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Jakob's Biography

Jakob Alexander Adkins was born on Saturday, November 14, 1998, at 11:07 pm in Huntington, WV. He came into the world about six weeks early, and had to spend 11 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Cabell-Huntington Hospital. He left the NICU with an apnea monitor (to make sure his heart rate and breathing continued like they should), and even though he slept much of his first few months, he grew stronger and bigger with each passing day, and he instantly became the center of his parents's world.

He was the first child for Cecil and Tiffany Adkins, who met each other in the ninth grade, began dating at the end of that school year, and got married four years later. Though often looked at by the world around them as the perfect couple (and their union wasn't - and isn't - perfect, but whose is?), they soon wondered how they ever thought of themselves as fulfilled before Jakob came into their lives.

All was not quite right with little Jakob, however. At around age 1, he was progressing normally, but shortly thereafter, he started to "regress," i.e., lose much of the language he had learned up to that point. He had never been cuddly with his parents or anyone, prefering to spend a lot of time alone. He also had a penchant for playing with his toys in an inappropriate manner (like turning his Hot Wheels over and spinning their tires endlessly instead of "driving" them around). He also loved to open and close cabinet doors and run around the living room in a large circle.

At 18 months, Jakob was referred to a child development specialist, who he finally got to see when Jakob was 23 months old. The specialist spent a little time with Jakob and his parents, asking various questions, before determining that Jakob suffered from autism.

His parents were shaken to their core. After they received the diagnosis, they researched the disorder, and this hardly made them feel better. Horror stories abounded, and even though a lot of these turned out okay in the end, the journey to get to that point seemed to go on for a million miles.

However, Jakob responded very well to therapy, particularly occupational therapy. He never had any of the intense daily therapy that costs some families hundreds of thousands of dollars. His autism turned out to be pretty mild, and even though some characteristics pop up now, over 2 years later, Jakob is getting closer and closer to being a normal kid. He is now in preschool at Central City Elementary and enjoys playing with his friends and learning new things.

In August of 2001, Jakob became the big brother to a beautiful little girl named Jenna, who would turn out to have problems of her own, far outweighing her brother's autism. You can read about her struggles on The Little Yellow Ladybug site.