The  New Year always makes me think about new beginnings.  And new beginnings makes me think of my son Whitney and how each new year has been a better year for Whitney and for our family.

When my son Whitney was a toddler, he was diagnosed with autism and attention deficit disorder (ADD). When he was about  4 years old, I took him shopping one day with my other children to get supplies.  My older kids, Vanessa and William, and I had walkie-talkies. It became a game -- I would say, "Get shampoo" or "get toothpaste" or "get dishwasher soap," and the kids would respond when they found the item and bring it to our shopping cart.  While this was going on, I, of course would be chasing Whitney around the store or trying to keep him sitting in the cart, as best I could.

In a heartbeat, Whitney was out of sight.  All three of us started running around the store looking for him.  There was no need to call his name because he wouldn't respond.  When we finally found him, he was dragging a big train he had pulled out of a holiday display. 

Obviously, Whitney thought if Vanessa and William selected toothpaste and soap, good for them.  He wanted a train! It was impossible to get Whitney to understand that his brother and sister were helping Mom get needed supplies, not selecting toys to play with, and that the train was not a supply, and in any case, it was not for sale.

As we put the train back, Whitney started hitting, spitting, and banging his head, and then he took off all of his clothes in frustration.  We left the cart where it was and it took all of three of us to get Whitney out of the store -- with on-lookers, of course, making comments about  what a poor parent I must be.

The incident was very upsetting to us all. William, age 5, threw up. Vanessa, age 6, was trying to micro-manage at a mile a minute to find a solution. I was exhausted and fell asleep that night with tears on my pillow.

But a solution did come, though of course it didn't happen overnight.  William is now a chemical engineer, Vanessa is now an attorney, and Whitney - once written off by many professionals as unreachable and unteachable - is now an engineer himself and completely symptom-free. My experience with Whitney has been a guiding force in the programs I've developed to solve similar problems in thousands of other children.

Each New Year has been a better year for my family. So my hope for you is that 2010 will be a new beginning for you and your family.