Tomorrow morning I am calling our pediatrician to ask about setting up an appointment with her to discuss some concerns that Brandon and I have about Miles. Specifically, we want to ask if he should be evaluated for autism spectrum disorders.
There it is. It's out there, the A word.
I'm expecting (hoping, actually) that everyone reading this is shocked and thinking "What?! He isn't at all what I would consider at risk for autism!" I hope that my friends haven't noticed peculiarities and not voiced their concern. I pray that this comes as a surprise to everyone. Otherwise, what has taken me so long to get here?
I'm hopeful that our pediatrician will pooh-pooh our concerns and say "He sounds like a smart, well-adjusted, happy little boy! See you in a year!" but what if she doesn't?
I don't really care to get into all of the specifics, but basically I am concerned about:
- His intense passion for letters. First it was just the letters themselves, then their sounds, and now making words. He sings the ABC song about 100 times a day (might be underestimating that) and recites the letter sounds in alphabetical order repeatedly.
- Some language issues including responses to questions and speaking more like from a script than from some spontaneous place.
- Social interaction stuff, rarely playing with other kids when he is around them
- Prefering to wander around saying his letter sounds instead of playing on the equipment at the park
I need to do a "Spencer Turned One!" and "Miles is 2.5 + 1 month old!" post. Just not today.
Update: We have an appointment to see our pediatrician tomorrow (Tuesday the 15th) at 11:15am.
2 comments:
Good luck! Let us know how everything turns out!
And I don't know if this will make you feel better at all, but even if he has autism - at least it's not the end of the world. My adopted cousin has Asperger's and while his parents have definetely had to adjust their life plan to accommodate it, it's not necessarily been a miserable experience for them. Now that he's gotten older, I find him fascinating in a lot of ways because he's an actual expert in a lot of areas.
Anyways, I'm sure it's nothing, maybe he's just too advanced to want to talk to kids his own age :)
Thanks Natalie :)
The idea of him having an ASD diagnosis doesn't fill me with dread or anything, because I know who he is. I know that nothing about him has changed, he's still my perfect little boy. Brandon, on the other hand is not deal with it very well so far. Not that there's anything necessarily to "deal with" he is just feeling strange about his relationship with Miles now.
I somehow missed your new blog! Following you now :)
Post a Comment