MIKEY: “School Tomorrow Kiddies!”

That devious exclamation (I always picture it being followed by an evil, cackling Heh, heh, heh!) was heard by my wife and her brother on many a Sunday night when they were growing up in the '70s and '80s. Grandpa, as he was affectionately known, would be having his I'm-retired-and-going-to-rub-it-in fun while my wife and brother-in-law would be groaning about the prospects of having to go to school the next day.

I guess the normal routine has always been for kids to hate going to school and parents to be thankful to get rid of their kids for a few hours a day. Oh, yeah, there's that whole getting a good education thing and all that but, c'mon, admit it, you love getting your kids out of the house.

Well, if Mikey were older, say five, his mother and I would probably be just as gung-ho about him going to school. I mean, he's only 2.5-years-old right now and that's far too young for school, right? We felt it was tough enough that beginning last January he had multiple teachers a day coming to our house on a daily basis. Don't get me wrong, we loved and appreciated that he was eligible for this help because we knew we were clueless about helping him with his autism and teaching him in a way that would get through to him. But we felt, at times, he was too young for the pressure and the expectations. That was only the beginning though…

This past September Mikey started attending a school for developmental disabilities. It was quite an adjustment for us and we had to do a lot of thinking about whether we were ready for him to be going out of the house and being in someone else's care without us around for six hours every day. I admit to feeling quite choked up about it in the beginning.

But, as I've said, we will do whatever it takes to help Mikey develop and overcome his autism (and I will write another post at some time to address people who take offense at the idea that autistic children should be cured of their autism). The opportunity for him to attend this school was a limited time offer and we had to make a decision and stick to it. After seeing how well he was doing with his at-home teachers we knew it was a no-brainer to send him to the school and let him get even more intense training and therapy.

I waited to write about Mikey becoming a "student" because I wanted to make sure he was okay there and I needed to make sure I was okay with him being there. The progress he has made is proof enough to me that he's in the right place (of course, him being sick all the time really sucks but his pediatrician and all the other parents keep telling us that once they start school they start getting sick…seems like something is wrong there though).

Mikey's communication has started to become more frequent. He wants to talk and communicate…you can see it in his eyes. And his eyes, his beautiful brown eyes, make contact with ours much more often now. He surprises us with sounds and words and actions that we know are being opened up to him from being at school. The other day he had his mommy and me clutching our chests with delight as he recited the alphabet along with one of his favorite TV shows (Super Why). And a few times we've caught him in front of the mirror watching himself count to five on his fingers.

His teachers don't like to make guesses about the future and progress of their students. That's understandable. I'm of the philosophy of don't b.s. me and don't get my hopes up. But Mikey has been making good progress and they seem to believe he'll be able to go to a "typical" kindergarten. Parents of "typical" kids are probably saying, "so what?" But, to us, that's better than telling us we won the million-dollar lottery.

When your child is first diagnosed with autism you go through so many emotions and you have so many bad scenarios go through your head. Will my child ever speak? Will he ever go to school? To college? Will he get married? Have kids? I don't like to look that far ahead in time but those thoughts did go through my mind and, in my sad times, still do. I love to read and was hoping to share that love with Mikey. Will he be able to read a book on his own? I believe so and this school will only help that matter. I loved college…hope Mikey does, too. His school is our main hope for his path to a typical development and education.

Mikey would start kindergarten in about 2.5 years. I guess that gives me some time to work on my cackle and delivery…"SCHOOL TOMORROW, KID!" "School tomorrow."