Well, we went to the developmental pediatrician with Sam today and she does not think he has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. She thinks that he has a language delay that is causing some delays in his social interactions because he has difficulty communicating and gets frustrated. She said that if we don't see improvement in the next 6 - 8 months to come back and see her, but that we should take advantage of the extra services he qualifies through with birth to three without overloading him. So, we will continue to work with his language skills (which we have been seeing a lotof improvement in in the last month) and keep an eye on his other areas of development.
Okay, okay! I know it has been a while since there has been an update, so here it is. Last time you tuned in I was singing the praises of the holiday eggnog latte. We've been very busy since then. So here it is.
In November, my papa passed away and all of us flew back to California for the week of Thanksgiving to spend time with family and friends and attend the memorial. We flew back to Connecticut and were there for about 3 weeks before we flew back to California for our originally scheduled Christmas trip. During that trip we took the train up to Klamath Falls to see John's parents. We took a night train which was actually quite comfy and determined the train was really nice and we would definitely do it again. Three days later we were in Reno to take the trainback, butthen ended up searching for a rental car. The train was delayed by a storm so we ended up driving back to the Bay Area. Maybe we won't take the train again.
We flew back to CT on New Years Day to finish enduring the cold winter. Shortly after our return to to CT our world was turned topsy-turvy. We figured out that me working was not actually helping us bring in any money and we were paying for me to work. Not much, but it certainly didn't make it worth 9 hours a day of day care for the boys. So, I gave my two weeks notice. About that same week, we went to see the pediatrician about some concerns and behavior issues we were having with James. Armed with a note from his teacher with her observations, and questions of our own we talked with Dr. Cohen. He said it was possible James was mildly autistic or had a PDD (pervasive developmental disorder), and referred us to a neurologist.
So, I just quit my job and now there might be something wrong with James. So, my last day at work, I take the morning off to go with John and James to see this neurologist. Then we wait for a month for the official report while we get him evaluated by the school district. So, we get the report from the neurologist that says "shows signs of high functioning autism." The school district testing and evaluating came to the conclusion that he is really smart and has some social issues that they will deal with when James comes for speech. In the meantime, we had another appontment scheduled with a developmental pediatrician for a second opinion because we still felt like we didn't know if there was a problem really or not. So, after a two hour session talking about the boys, James went on Friday for his evaluation. He was totally himself and I think she got a really good picture of what he is like. Her analysis of the situation? He is gifted and big for his age. He is within normal range, and while she could see how someone could possibly think he is autistic, she doesn't think so. She thinks he just needs consistent, firm people around him and a little bit of extra explanation at times. So, that is where we are with James.
In the meantime, Sam is growing like a weed. He is as big as James was when he was 2 1/2 and he just turned 2. In the midst of all this going on with James, I talked to Sam's birth-to-three provider Linda. Linda is really great. She comes to the house once a week and works with Sam on his speech and play skills. As Linda kept working with Sam, and I kept researching autism in books and online at Autism Speaks (they have a great video library showing red flags for autism vs. ordinary behavior), we started going through some evaluation tools for Sam. We went through 3 different ones with the Birth-to-Three people and had a speech pathologist come out to evaluate him as well. (By the way, in CT this all takes place with a monthly sliding scale fee of $70 a month for any services Sam needs, and they are so helpful.) The result from Birth-to-Three? The qualified on the last evaluation (the ADOS) for an education diagnosis of autism so he is now being transferred to their autism specific program and he qualifies for more services, like additional time for LInda to come over and work with him. Educational diagnosis means that it is not a medical diagnosis of autism, but he is delayed in enough areas that he needs the extra services. We have Sam's evaluation with the developmental pediatrician tomorrow, and then we will see if he has a medical diagnosis or not. I can say that Sam is making progress since we started seeing Linda. While he still loves anything to do with the alphabet (he can name all the letters and their sounds), he is expanding his choices of activities. He loves playing with his cars, especially Lightning McQueen (kachow!) and with his dot paints. His speech is really improving and he is beginning to use two word phrases and even the occasional short sentence.
Despite all these questions about the boys, the last few months have been really good. In January, we also changed up things at our church. We joined a new home group that is made up of us and 3 other couples and their kids. The adults meet and talk, while the kids all run around, play and watch movies. We also switched from the Sunday night service (Core) to the Sunday 9:30 service now that Sam has outgrown the mid-morning nap.
I also started attending the women's Thursday morning group AM/FM (A Morning For Me) which has been really great with getting connected. In March, I went on the church women's retreat which was really great. They hold it at the Publick House in Massachussetts and it was really great despite a lot of rain. Besides the speaking, my favorite part was one of Saturday afternoon elective activities - cake decorating! We got to decorate our own cake to take home and bonded over frosting with another gal named Louise who signed up just so she could eat the frosting! That is my kind of gal.
We also introduced James and Sam to cross country skiing and snowshoeing this winter. James loved it, Sam just wanted to sit and eat the snow. Sam may be more into the snowshoeing next year though.
John is doing well at work. He carpools with a friends and oversees a team of 5 other guys. He has yet to be sent to the Netherlands, but from what he has heard it is all work and no play, so he is okay with staying here for now. John also, built the boys a playground set for the backyard and they love it. Sam LOVES the swing. We put him in it and he says "Fun!" James just loves to do anything outside - soccer, baseball, swing, slide, go on a safari. Whatever as long as it is outside.
That's it. All the news that fit to print!
Well, it is finally spring and people in the northeast are emerging from our winter hibernation. Really, this isn't a joke. The other night we sat out our neighbor's the Gonzales's back porch and talked for the first time since November. It is nice to be out talking in the cul-de-sac in the evening with the neighbors as the kids run around. Sam loves to ride around in his Big Red Car while James plays soccer or baseball with Peter.
The spring also means that I am now officially a soccer mom. James had his first practice and game yesterday with the Bethel Youth Soccer. He is in the rookie league for 4 1/2 to 6 year olds. John is the assistant coach. One of the first responsibilities as assistant coach is filling in when the head coach is not there - as John discovered this week. John was a little nervous since the first week was rained out and he had never done anything with a soccer team before, but he did a great job filling in as head coach. He even got one of the boys who didn't want to play to get out on the field.
James had an awesome time! He loved it. He paid attention and listened during the 45 minute drill time before the game. As soon as the ball was loose in the game, he got it and ran with it for a goal. Our proudest moment was actually when there were two other kids coming at him and HE PASSED THE BALL to one of his teammates! He got knocked down a couple times (I think one of the other kids also plays hockey - he's got a good body check), but he got back in the game and had a lot of fun.
After the game he went to McD's for ice cream and then stopped by Target and picked up a soccer goal for the yard. Now all he wants to do is play soccer! It's awesome!
