Wednesday, January 21, 2015

The First Appointment

We first saw the paediatrician in May 2014.  She took a full history and observed him and talked to him.  His stimming (or tics or self stimulation or "movements without a purpose") didn't seem worrisome to her at all as it wasn't to me at the time either.  To her he seemed fine socially and in every other way and at the time his stimming wasn't interfering with life.

She said she could send him for full assessment if I wanted (of course I'm kicking myself now) but I didn't feel it was necessary putting him through all that.  So we were told to come back in 6 months at which point he'd be in Kindergarten then she could see how he was doing.

One thing she did help us with was to get him on a schedule for doing #2 in the toilet.  He wouldn't listen to me but he listened to her so that was great and still works today.

Monday, January 19, 2015

From The Beginning

Most doctors, counsellors and whomever else we've spoken to along the way all want me to start at the beginning so it just makes sense I will start there but I will skip ahead and leave out the non-essential stuff.

Lucas was born in Oct 2009 about 9 days late after a healthy pregnancy.  His entrance was a little rough by all birthing standards but he was here and that was all that mattered.  He was a super, laid-back easy baby.  Slept great, ate well and gained weight super quick!

He loved to jump!  Boy did he love to jump so before he could even walk he broke the cover on his crib mattress from all the jumping.  I didn't think much of it, just order more covers and keep an extra on hand.

When he was about 18 months or so (hard to pinpoint looking back) he started flapping his hands like he was really excited or something.  Never thought much about that either but it changed into stiffening his arms. squeezing stuff, holding his breath and jumping on the spot.  This stuff still didn't seem to far off from other 2 and 3 year olds.  Sure it looked different but it didn't interfere with other aspects of his daily life so I still didn't think much of it.

Potty training was hard.  Somehow we got him day trained and into a preschool by 3.5 years old.  Actually potty training was pure hell and I think I've blocked most of that out!  To this day he's on a schedule for #2's.  Anyway, I can't remember how many months went by before the preschool teacher asked us if he had been assessed for his "strange movements" and we said no then I made an appointment with a paediatrician shortly after.

Our Life As We've Known It Has Changed

I think it's hard on any mom to find out that something is "not right" with one of their children.  When you're pregnant you think of all the things you're going to do with that baby; the sports they might play, the birthday parties, the endless trips to the park, the vacations.

No one prepares you for the day you come to the realization that your child won't be able to do one of the activities you thought they would, doesn't play well with others or doesn't act like a "normal" child of that age.

With Lucas this day came in Kindergarten or more specifically about 10 weeks into Kindergarten.