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Hello, I will be posting here links, info, and a diary of our journey with autism. I hope to share with you as my friends and also to give information and some facts and thoughts on autism. Keep watching
Ok, well where to start....I'll just tell my story and continue adding as I remember the stuff I'm forgetting.
Joey was born on November 26, 2005. His father and I were on fertility meds for 6 months and had been trying for 2 years to get pregnant.
For Joey and I the breastfeeding thing was miserable, he cried I cried, and so after 2 months we quit. Joey did have some tummy troubles and we had to change formula a couple times and he also had a hernia at two months. After that, Joey was wonderful. Smiling, laughing, pointing, sitting, standing, walking (he skipped crawling)he was very strong and had exceptional motor skills. He was a computer junkie at 8 months and was always moving, jumping mostly, even when he was asleep, lol. Looking back the only thing I can see that was a sign of autism was the jumping and also there was a time when I put a CD in the computer for him and he got upset, opened it, and turned the CD so that the letters were the right direction. At the time, it was a cute little quirky thing. He also had a lot of trouble sleeping, which just got worse and worse over the years.
At 2 and a half, we decided to check with the doctor regarding his speech, he had a few words that came on time but didn't seem to be getting more, he also could not relax especially to sleep.
The doctor said to hang on till he was 3 and let's see what happens.
Well, at 3 there still were no new words, there were a lot of new skills and things especially on the computer, he was also drawing kitties and doggies and writing his name. He was a sponge for letters, numbers, and drawing.
Sleeping had gotten worse and the obsessions and frustration of not being able to communicate. He also had no interest whatsoever in toilet training, it would go back and forth but just not having it.
We were referred to a family therapist who left us completely disheartened, I won't go into detail but this person was not professional and was very insulting. She did however, refer us to Childrens Mercy. Six months later, we spent 8 hours at Childrens Mercy filling out forms, answering questions, Joey being tested on many many skills, and then the diagnosis.....autism.
I was shocked, I had done a lot of research and was convinced because of the laughing and the social connections and being silly, that he was PDD-NOS, which is Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. The doctors explained and we ended up with a 20 page report of the testing, the questions and history, and suggestions, and needs of The Joey.
I cried when I heard the diagnosis, not because he was assigned autism, but because I felt that we had wasted so much time. The doctor's told me something that has been a real help throughout this journey and that is that no matter what the diagnosis is you have to treat the issues and that's what we were doing.
to be cont....
