Let the evaluations begin!

Early Intervention (EI) through our County was very efficient in getting a team of therapists out to our home to test Alec in October of 2006. There were 3 different therapists plus the representative from EI. They ran a number of different assessments on Alec, and it lasted about an hour. It was the half-hour afterwards that blew us away.

The team was required to give us the scoring right there on the spot. Not only did our son have feeding issues, but with his body as a whole, and especially communication. He scored slightly higher in the social area, but still below average as compared to his peers. Overall, his scores were miserably low, and it hit us pretty hard. But, for once -- we had people who could actually HELP our son!

There was another meeting set for a week later, so the EI rep could go over the report in detail with us, and tell us what the County would approve as far as therapy. We set goals that we wanted him to meet within the first 6 months of treatment. Self-feeding was at the top of our list. Along with that skill was every other self-help skill that he was not currently doing: brushing teeth by himself, dressing/undressing, etc. We also learned that his communication was far worse than we thought. He barely had a handful of words, and they were all one-syllable sounds. He was unable to communicate choices, and worse for a mom: unable to tell me if he was sick or hurt. He also had a ton of sensory issues and his body was out of sync, which explained why he was so clumsy and tripped a lot. Lastly, his play skills were not there. Instead of playing with toys, he would examine parts of toys with intensity. Also, objects held his attention more than toys -- ceiling fans, anything spinning, and lights.

How could I have realized any of this on my own, when doctor #1 had the classic "wait and see" approach? They claimed that Alec was on the "edge of normal development" -- but they knew NOTHING about what EI was able to uncover in the hour they evaluated him. So, we got angry and switched to doctor #2... This particular practice did developmental checklists at 9 & 18 months of age, and that was a vast improvement over the 1st practice.

In February of '07, Alec started feeding himself and it was such a blessing! He also started to brush his own teeth with assistance. His vocabulary was slightly expanded, his play was getting better, and he was coopertive with all his therapists. He would get excited when he saw them each day! Progress was slow, but it was progress.

In May of '07 our daughter was born. While on a 10-week maternity leave from my full time job, I got to see much more of Alec's therapy sessions. It became a very depressing ritual. I couldn't get past the fact that nearly every therapist was using puzzles with large pieces, and shape sorters. This had been going on for OVER a year -- yet he still could not fit a large puzzle piece into the puzzle (without a ton of guidance, at least), and could not figure out the shape sorter. I had to walk out of the room countless times because I just couldn't bear to watch him fail over and over again. Even more upsetting was his response to his new baby sister. He acted as if she didn't even exist. If he did care, as most children his age would, he had no way of telling us. My nightmare continued when people insisted on asking us, "What does Alec think of his new sister?" The most honest response would have been, "We have no idea."

In the prior year, Alec received 4 forms of therapy: speech, occupational, physical and play. His therapists were a Godsend, and by September of '07 one of our therapists mentioned that because he has multiple, or "global" delays, we might want to get him diagnosed by a Developmental Pediatrician. Wish someone would have told us a little sooner -- like, the County???!!! So, we scheduled the appointment and switched EI coordinators to one that is much more proactive.

At this time, our new daughter was 4 months old and so far has followed a typical development timeline.

The story will continue with our visit to the specialist. Before we met with this doctor, we had no clue that we would ever hear the words "autism spectrum".

This is the day that would open so many doors for Alec and our family.