Summer of Miracles
I don’t often talk about my personal life on the dappertext list and site, but I felt somehow compelled to open up to you about something. I want to tell you about my summer.
The incredibly handsome young man over here on the right is my son Rubén. He just turned ten. At a year and a half, he was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism. Of course, we knew before anyone in a white coat ever confirmed it. As a baby, Rubén was a beautiful, smiley boy who flirted with strangers and sought your attention. At around a year of age, however, the smiles began to fade. People became like furniture to him, mere obstacles in his path. The couple of words he possessed disappeared, and wouldn’t return for some time.
I’ll never forget the endless nights I spent lying awake and silently mourning the boy I thought would be lost to me forever. After bringing him back to the U.S. for treatment, we got the official diagnosis, and it became real. At that point, we made the conscious decision to stow our self-pity, and to get busy.
Thus began a parade of speech therapists, diets, vitamins, probiotics, and various other interventions, both therapeutic and biomedical. It hasn’t been easy. My son is also what is known in the world of autism intervention as a “tough nut.” Some kids, with the right interventions, can glide right off the spectrum in a matter of months. For us, it’s been a grueling inch-by-inch battle, complete with occasional scary regressions, mystery rashes, intermittent sensory problems, and chronic “gut issues” (I won’t gross you out with the details on that one).
As you can probably imagine, this takes quite a toll, not only your mental and spiritual energy, but also on your pocketbook. By just about anyone’s standard’s (except maybe Donald Trump’s), dappertext LLC does reasonably well for a one-person company. But that doesn’t keep me from feeling the burn when these various interventions cost upwards of $25K per year. Luxuries like vacations, nicer cars, fine clothes, etc., have had to go by the wayside. Still we dreamt of bringing in better income, not so we could afford the cars and clothes, but so we could afford to do more for Rubén. Anything to make him better.
In the spring of this year, I managed to sign a couple of lucrative new clients, enabling us to finally make the big push we had always dreamed of. Our first stop was Boston, where we had him scoped from top to bottom by one of the world’s leading pediatric gastroenterologists. Then it was down to Florida, visiting his biomedical autism doc for six weeks. First there were more tests, followed by some targeted, aggressive interventions. I won’t disclose details about these, as I don’t want to give the remotest perception that I’m doling out medical advice to anyone. But suffice to say that these interventions were indicated by either clinical observation, his personal lab results, or both.
The result for this tough nut has been remarkable. A flurry of little improvements which, taken collectively, add up to A LOT. Worth every penny we spent, and more. To wit:
- Better speech. He now says longer sentences, and constructs them less laboriously.
- Better (more emotive) inflections in his speech. The flat, monotone affect so common among spectrum kids is now reduced.
- Lovely pretend play (also a major problem with spectrum children), using his stuffed animals to put on puppet shows.
- He’s increasingly seeking out play and interaction with me and his mother, and appropriately answering questions.
I know these seem like very small things, especially for those with neurotypical kids. But for us they’re HUGE. It gives me confidence that even an older spectrum child can still progress.
So why am I telling you all this? For two reasons. For one, I’m a proud pappy who wants to shout my son’s accomplishments from the rooftops, particularly in light of the light of the fact that there hasn’t been anything much to shout about in some time.
I’m also telling you because I’m getting an increasing number of calls and e-mails (most very diplomatically worded — a couple of them, not so much) inquiring as to the status of the Camtasia Studio 8: The Definitive Guide. Because this trip was largely an impromptu one, it required shifting my schedule around, and the book would therefore be seeing release significantly later than what I had been telling people. And I guess I just felt you were owed a more detailed explanation than the usual family issues blah blah personal time blahbitty blah. Please believe that I’m looking forward to its release every bit as much as you are. I very rarely say this about an emergent business issue, but I simply had more important things to take care of this summer. 🙂
Rest assured that it is still on track on for release in the near future. Part of the hold-up has been moving the whole thing to a newer, more stable authoring platform (specifically InDesign). The book will now release as an industry-standard interactive PDF. No more proprietary viewers, no more text that doesn’t scale (a big complaint among my senior audience), and no more cross-platform issues. I think you’ll be pleased. As always, Screencaster subscribers will be immediately alerted when I release it into the wild.
August 28, 2012 @ 4:33 pm
Thanks for sharing your story with us. We hope your little guy keeps progressing and the wait makes for a better book. Cheers, Jody
August 30, 2012 @ 8:55 pm
I agree with Jody. Thank you for sharing!
August 28, 2012 @ 5:25 pm
Dan, thank you so much for sharing your experiences with Ruben this summer. I had no idea there was such work being done to bring spectrum kids “out of their shells” so to speak. Your stories were wonderful, inspiring, and filled with joy and the love you have for your son. They have helped me keep some perspective in my own life and trials with my children as well. Bless you and your amazing family!
