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Chelsea DeKok
ACM Photography
www.facebook.com/acmphotography

Cooper

I knew my son was autistic months before he was formally diagnosed at age 32 months. I teach children with autism, and knew the signs. Around 14-18 months he went from being a very interactive, smiley toddler who was beginning to speak, to a child who was lost in his own world, running through the house flapping his hands and refusing to respond when I called his name.
What I know now is that teaching a child with autism and mothering a child with autism are very different. Although Cooper is now 4, developmentally he is about 14 months old. He is mostly non-verbal, but surprises us with very appropriate phrases, articulated perfectly, when he chooses to speak. My son is there, inside himself, and everyday his teacher, his caretakers, his siblings, and I try to reach him in any way we can.
Life with Cooper is often a guessing game, trying to figure out why he is upset, what I can do to make him stop screaming and crying. He is truly a puzzle, and I am left trying to find the pieces that fit together, exhausted. However, there is nothing that can fill a room like the sound of his laughter…even if nobody knows what he is laughing about.
I don’t know what the future holds for Cooper. I don’t know if he will ever speak, be in a regular ed. classroom, or be able to take care of himself. I choose to try and live for today, and focus on what I do know. I do know that God chose me to be Cooper’s mother. I do know that Heaven must feel a lot like the feeling I get when he wraps his little arms around my neck and squeals with joy. I do know...Cooper is a blessing.

Courtney, mother of Cooper
Topeka, KS