Pootie
Diagnosis
Parker (Pootie) was born as a neurotypical child. She always made great eye-contact, began walking at 9 months, and started saying words like "light", "Elmo", "no" etc.. At about 3 weeks after her 1 year birthday we started to notice subtle changes whereby she wouldn't respond to her name, make eye-contact and slowly began to drift into her own world. Not knowing what was going on we took her to a hearing specialist and got her ear tube surgery, but she continued to regress. At about 18 months (after six months of waiting) we were able to get her into Kennedy Krieger Institute where she was diagnosed with autism.
Present Life
Pootie is the epitome of happy. A smile rarely ever leaves her face and she comfortably finds enjoyment in just about anything she does. What she enjoys most is anything that involves jumping, running, climbing or physical activity! If what a child does is any inclination of what they'll do when they're older, it's safe to say we have a professional athlete on our hands. When not being athletic she enjoys matching activities and playing on her tablet (or mommy and daddy's phone)!
What the Future Holds
Our faith, hope and trust rests in the Lord's will for Pootie's life. While we can't say for sure exactly what that looks like - we know it's there! There is every confidence that Pootie will go to college, have friends, family of her own, and live a productive and, above all, happy life! We see God using Parker (Pootie) to reveal His glory and ability to do great and wonderful things, just as He's done so many times before.