August 28, 2012 @ 6:46 pm
I simply want to applaud you for putting yourself and your family first! I am thrilled for the steps you’ve taken for your son and family, and I wish you non-stop uphill advances. The real and true reward will be the fruit of your efforts with your son. More power to you, I send you my blessings, and I’ll see the book when it is done!!!
August 28, 2012 @ 8:11 pm
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for for sharing your inspiring story. It reminded me of how fortunate I am to have 3 healthy grown children
and 7 perfect grandchildren.
I hope and pray all the best for your family and especially Ruben. St Judes Children’s Hospital has had my American express card number for many years billing me monthly partly because I feel I am so blessed and feel so badly for the parents and children that need our help.
God Bless
Rick Strickland
PS
Would the Version 7 Book give us newbies a head start on Camtasia and the version 8 book?
August 30, 2012 @ 8:24 am
I have a policy in place right now that anyone who buys the v7 book now will get the v8 edition for free when it comes out.
August 28, 2012 @ 8:21 pm
My best hopes, wishes, and prayers are for you and your family. Family first, business second.
August 30, 2012 @ 8:56 pm
Exactly
August 29, 2012 @ 12:38 am
Hey Dan,
As a father to a “disabled” child, I know the pain of not being able to fix the things that are not right. It hurts because Daddy’s are supposed to be able to fix things. I also know the joy of a smile and laughter and I live for those moments.
So, as us Aussies say, “No worries” on the guide. It will get done when it gets done. Sorry I can’t be at boot camp…too bloody far away but I look forward to reading the guide which I am sure, will be filled with the passion you obviously have for your family and life in general.
Cheers Mate,
Rick
August 29, 2012 @ 1:22 am
Hola Daniel; muchas gracias por compartir esta experiencia, sobre todo de los logros (avances) que ha tenido Rubén. Esta historia me impacta porque tengo un niño (nieto, de 13) que es autista. Sólo que como Ud. lo expresa, los tratamientos son a veces inalcanzables para personas como nosotros; sin embargo, mi hija (la mamá de Osdi – así se llama el niño) lo ha venido ayudando poco a poco [ella quedó viuda cuando el niño tenía 1 año de edad: Se puso a estudiar y ahora tiene un doctorado en educación, y sus tres tesis(licenciatura, maestría y doctorado) han sido sobre autismo] , pero a diferencia de Rubén, Osdi todavía no logra hilar una conversación, por más mínima que esta sea; me parece que sí, para Ustedes ha sido un verdadero milagro y deben de tener la esperanza de que ya está en el camino de la total recuperación.
Desde Chihuahua, México, felicitaciones para Rubén y toda su familia.
August 30, 2012 @ 8:19 am
Muchisimas gracias por escribir. Rubén tampoco puede tener una conversación de verdad, pero su lenguaje expresivo se está mejorando mucho. Que guay lo qué ha logrado su hija. Tiene que ser muy orgullosa de ella! 🙂
Saludos, d.
August 29, 2012 @ 4:00 am
Once you release your book in PDF format or Kindle I will buy it straight away – your stuff rocks.
Good on you also for have balls (aka guts) to share your story – showing that you are a human being doesn’t do you any harm at all.
Good luck (and I mean the very best,) to you and your family.
Cheers mate,
Tony
Sydney, Australia
August 30, 2012 @ 8:26 am
Thanks so much to you all. Interesting how a non-screencast-related post yielded more comments than any other. Guess I’m not the only one who’s passionate when it comes to our kids 🙂
August 31, 2012 @ 8:06 pm
Daniel,
I just read the article and applaud all of your efforts to help your son as we know exactly what this means. All this work you’re doing now will pay enormous lifelong benefits. In brief, our younger son pretty much stopped speaking at two years and seemed to be distant. He was diagnosed PDD (pervasive development disorder not otherwise specified). This might be seen as the shallow end of the spectrum. Fortunately we have great resounces here in Tennessee, such as Vanderbilt Medical center and a number of therapists we’re forever grateful to. We (I credit my wife especially) threw ourselves into the process and held on for dear life. He’s made it through public school and just graduated with a TN Honors diploma and started at junior college this week. He has a driver’s permit and it is possible he will have his license in December. He is my travel and concert buddy, we have come so very far.
Best regards, Tim
September 23, 2012 @ 6:06 pm
Way to go! Here’s to life’s priorities–as you and Ruben’s mom CLEARLY have them in the correct order. Congrats on your joyful progressions with your son; congrats on your new clients! Looking forward to receiving your updated Camtasia guide. Thank you for posting such a tender, sweet, personal piece which is clearly from your heart… Cheers, Steve & Sally/Seattle