As parents, being told to give up your kids is one of the most difficult things you could ever hear. Despite the difficulty, Annie and Mark decided to press on and have experienced the miraculous.
“We were told they should be institutionalized.”
Samuel and Jacob were 11-year-old twins that had been diagnosed with the most severe form of autism. Annie and Mark, their parents, live in a high-fenced and padlocked facility in Graveney, Kent, with them.
The interesting thing about the fencing and padlocks is that they are designed to keep people in, not out.
When the boys were two, they were given a diagnosis that would change the entire family’s lives. Diagnosed with severe autism, the boys had a host of things that their parents, all of a sudden, were thrown into the midst of. With no visible emotional response from Samuel and Jacob, their parents weren’t even sure their kids loved them.
Every day brought new challenges.
The entire house was trashed daily. Almost everything was destroyed each day. Dirt, food, and throw up was smeared and tossed on anything possible. Anything that wasn’t screwed down was twisted, broken, or trashed. There was no furniture allowed in the house because the kids would destroy it.
Occasionally, the kids would escape their home.
Despite the family’s best attempts, the boys would occasionally escape. A danger to themselves more than others, they would wander about until they were found. Often, it would require the help of the police and a helicopter to find them.
For many parents, this would have all been too much.
A lot of parents wouldn’t have been able to handle the immense pressure. Whenever they consulted various people about what to do next, they were simply counseled that their son’s behavior would never improve. At their lowest moment, they considered residential schools.
Finally, a break in the clouds appeared and sunlight was let in.
After years of put down and chaos, the Montegue family finally saw a glimmer of hope. A new treatment named the Son-Rise Program came to their attention. Based on relationships and understanding, Mark was skeptical. They decided to move forward anyway as a last-ditch effort.
Instead of trying to stop the behavior of the children, they were instead encouraged to join in.
Immediately the family saw a massive improvement. One day, Mark saw his son spinning in a circle near the table and decided to join. The two spun together, laughing the whole way. Suddenly, the boy looked into his father’s eyes and held his gaze for the first time in his life.
Nowadays, the family is much different than it used to be.
Over time, the kids started to copy the parents instead of the other way around. The chaos ridden household was made new. Moments of calmness and understanding permeated where there were none before. It was a home like never before.
Most importantly, the kids show genuine love to their parents.
They cuddle, kiss, and spend time with their parents. For a parent, that’s the only thing they could ever have wanted. There is always more progress to be made, but that silver lining has now turned into a lifestyle.
Check out the touching video below!
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