 |
| Oh Jack-Jack, how we love you! |
I have really tried to remember back to Jack as a baby and
toddler. Unfortunately, with him being
the 4th child it means I didn’t quite catalog his progress as
carefully as I should have (or really at all).
I do not believe he had any delays, other than the odd fact that he
would never, ever wave at people. He
memorized things very easily, which made me think he was perhaps advanced. I
loved it when he would recite the Pledge of Allegiance as a 2 year old during
his brother’s preschool co-op.
I believe that I started watching him and questioning his
behavior around the time he turned 3 in August 2013. But I was quite pregnant and then had a baby,
so I pushed worries to the back of my mind.
After all, he was only 3, right? Sometimes when he would talk he would
slur his words together and it sounded like baby talk. But then he spoke clearly
other times, so I decided it was ok. He started flapping his arms and jumping
around when he got excited, and it was so cute! And he always walked on his
toes, which I thought he’d grow out of eventually.
I took him to a First 5 class in January (basically a free
mommy & me music class) before he was 3 ½ and I started to get frustrated
with him. Why did the other kids sit and sing and listen and raise their hands
and answer and I couldn’t get Jack to come and join the group? Why did the
other kids focus on their little craft projects and he would freak out when I
put a paper in front of him? I was
standing there at the class and a book in their library on autism caught my
eye. I opened it and found something
disturbing—arm flapping can be a sign of autism! Suddenly it was not cute anymore! (I later
read that toe-walking can be a sign of issues as well.) I scheduled a Developmental Check Up at First
5, as well as with our pediatrician. Without my prompting anything, the doctor
mentioned possible autism, mostly because of his lack of eye contact, or really
lack of any interaction with her at all.
First 5 set us up with the school district to test him for speech delay. I also called Tri-Counties Regional Center
and set up testing with them. I started scouring websites on autism and checked
out many books out of the library to start to educate myself on the subject.
I also started a list of his behaviors, some of which I
haven’t yet mentioned are: he gives little to no eye contact, he will not hold
a writing utensil or even attempt to scribble, he repeats quotes over and over
(mostly from movies), he plays with his hands together and stares at them, he
sits and stares at random times, he does not answer questions—he either repeats
the question back or doesn’t say anything, he is very repetitive with certain
things like reading the exact same book over and over with the same comments
every time.
The next few months were filled with anticipation and
waiting. Testing involves many steps and way too much waiting in between those
steps. All I was reading was that early intervention was the most important
thing to help correct behaviors, but all I was doing was waiting without much
direction on how to help him. What a frustrating time.
The school district finished testing first, this was in June.
In the IEP meeting with them they did not conclude that he was autistic. They
suspected Auditory Processing Disorder, which is where a person can hear but
their brain garbles the message. This can’t be officially diagnosed until about
age 7, but they figured that was the issue. They determined he had a speech
delay, so he was accepted into their preschool speech program. We were thrilled
with this outcome; he was not autistic and they would be providing services to
help him with his speech. This plan was made at the end of the school year, so
we nee
ded to wait until school started in the fall for everything to start.
Like I said, we were happy with the outcome of the school
district. But, I didn’t feel quite content with it. I turned all my efforts to
learning about this auditory disorder and I kept wondering why I saw other behaviors
in Jack that didn’t match up. I began to realize that I was probably going to
have to piece together several different disorders to really explain our Jack.
Then Tri-Counties finally finished their testing in July.
They warned me before I received their diagnosis that it might be different
than what the school said. After his final evaluation, they told me that Jack
was, in fact, autistic. I was actually fine with this, feeling that he really
did match up better with the characteristics of autism. He was categorized as
having mild to moderate autism. One great blessing I see is that Jack is quite
calm and agreeable, not prone to tantrums and hyperactivity. And I am so
grateful for the speech that he does have! There are so many things to be
grateful for in Jack.
One suggestion the school gave us to do during the summer
were both swimming and gymnastics. These are helpful activities because they
get the mind and body working together. Swimming went ok. For gymnastics I put
him in the lowest level preschool class and after 2 weeks they hinted that he
might need to be in the mommy & me class and at the 3rd class
they outright said yes, please put him in the mommy & me class. He needed
one on one help to get him to take turns, listen to directions, and to help him
to physically do the moves. It was good, but what was even better was that we
became acquainted with the occupational therapist who uses the gym’s facilities.
We decided to get an assessment with her in August and found that he has some
sensory integration issues, so we started going to her twice a week. Jack loves
it and his speech and movement began to improve once we started, as well as his
eye contact. Cynthia, the OT, involves all of our kids when they come so they can learn how to work with him at home.
 |
| Check out that eye contact!! |
Preschool finally began at the end of August and it was good.
I had informed his team at the school of his different diagnosis and they had
to admit that it seemed more likely after watching him in class. Thus began
another evaluation process that took months. He stayed in his speech class and
enjoyed it, but we knew it really wasn’t catering much to his more complex
needs. Another IEP meeting came in November and he was changed to the autistic
class, meeting every day with increased time with the speech and occupational
therapists. We have been through less than a week of this new class and changes
are already apparent: he is talking more, engaging more, and he is HAPPY!
And how are we doing, you ask? Well, I will say that I am
doing just fine with all of this. I feel such a connection with Jack that just
wasn’t there before. In the past I was quite frustrated with what he couldn’t
do, now I am understanding. I feel I am gaining some strategies to help him. I
am amazed at the people and resources that have appeared to educate and help
us. Our family seems to be rallying around him and is very loving and fun with
him. I am grateful for all of his awesome qualities: he is quite hilarious and
loves to cuddle. I love being with him.
We obviously don’t know how things will turn out for Jack. I
am, however, thrilled at the progress he is making. I feel like we are on the
right path, with loving and talented people helping him along.
