Samuel was born in early 1999. His older brother was 16 1/2 months old when he was born. He was a BIG baby, almost 10 1/2 lbs. Ironically, he is the only one of my 4 children that I did not deliver by C-section. I suffered a 4th degree tear and my poor body has never been the same since then!
Samuel's development was quite normal for the first year, he hit all his baby milestones like sitting up, crawling, and walking within the normal range of age. He had a very sing-song type of babbling.
He was not talking when he reached 2 years old, but we didn't think too much of it because his older brother did not start talking until after he turned two. The only word Samuel had ever said was "cheese," which he only said several times when we were about to get cheeseburgers for lunch. He only repeated it after I said "cheeseburger" and after a few weeks he wouldn't say it at all.
We began to notice, a few months after his second birthday, that he did not play with toys in the normal sense. He would stare at them, pick them up and drop them, press buttons repetitively. When he was outside in our back yard he would either run around the perimeter of the yard or he would sit and pick up/drop handfuls of dirt repeatedly.
My mother expressed concern to me about Samuel's behavior when he was about 28 months old. She suggested that I take him to a doctor. I waited about 5 or 6 months after that, just to see if Samuel would get more "on track" with his development, but he did not. I started at our family practise pediatrician. She referred us to a university hospital and we saw a developmental pedicatrician. After about a 5 minute observation he gave Samuel a diagnosis of "autistic spectrum disorder." I was not surprised to get this diagnosis. I was a bit relieved because I was tired of wondering as I had been doing for almost 6 months. It was suggested that I contact our county's early intervention program. We also saw an education specialist at the hospital and she suggested that we put Samuel in some kind of school setting that had a big focus on developing communication. We did begin speech therapy and he attended a weekly music therapy session at the time, but I did not contact the school system for an evaluation until after he was 3 1/2. I realized after 10 months that I could not set up a sufficient teaching environment for him at home. I must say that the biggest disappointment I have had in dealing with autism has been the lack of information out there for parents who have just gotten a diagnosis for their child. I was very interested in working with Samuel at home, and all directions I was being pointed in involved sending him off to school.
To be continued....
4 comments:
I relate to what you say. Although we were buried in information, most of it was gobbledegook to begin with. You [one] loses so much time just wading around in the morass initially.
Best wishes
When I first realised that my 21 year old had problems, she had speech but lost it and did not speak until she was 2 1/2, there was no support whatsoever..........life pre-internet was not much fun at times
Thankfully with my 6 year old there was so much more out there.
It is always a sweet moment for a mother when a child's first word is MUM, my little darlings first words were BOB THE BUILDER! He was her passion for a good 2 years.
We missed it when our son was very little. Completely. Even took him for early evaluation and they missed it.
It took kindergarten for someone to see it. You are blessed to have your mom spot it and give you good advice.
Looking forward to reading the rest!
What's even worse than not getting good direction from medical staff once you get a diagnosis is if you go down the path of thinking you have to try every "cure" or "therapy" that you end up coming across. Though it is good to have an attitude of "I'll do whatever it takes to help my child," sometimes I want to tell other parents "Okay, is this (thing they are trying) really helping your child, or is it just helping you feel better?" I never do say that, however, because we all have our own path to carve, and I'm certainly not in the position of being able to judge what others do. That has been a good question to ask myself as well!
I took lots of notes about Samuel after I got his diagnosis up until he started school. I'll have to look and see what his first words might have been and at what age. I do remember him reciting Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" before he was able to articulate speech or say any words.
When my Mom expressed her concerns about Samuel, it had just been suggested to my brother that his son be taken for an evaluation because of his anti-social behavior at day-care. They were not initially given a diagnosis and did not get a diagnosis of autism until several years later. They were so disappointed because I think they hoped they would never get that diagnosis.
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