Special Needs

Hi, I'd like to introduce myself :)

Hi everyone,

 My name is Laura. I have two sons; Alex is 4 and Johnathan is 2. I did write a post here last night but I deleted it this morning when I realized I wrote it *literally half asleep* and I barely remember writing it! I didn't want to start off coming here being like "Hi, look at my blog" - I wanted to start here by actually introducing myself, getting to know some of you maybe. So.... yeah!

My boys are the light of my life (that includes my husband). They are everything to me!

A little over a year ago, when Johnathan was just 1, I started to feel like something wasn't quite right. I can't quite explain it, and I wasn't good at documenting my feelings or what was going on, so I don't even have anything to refer back to... but I just knew. Maybe it's mommy instinct. He was reaching all of his milestones physically (walking at the right age, that sort of thing) but was doing absolutely no talking. And he was babbling, but at 1 year, he STILL hadn't said MAMA. There were other things too - once he was walking and was able to keep his balance a little, he started spinning. He could do it for a long time, even if he was bumping into things, even if there were things in the way. He would spin. And it just seemed odd to me. I mean, Alex liked to spin too... but there was just something about the way and the length of time Johnathan was spinning that became a concern.

 Of course, for me, the biggest tip-off was that he hadn't said mama, OR dada. He might have said them indiscriminately once or twice, but never directly at me, never called me, never in reference to anything.

I also started to worry when I realized that in the mornings, he would not call out for me in his crib. Once Alex was able to vocalize, he would "announce" he was awake in his crib. We'd hear it on the monitor of course, and go in and greet him. Once he was a year old or so (Alex) - he would call us. I remember hearing "ma-maaaaaaa!" and I loved it every time. Johnathan doesn't do that. He just sits in his crib (or lies down).

Some moms would think "OMG, that's a dream come true! A quiet baby!" - but it wasn't a dream come true. It was more worrying me than anything.

For awhile we thought he might be deaf. He seemed to have a lot of "signs" being hearing impaired. Our first step was getting him a hearing test. I was pretty surprised when he passed with flying colors!

SO to make a very long story short for introduction purposes, he's had several evaluations, he sees a speech therapist only once a week. We had another evaluation the other day where the developmental pediatrician said that Johnathan very likely has autism, and that she will very likely make that diagnosis. She also recommended more speech therapy and OT as well.

She just wants to run some genetic tests first since I told her about my brother who, the only way to describe him is a little "off" since he was never officially diagnosed with anything other than ADD (my parents fault, they never followed school recommendations, never took him to see the right people, etc).

So it's a little scary... a little upsetting. I know my boy is my boy no matter what and I love him more than anything... but the other day I felt like I wanted to start a blog. Really it's mostly for me, but I welcome others to read it as well. I'll post lots of pictures and videos and things like that. I'm not sure what to do with a blog, since I've never done one before... so I'm thinking I might just write in it like I would a journal... talk about events going on in my life, my kid's life, the world, whatever.

 https://lorlaslove.blogspot.com

 Anyway thanks for reading my intro. I'll be visiting here more frequently and I hope to get to know some other SN mommies! I currently don't know anybody!

~Laura~

 

 

Re: Hi, I'd like to introduce myself :)

  • Welcome!  There are a number of parents of autistic children on this board.  You are in good company.  :)
    imageimageimageimageimage 9/07 m/c baby boy @ 18wks, 4/09 m/c @ 4.5wks
  • Welcome. 

     

    My son is Sn, so maybe I am not the best person to compare with, but I just wanted to mention that I don't think not saying mama and dada at a year is that big of a deal.  I know William didn't until more like 14-15 months 

     

    Can someone else confirm/deny that for me?  I don't want lurkers who might be reading this to worry about that by itself.  Obvisouly you had some other things that tipped you off though, in this case. 

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  • Sorry, I should have added:

    He STILL does not say or even appear to know how to say  MAMA or DADA *at all* and he is almost 2.5 years old.

    Not saying mama/dada in and of itself is not what prompted us to get him tested, etc. It was one of many factors.

     

  • That is what I figured you meant;)

     

    It bugs me when I hear that because when DS didn't say it at a year on the dot, everyone was all "oh, he doesn't say mama yet? blah blah blah"  So I am probably overly sensitive.

  • hello,

    your story... well yep. that about says it..I 'll say this though, we intervened at 15 mos. I started asking Dr's at 9 mos but I fully intervened at 18 mos with speech and ot and I will tell you I already have a different child 10 mos later. we have a ton of work left to do but you are doing an amazing thing by starting now. Feel free to check out my blog

    momsofasdchildren.com

    best

  • Welcome! And good luck with everything.
    image
    Nora Judith 7/2/06 Miles Chauncey 4/20/09 born with Trisomy 21 - Down syndrome
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