About Ethan

updated: Feb 2009

Ethan is a great son. He is 8 years old, attends Franklin Elementary in Elk Grove and he is autistic. He likes watching Noggin on TV, taking long rides in the car, bike rides, walks and playing in the dirt in the back yard. His favorite foods are Ranch Doritos, gummi bears, and lots of bacon. He really enjoys our winter trips to the snow in Tahoe, our summer trips to Escondido, and trips to Nana's house in San Louis Obispo.

Ethan was diagnosed as being autistic in November of 2002. We quickly learned that the only proven treatment for Autism is an intense Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) program. We hired the Lovaas Institute (LIFE) and currently Bridges Behavioral Language Systems Inc. to administer ABA therapy Monday through Friday for about 35 hours per week.  He then also travels to various speech, occupational and music therapies during the week also.  I'm pretty sure he works harder than we do. :) We often feel sorry for the poor guy having to go through such an overwhelming program but we have to focus on his gaining as many skills possible now to better improve his functioning in the future.

He's been in many types of therapies, treatments, diets and on lots of drugs since he was two. We've tried about everything we could afford and Caren has about worn herself out in her pursuit of curing Ethan. He's improved a great deal since he was two but he will not recover from autism unless God does a miracle, which we know is always possible!  However, we appreciate the small miracles that come to us each day in a new word, a new skill, or a deeper connection to our family.  We love him with all our heart and know that he makes everyone in his life a little better for having been a part of his life.

Autism is still a fairly new condition and thus there isn't much information out there. But we've learned a little about it. We learned that there are different degrees of being autistic and Ethan seems to be in the middle of the spectrum.  Typical traits of an autistic child are:

• Poor or non-existent speech
• Stemming  
• Unusual or poor social skills

Ethan's social activity is below average but not severe. For instance he'll look us in the eye for a brief period, likes to be with his parents often and enjoys verbal praise.  He loves to play with trains and cars, I used to joke about how much he loved to drive his hot wheel cars back and forth and line them all up but now we know it's a symptom of his autism.  His speech is the trait that made us first suspect he was autistic. At around 18 months he had a vocabulary of around 20 words and had a couple of 2 word phrases ('where go') which was normal, but by 24 months he had lost all his language.  Today he is able to ask for basic wants and needs.  He was not able to do this until about five years of age, so even though he is still considered "non verbal" we are enormously thankful for the language he does have.

If you are looking at this website you obviously care about Ethan and his progress.  We would ask for your prayers for him for improved communication, cognition, and behavior.   The main lesson Ethan has taught us is that healing is from God, it is not by any of our own efforts.  Today, we continue Ethan's therapy but with a different thought process.  Our priority is what God wants for his life and allowing him to do the work that he desires to be done.  Although, it is often hard not to get caught up in the trappings of new therapies and "perfect programs" we try to remain mindful they not determine Ethan's future but God who will ultimately guide him to where he needs to be.

-Caren and Rob