A New Course: A Mother’s Journey Navigating Down Syndrome and Autism

When Teresa, a 33-year-old mother gave birth to her second child, she and her husband Al soon found out that their son was diagnosed with Down syndrome. This new course their lives took was not on the radar, with health complications leaving their son in NICU after his birth.
Teresa shares the story of this different course their lives would take, working with early intervention programs, therapists and doctors to help her son, Nick reach developmental milestones at a much slower pace than her first son, Hank who is just 19 months older. With hard work and tenacity, Nick managed to meet those milestones in his own time.

This book weaves in sailing themes of the author, who grew up near Galveston Bay, and takes a pause at the end of each chapter to offer lessons learned and takeaways moving forward. It was important for the family to keep their own identities intact and not allow their son?s disability to shelter their world. They made every effort to keep a good balance and continue to travel and find the humor on this new journey together.
As Nick grew older, some behaviors and delays in verbal speech raised a few red flags with the rest of their extended family. Around puberty, the behaviors escalated to full meltdowns that were dangerous. At this point it was evident that this was more than just Down syndrome. New therapies and strategies were put in place to help deal with the challenging behaviors and speech deficits. Teresa learned valuable lessons of how crucial it is to find a team of experts to collaborate with and work through many issues associated with a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism (DS-ASD).

The unique challenges associated with a dual diagnosis of DS-ASD land many parents on a deserted island. You don?t fit into the Down syndrome support groups, nor the autism groups. The book concludes with an appendix that covers a variety of topics including education/IEP?s, therapies, travel/ vacations, and working with healthcare providers to name a few. The appendix was derived from research and blog posts that Teresa has been writing about since 2012. Teresa uses what she has been through to strengthen others and guide on this unique course