blankets had been stacked on top of the dehumidifier near his door. Mark and I stood there staring at the bazaar spectacle. I turned and squinted in the direction of Mark, “Have you ever seen him do this before?” Mark slowly squatted down and picked up about five blankets, “Nope. This is some freaky stuff right here.” We slowly walked into Broden’s room, not quite sure what we were going to see. We looked down on the floor and Broden had lined up his “Troll” slippers and shoved his sequined slippers inside them. Both of us turned to examine Broden. He was passed out on the bed, wrapped in the remaining blankets. His body was in a diagonal position and one blanket was wrapped around one arm, almost like a snake squeezing the air out of its next victim, “He must be exhausted. He had quite a night.” Once we were downstairs, we shuffled our feet to the kitchen to make our coffee. I looked around to see if Broden had been there the night before, for one last spoonful of frosting. Due to all the cupboards and drawers still being closed, I assumed he stayed upstairs. At this point, after seeing the pile of blankets stacked on the dehumidifier, anything was possible.

It was 7:20 am and I had delayed the infamous shower ritual long enough. I walked upstairs and stuck my head in his room. He was slowly rolling around in his bed with one blanket still snug around one of his arms, "Good morning, Broden. It's time for your shower." Broden slowly rolled his head towards me and struggled to open his eyes." Yea, it was going to be one of those mornings. I played with his hair and rubbed his back, as he rolled around some more. Finally, he sat up, "Ok buddy. It's time. We're going to be late for clinic." Broden stood up with his eyes half closed, "Broden, get your robe and walk into the bathroom." He slowly moved over to his robe and pulled it off the hook on his closet door. His robe dragged on the floor as he walked into the bathroom. My standards for the shower slowly diminished that morning. The goal was for him to do as much as possible independently, and if I needed to

do some hand over hand guidance, I was prepared to provide it quickly. He was tired. I was tired and the goal was to get out of the house at a decent time.

"Broden's RBT told me 'You're right. Broden has been doing some interesting new things, but we think we know what it is. We have started the changes to his behavior plan.' After he notified me of those changes, it was so clear to me now. Broden was experiencing change."

Once Broden was downstairs eating, I gulped the rest of my morning coffee down and finished packing his lunch. Broden grabbed his drink cup and headed to the car. On the drive, I tried to find all his favorites on Sirius XM. We played

some Little River Band, Queen, and Boston. In our house, good music always seems to make things a little more manageable. We finally pulled into the parking lot at The Unumb Center. We were a few minutes late, but Nick was there waiting for us at the door. He headed over to the car door where Broden was sitting, “How are you doing?” I kept my hand on the door handle before letting Broden out, “Nick, I honestly do not know how today is going to go.” I proceeded to give him the update on the last 24 hours. Nick looked perplexed, but said he would talk to the other Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) who work with him, and Amanda, his Program Manager, so they could keep an eye on him. 

A few hours later, I got a text from Amanda. She was tracking what happened at home and agreed that there had been a shift in Broden.

That afternoon, when I picked him up, Cameron, an RBT who has worked with him for quite some time, was working with him that afternoon. After helping me put Broden in the car and telling him goodbye, we had a nice chat, "You're right. Broden has been doing some interesting new things, but we think we know what it is. We have started the changes to his behavior plan that we discussed a few weeks ago." After Cameron notified me of those changes, it was so clear to me now. Broden was experiencing change. Change is inevitable, but in Broden's world it's still a tough pill to swallow.

I thanked her for the update and told her I would continue to keep the team in the loop. After Mark got home from work, I told him what I had learned. He agreed. It had to be the change in his program. The plan was to push through to see if the behavior would subside. If not, we would go back to the clinic and ask for them to slow down a bit on the program changes. At least we had a plan forward.

The other day, Mark grabbed the mail and brought it in the house. He laid it on the counter and told me that the results of my mammogram had arrived. I walked over to the kitchen and opened the envelop. Mark looked over at me and saw me smile and chuckle, “What’s so funny? What does it say?” I looked up at him, “It says my mammogram was ‘normal.’ I couldn’t tell you the last time I had connected myself to that term.” Mark smiled and nodded his head, “You’re right, but we’ll take it in this circumstance.”

OUR JOURNEY IN CAMO 

Shelly Huhtanen is an Army wife stationed at Fort Jackson, SC. She enjoys sharing her experiences of her day-to-day life caring for her son with autism. Shelly authored Giving a Voice to the Silent Many that encompasses many stories of raising a child with autism in the military. She also teaches Public Communication at the University of South Carolina and has contributed to EP Magazine for over 10 years.