My Little Brother, Kayden

Kayden was born June, 30th, 2004. He was still in the Hospital , just born no too long ago when all of the sudden his stats dropped. My mom stayed a extra day in the Hospital, the doctors did not know why his stats dropped he went home a fine healthy baby. As he got older, he was not catching up on words like he should have, and certain sounds and noises bothered him. Sometimes when my mom would call his name he would not even respond. After a little while he would respond and everything would be okay. When he was 3 things still were not as well as they should of been, so my mom taught Kayden a little bit of Sign Language. One time, our carbon monoxide alarm went off. He did not move or flinch at all, just kept playing with his toys, my parents then knew something was wrong. They took him to get a diagnosis, they said he needed tubes in his ears and that the hearing played into why he was not talking as good or well as a normal 3 year-old should have been. So he got his tubes and he started speech therapy and went to preschool and school struggling, but getting through. As he matured my parents both noticed that his little baby fits and he was 8, and we also had a new little brother named Daxton, and as Daxton started maturing they became fast friends. As his hearing improved he still was very socially awkward, everything was black and white to him, he never could understand sarcasm and he always had to be on time and always needed a date and time. My mother then decided that her being a special ed teacher, recognized this as some things kids with Autism do, she did the testing and guess what? He has high-functioning Autism. It was not a surpriser to anyone but we still loved him all the same. He got bullied, gave the kid who did it a black eye, and has helped other boys with Autism.

Kamryn Alley
Wellington, UT