"I am sitting here smiling through my tears as I re-watch that first video with the puzzle from last year. I remember feeling so hopeless and scared and crying myself to sleep almost every night. A year ago Dax had poor eye contact, he didn’t speak at all, he didn’t respond to his name, he didn’t have any gestures and he lived in his own world. I was spinning my wheels with flash cards and repeating words over and over to Dax for a year and getting nothing from him in return. Just a blank stare.
Fast forward to present day and I can barely recognize him in that first video because he has changed SO much! All those things he wasn’t doing a year ago he is doing now. Gaining joint attention and then joint engagement was exactly where we needed to start with Dax. It took a lot of work and a lot of time but once we got him out of his own little world and into ours he has not stopped making progress. He has learned that it is fun to interact and communicate with us. He even started saying “love you.” I waited almost 3 years to hear him say those words to me. I would do it all over again in a heart beat if I had to without any hesitation. Cherie and Alicia changed our lives and changed Dax’s life forever. I will be forever thankful for them and I thank God that I found them." - Rachel