My nephew Gavin has tons of energy, a contagious smile and a love of new experiences and challenges. 

Gavin was born with moderate autism. Most children are not diagnosed with Autism usually until at least the age of 3. My mother is a nurse and noticed signs of Autism in Gavin when he was an infant. Besides overcoming Gavin's lack of speach as a toddler, Autism really has not affected his learning abilities. He is actually an extremely bright kid who loves to  completely analize everything so he can fully understand everything that intrests him. He loves learning and when he comes around something that really strikes his interest, he will shock anyone with all the information he teaches himself memorizes and masters about it. There are so many things already that this kid knows more about than I ever even cared to know. Its truly amazing and a gift.

 

Gavin maily struggles with communicating and socializing with his peers. He sometimes has a hard time meeting friends and then can turn around and lose friends quicker than he made them due to his "quarky" behavior in a normal kids eyes. This behavior is actually called stimming which is a  coping strategy.  People with Autism tend to have overloads in sensory perception, such as noisy shopping centres, or due to psychological demands such as learning new tasks. Gavin like many others may also stim from lack of sensory input.  Stimming behavior serves to stimulate the brain so it actually serves a purpose for an autistic child. 

 

watching Gavin transition over the years into "our" world we call reality has definitely been extemely tough on all of us who love and care about him. People started to notice that he is different and Gavin has learned as well that he is different. His feelings along with his self esteem have been stomped on from time to time. We all just hate that we couldnt be there to protect him from it. When he was younger he really just didnt understand. Now that he is older he is more aware of these possible situations but it is still really tough on him.  When he cannot fix things or situations he will continue to draw out evey possible scenario he can think of, it just doesnt leave his mind. .  Learning to accept and overcome things  will probably be something he will always sruggle with.  All of these stepping stones and learning curves is the constant reality of living in Gavin's world. Just being an Aunt to a child with Autism  has geatly impacted my own life. The fact that I am not even in the picture the majority of the time really makes me think more about how tough it is to be any parent of a child with Autism.

 

 Gavin  loves other kids, loves the idea of meeting new people but he just can't interact with them. He is just not on their level socially. It's hard to tell how much autism will affect Gavin later in life, but my family is very optimistic. Gavin has always attended regular classes with  other children not on the spectrum, He  is taken out periodically for targeted instruction.  Gavin has been blessed to have been able to try every affordable opprtunity there is to help him succeed in life. There are so many kids that arent getting the assistance they need. Its really an epidemic. I encourage anyone that knows little to nothing about Autism to learn more about it. Chances are more likely than not that you will eventually have your own loved one somewhere on the spectrum.

 

I truly commend my sister Sara and her husband Brett for all of their dedicated work in studying this disorder and trial testing dozens of therapies that just might make a difference in Gavin's life.  Every child with Autism is unique so you really have to start from scratch and see what works for your own child. Their patience and drive to know as much as they could has been the only reason Gavin has seen signs of improvement. They want him to live a full happy life, by giving him the tools to  better lead him so he can  go and be a productive member of society with a purpose

 

Now, As for Surfers Healing........ 

My sister discovered Surfers Healing when Gavin was the age of 2. She was intrigued, and instantly got involved.  Gavin, at 2 years old was youngest surfer to hit the waves at Wrightsville Beach and has made a little celebrity out of himself with the local Autism Community in Wilmington.  It has been such a life changing experience for him and so fun to watch that I wouldnt miss it for the world. Each year I try to encourage a new friend to attend the event and see what the whole experience is about. They will all tell you it was an amazing experience and  how much they learned. That one camp visit impacted them so much that they now attend each year and assist me in raising money  and awareness for Surffers Healing. The touching video above was made by Brett Reider, Gavin's  devoted father.  The lyrics of the song, photos of Gavin with loved ones and clips of him surfing at Surfer's Healing camps throughout the years, makes  perfect  highlight of Gavin's earlier years.  Gavin is a few older now but still surfs every year at camp along with his two younger brothers. (one of which is on the spectrum as well). I think this event is worh anybody taking a trip to Wrightsville to experience. There is so much I have learned from being around these amazing kids. I look forward to it every year and love the program so much that I try to give back by helping in any way I can.

 

Thank you Gavin for all that you have taught me. You inspiire me everyday and I couldnt be more proud of you!