3 BEAUTIFUL BOYS

3-05-10

Signs Of Autism Early To Develop In Honorees At Springbrook Gala

By LAURA COX : MILFORD CENTER

The Gastons’ story starts out like that of many American families.
Lynn and Randy wanted to have kids.  After years spent trying to conceive, they opted to use IVF – In vitro fertilization.   Learning Lynn was pregnant with triplets, they were overjoyed.  The pregnancy was closely monitored.  Hunter, Zachary and Nicholas were born prematurely, but not enough to concern anyone.  They were healthy.
“We thought we had made it through the tough part,” Randy said in a phone interview the other day from his home in Howard County, Md.
But the tough part, chronicled in “Three Times the Love:  Finding Answers and Hope for Our Triplets With Autism,” was just beginning.
That inspirational story prompted Springbrook to honor Lynn and Randy – the boys are now 7 – at its annual gala Saturday, March 27, at The Otesaga, part of the final push – “Completing The Puzzle” – to finish a $5 million fund drive that will allow the community for developmentally disabled youngsters to implement its plan of expansion.  
Lynn, acting as ambassador for her family, will appear at the gala and at a book signing at the Green Toad Book Store, 198 Main St., Oneonta, the afternoon before the gala.  (With one of the boys undergoing surgery, Randy will be staying home with the boys.)
A year and a half after the boys were born, Lynn started to notice patterns of behavior in all three of her sons.   Checking the Internet, the word “autism” kept popping up to describe the behavior.
 “They were definitely not going in the right direction,” said Randy.  “Meltdowns would ensue over simple things, and they stopped talking. It was scary, kind of like walking into a cloud where everything was going backwards.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘We have to get help’.”
“It was a difficult time and we didn’t know who to look to,” he added.
The couple decided they needed to go see specialists at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.  The specialist they consulted said he had only seen four similar cases, where triplets had autism at different ends of the spectrum.
 “They all had different needs and it was a real learning experience. We had to learn what [autism] was, how it affects your life and then how to get through the situation and overcome it,” Randy said.
He added that they went through multiple therapies before they found one that worked and that each of the kids has about 30 hours a week of intensive therapies and that he often wonders where their childhood has gone.
“It becomes a big challenge and a monstrous challenge with how much it costs and finding ways to pay,” said Randy. 
For the Gastons it meant selling their house four years ago and moving to a school district that provided more services and had more progressive therapies to help the kids develop. They found a school where the teachers are great working with their sons during an emotional time, are passionate about their progression and are staunch advocates for each of the boys.
Once the Gastons had a handle on their children’s education, they started to look beyond their own household and to how they could help others in situations similar to their own. They planned an Autism Expo in 2007 and again in Oct. of 2009 to bring together a panel of experts in the field and families who have nothing but questions. In 2009 the hardback edition of their book was published by Avery Publishing/ Penguin Books, another platform for them to share with parents the information they had to learn firsthand.
Through it all, Randy says they have kept Hunter, Nicholas and Zachary at the center of their hearts and minds.
“The therapies have to be there, but I can’t lose sight of the three amazingly beautiful little kids. All I’ve ever wanted is for someday, hopefully, when I’m gone for them to be able to function,” Randy said.
“Every day is a joy with them. My sons smile, they are happy kids – as hard as their life is – they are very happy kids. I’ve always dwelled on that the most,” he said, “Zachary may have a disability, but I don’t look at him as being my autistic son, I look at him as my son. I always love him for being Zachary, and Nicholas and Hunter for being their selves and we just have to work with autism.”