Is it just me or is my daughter improving?

Yes I know I just got done blogging about my youngest who has a form of Autism and her meltdowns. But wait there may be a light at the end of that tunnel. See when Danielle was first diagnosed she was also diagnosed with tactile defensiveness. She could not stand to be touched and she hated loud noises. One of my fears during school was the tornado drills and fire drills. I warn the staff at her school every year that she needs to be prepared before a drill. But later on I came to realize something,what if there was a real fire or real tornado? You cannot prepare her for that. So at one of the IEP meetings the subject of social stories came up. The idea about social stories is to talk to the person with Autism about certain things that could happen and how to handle them. So that day I go home and I discussed with Danielle about how she would handle this situation. J ust a couple of days ago I was dropping my oldest off back at the school we were confronted by the school social worker telling us that we missed all the excitement. Apparently there was a small fire in the lunch room and the alarms went off and the fire trucks came. I was told that Danielle was fine so I left it at that. I had forgotten all about it until I was putting Danielle to bed. But when I remembered I asked her how she did. Her reply was" Mom the alarms were so loud and so were the firetrucks but I just followed directions and things were okay." I could not believe what I was hearing. Normally when things get overwhelming Danielle likes to run away from the situation. But not this time. I continued with telling her how proud I was of her.This was a huge accomplishment. So even though I know there will be several meltdowns to conquer I can now be somewhat relieved that Danielle is thriving out in the world even when I am not around to help her. So for all those parents out there who have Autistic children you have to know that there is hope. With some help our children can live close to normal lives.