Tiger Diaries
I have been keeping written diaries for each of my kids off and on for most of their lives. I found some entries I wrote last year and went through them. Its amazing how much better he is doing than last year. Thats always been the case with him. He does better than before, but is not where he should be.
When he was around 12-18 months old, we noticed his lack of words. He was a happy baby, but didn't want to talk about it. He didn't point. He didn't even seem to want try to talk. He was content. And I wasn't worried. I figured he was just different. He laughed and smiled and interacted with us all.
July 24. 2000
Hi Ty! You cute thing! I love you. I tell you all the time, but you are silent.
I'm so worried about you. You babble and squeal, but you don't talk. You'll be alright. You understand things. I guess you just don't want to talk about it!
You will be 2 in just 13 days. Wow! I can't believe how fast you are growing. I love you so much. I wish you could stay my little boy forever.
You love to climb! And thankfully you have pretty good balance. When I tell you to get down you say, "I do!"
That was the extent of his vocabulary back then. He could also repeat a few words, but not anything deliberate. A few days after that we started the visits with Early Childhood Intervention. They came out to the house and assessed his skills and development. (It was several visits) The assessment was that he was behind, in speech obviously. Also behind in other areas such as appropriate play. Like instead of recognizing that little cars are supposed to go "vroom", he put in lines according to their type/color. He was almost obsessed with putting things in his own order. He wanted to watch the same videos over and over and over. And he climbed non stop! Sounds pretty normal, alot of kids have those traits. But combined with the speech problem, then you see it!
I didn't know much about Autism. I think maybe I didn't want to know. I didn't want to match up traits and get myself all worried about it. I didn't keep a diary after EIC came to assess him. I didn't know what would come next if he did have a problem.
Less than 6 months after I wrote that in his book I was pregnant with Zoe.
When he was around 12-18 months old, we noticed his lack of words. He was a happy baby, but didn't want to talk about it. He didn't point. He didn't even seem to want try to talk. He was content. And I wasn't worried. I figured he was just different. He laughed and smiled and interacted with us all.
July 24. 2000
Hi Ty! You cute thing! I love you. I tell you all the time, but you are silent.
I'm so worried about you. You babble and squeal, but you don't talk. You'll be alright. You understand things. I guess you just don't want to talk about it!
You will be 2 in just 13 days. Wow! I can't believe how fast you are growing. I love you so much. I wish you could stay my little boy forever.
You love to climb! And thankfully you have pretty good balance. When I tell you to get down you say, "I do!"
That was the extent of his vocabulary back then. He could also repeat a few words, but not anything deliberate. A few days after that we started the visits with Early Childhood Intervention. They came out to the house and assessed his skills and development. (It was several visits) The assessment was that he was behind, in speech obviously. Also behind in other areas such as appropriate play. Like instead of recognizing that little cars are supposed to go "vroom", he put in lines according to their type/color. He was almost obsessed with putting things in his own order. He wanted to watch the same videos over and over and over. And he climbed non stop! Sounds pretty normal, alot of kids have those traits. But combined with the speech problem, then you see it!
I didn't know much about Autism. I think maybe I didn't want to know. I didn't want to match up traits and get myself all worried about it. I didn't keep a diary after EIC came to assess him. I didn't know what would come next if he did have a problem.
Less than 6 months after I wrote that in his book I was pregnant with Zoe.
posted by echotig at 7:30 AM
1 Comments:
Echo, I wish so badly you and my sister could talk. I should write you an email offline...my sister is in severe denial about my nephew. He's 5, but he's got classic symptoms - and for some reason they're being overlooked. One can only point someone in the right direction, but I can't force her to do the right thing. My nephew is now 5 and is far better than he was a year ago with communication; however, I think he still needs help from specialists within the proper field. So much of what you write about Tiger sounds like my nephew.... so very much.
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