 We got to see Coop for the first time in May of 2003. It was Brittney’s 20 week ultrasound. The whole family was there and we were very excited to learn that we were having a baby boy. A week after the ultrasound a nurse called and said that they wanted to do another ultrasound on Cooper to make sure his mouth and lips were formed correctly. We went back the next week and they did see a cleft in his lip that barely went up to his nose. That was good news and bad news. The good news was we had 18 weeks to prepare for this. The bad news, of course, was that he had a cleft lip, and cleft palate. We researched and interviewed many doctors, from here in Nashville to Birmingham, and finally about a month before we had Cooper, our sister in law told us about a doctor in Dallas that was amazing. He was the lead doctor on a team that separated the 2 Egyptian twins that were conjoined at the head. He had made appearances on Oprah, visited with the President of Egypt, and many other neat accolades. His name is Dr. Salyer. He did his first surgery on Cooper at 3 months of age to repair his cleft lip, and at 6 months of age to repair the cleft palate. We go back to Dallas once a year in the fall to get checkups on that. He will not have another surgery until he is 7 or 8 and at that time they will take some bone out of his hip and place it in his top left gumline to repair the vacant space. That has all turned out wonderfully. We owe that success to God, and family and friends that helped us by praying, and by helping us financially, and also by giving us much needed information, from people who had been through that before.
Cooper walked at 14 months, not to far behind what is considered normal, he was babbling and saying words like mama, dada, milk, and juice. We really can’t pinpoint when he stopped progressing, probably around 18 months, but Cooper is not much further along today as he was 2 years ago. I think Brittney and I just thought it was because of the surgeries and everything he had been through at a young age as to why he was coming along slowly. We enrolled him in a 2 day a week mothers day out when he was 2 ˝ years old and we thought he would catch up by seeing what the other kids were doing. He was there for 3 or 4 months and was still not progressing, so Brittney went to work, looking up different things on the web and talking with others. We knew Cooper had some sensory issues and also issues with transitions and separations. For example, he hates when someone leaves a room. He hated when we dropped him off and left him at his school, and things like that.
 Brittney and I watched a Larry King Live show one night and it had parents of autistic kids, they were talking about examples of what there kids would do and how they would act. We knew at that time he was autistic, but hoped we were wrong. We have had 3 professional evaluations since then and they all confirmed that he is indeed autistic. He is about middle of the road in the severity of his autism. We feel blessed that Cooper is not the most severe of cases.
After months of research and speaking with numerous people, we have decided to move our family to Tampa, FL. Nashville does have lots of resources for autistic children, but like the cleft lip situation, not to the extent of other places. Tampa has a school called Sydney’s School, that is specifically for autistic kids. There are other schools like this up in the northeast, in NY and New Jersey. We felt like Tampa would be better for us. This school has a 1 on 1 teacher for each kid. They do very intense ABA therapy for these kids, which has been proven to be the best method of teaching autistic kids. It is very hard work for these kids. They are forced to be focused and learning at all times. If we were to stay in Nashville, we would have to get in home training in ABA Therapy, which by a licensed ABA therapist, runs over 100 dollars per hour and these kids need at least 35 hours per week. It would be nice if the public school system were equipped for these kids, but they are not close to where they need to be. In time, I’m sure they will be, but autism is relatively new, at least the rampant new cases of it are much higher than in the past.
The goal of Sydney’s school is for Cooper to be “typical”. That may take 1 year or 10 years, who knows? Many of the kids at that school end up mainstreaming into the typical classrooms after all the hours and hours of therapy.
We feel that Cooper has a lot of strengths and is a very smart kid. We feel that this school gives Cooper a great chance at a full recovery. If anyone would like to check out the school go to www.sydneysschoolhouse.com.
This is a very expensive school. Brittney and I cannot afford this school, but know in our hearts that Cooper needs to be here for his best chance to succeed. This is a tremendous leap of faith for our family. Not to mention most of our family is here in Nashville. In the past I have never been the kind of guy to ask for help, I would just think if something needs to be done, I can make it happen. I now understand that God makes everything happen, and all our blessings come from him. Sending Cooper to Sydney’s School is going to be a tremendous blessing.
The financial burden to send Cooper to this school is enormous. Like I said, I am typically not the kind of person to ask for help. Sydney’s School cost 3000.00 per month year round. That is enormous, but the success rate at this school is enormous also. I want Cooper to know one day how many people loved him enough to make this happen. If you would like to donate, you can do so by going to the "How you can help" link at the top of the page. It will explain to you what you can do and how to do it. Please know that all of these funds will go directly to Cooper’s expenses and that is all. 100% of the money will only be spent on the school tuition and if need be, medical expenses for Cooper.
I will be typing up a weekly Blog for you to keep up with the progress Cooper is making. School starts August 20th. Keep our family in your prayers. Please email me with any questions about Cooper or this school. Please also let us know if there are any needs of your specific family that we can post on the website for others to pray for.
We love you all.
Tim, Brittney, Cooper and Christian
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