Dads with Autistic Kids Jay: Good morning.  Mike: Good morning. Can you hear me?  Jay: Can you hear my audio? Mike: Yeah.  Aliw: From INC Media Audio, this is Making Changes, a podcast about the changes we go through and the life lessons we learn along the way, but always with God by our side. I’m your host, Aliw Garcia Pablo.  Mike: Hi, Jay. How are you? Jay: Hi, Mike. I'm good. How are you? Aliw: Today’s episode is for dads. Today we’ll listen to two dads who have found themselves adjusting their plans in parenting upon finding out that their children were diagnosed with autism.  You’ll meet Jay from Australia whose 4 year old daughter, Layna, was  recently diagnosed with autism, and he’ll be talking to Mike, who will be passing on what he’s learned from his experiences with his 8 year old son, Mateo, who was diagnosed at 22 months. Mike: What time is it over there right now? Jay: 12. Just after midnight. 12:18. Mike: You look so awake. Jay: Helayna is very active at this time of night. We usually don't sleep until 4AM. That’s a good day. Yesterday it was 5AM. Mike: I hear you, bro. I hear you. Aliw:  So, what happens when a dad realizes he now has to pivot his parenting styles and strategies when his child has such an active mind that they rarely sleep, or are non-verbal and have to navigate through a whole different way of communicating and interacting? How does one cope with an unexpected diagnosis that changes their lives in an instant? Here’s Mike and Jay.  Let’s listen in. Jay: Hi, Mike.  Mike: Hey, Jay. Jay: Thank you so much for taking this time to sit down with me, and basically, answer a few questions that I've had since, you know, my having a daughter that has been diagnosed with autism, and you having I believe a son, Mateo. I would really love to hear, like, your insights to my questions, being further down in this journey than I am. So thank you so much for taking this opportunity with me. Mike: No, thank you, Jay. It's great to meet you. And I say thank you because it's important for us to share our stories. When we share our stories, we help one another. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is great. Jay: I wanted to ask – how did it start for you? Mike: For Mateo, he was formally diagnosed shortly before he turned…shortly before he turned two, when my wife, Myra, had started to notice some things about our son when it comes to what we would normally see as milestones for children his age for toddlers. And I just remember coming home from Church. And, you know, I can see that something was troubling her. And then she just simply said, “I think Mateo is autistic. I knew nothing about autism to begin with... (audio fades) Aliw: And that was the start of their journey. From that moment of a mother’s instinct, they began to see medical professionals and months later, by the summer of 2015, their beautiful boy, Mateo was officially diagnosed as autistic.  Jay: So how was that emotionally? For the both of you? Mike: It was the weight of reality settling in. It had been this up and down journey of like,