids.  This training seems like an incredible help to us, but it is an expensive endeavor. We have been given an awesome scholarship for the program which is amazing but there is still a significant amount we need to pay to attend the training.

The cost for us to make this happen is about $3,200 including the program itself, flights, transportation, childcare, books, and specific sessions with a Son-Rise teacher/director to talk specifically about Gracie.

We want to see our daughter recover from autism. That is our goal.  We are praying, asking, and trusting the Lord to heal Gracie as well as doing all that we can to facilitate her growth.  We would love your help! 

Our tentative plan is to start blogging about this experience in the next several weeks (in addition to what we have blogged already), so stay tuned for that. 

If you are reading this, we really love and appreciate you!  Thank you for taking the time to read about our story and please be praying for us that we would trust and rest in the gospel as we begin some intensive work with Gracie.

Much love ,

Michael and Megan Slate