Carter and autism spectrum disorder, (AKA aspergers disorder).

Today I took Carter to go get his speech assessed. He has been behind in it for quite some time now, and I have been waiting for this appointment since December. It was a big day. FINALLY, we would get answers/help. I have also noticed for quite some time that his motor/social skills were lacking in a lot of areas. But I knew that was something they would look for when he went for this assessment. While I was waiting for the appointment I did everything I could to help him talk and try new things. I would give him crayons and paper, and he would roll the crayons. At the end of March, he suddenly took interest in coloring, and now loves to color and paint. I have actually blogged about my concerns with his social skills, "Our troubles with Nursery". With his speech I am constantly repeating myself over and over again. He has started to say new words and syllables. But he is not at the level he should be. He only says about 10-20 words. I believe he should be up at 500 at his age. Well Carter and I got to the appointment, I admit I was quite stressed out. Carter is not good in new situations, and I never know if he is going to throw a fit or have fun. I brought about 100 pounds of food and his blanky to distract him in case he did throw a fit. The lady came out and got us and took us into a small room with some kid chairs and adult chairs. She sat at this table with a wood puzzle at it and they played together for awhile. She asked him and I both questions.She asked me what I hoped to achieve by bringing him to get assessed. She mentioned at this age he should have come into the room, sat at the chair and done the puzzle properly. The fact that he didn't sit down wasn't a big deal, but he didn't do the puzzle at all. He messed around the pieces pushing them here or there. She then brought out another toy and this is how it went while she watched him and played with him. She let him play for awhile and asked me a ton of questions. It was nice, because I felt like she understood my frustration and concerns with him. Took them all into consideration. She suddenly said to me "You've relaxed quite a bit. Were you stressed out when you came?.... why?" She hit it right on the head. She knew it was because I was concerned of his reaction to doing this, and knew I brought food as a distraction. I told her of his obsession with spinning things, eg: wheels, something on the end of a strings. His obsession with balls. How he really prefers Dad over Mom, Papa over Grandma. Each day he will form an attachment with a certain toy, and that toy needs to go everywhere with him. To bed, to the store, to his room. He will get very upset if you take it away. She asked me if he points at things. I said no. She asked if he shows me things that he is playing with or something he colored. I said no. This went on for about 2 hours. At the end of the session she wrote out our plan. First thing was to get his hearing checked. If this is just his hearing that would be easy to fix. Then she said she was going to recommend him to a pediatrician. The reasoning is she believes that he has aspergers disorder. But because she is not a doctor she cannot diagnose him. She said he is doing well, but there are some major red flags that point to him having this. His obsessions, how he likes Dad, how he wont point, how he wont show me things, easily frustrated, VERY into his routine, his speech is behind, problems in social/stressful situations... etc. She also mentioned that the child with this can also be intelligent. From a young age, they will always look at things and try to figure out how they work. Why it makes that sounds, why you press this button and the door opens. Carter has done that since a VERY young age. One good thing she did notice is he has VERY good eye contact. She said that is major, and very good. Next she wants him to go to a specialty preschool in the fall, where he will receive speech, occupational, and physical therapy. From her assessment Carter is functioning at 9 - 12 months range. So with that being said we should be able to get funding from the Government to pay for the preschool and therapy because of how delayed he is. I will be going back to see her on Friday and I need to fill out a 300 questionnaire about Carters everyday life and we'll go from there. I was VERY happy with how Carter did at the assessment. Everything I would've wanted her to see or hear him do, he did. So I feel it was accurate.

I had suspected that he had aspergers... but hearing your fears confirmed, even if not concrete, doesn't feel good. But I'm determined that we will do everything in our power to help him. There are a lot of people who don't even realize that they have aspergers and they lead perfectly normal lives. So if we intervene now, he will do that much better later on in life. I feel now, how I felt when we went to his ultra sound results when I was 5 months pregnant and we found out he had club feet. Just deal and fix it! So thats what well do.