Howdy!
Its been a very long time since I've blogged and I felt like abandoning the blog (which was more of a monthly update anyway), but may restart with more vigor. The main reason I wanted to write is to explain, in a non-facebook update sort of way, what has been going on with Hal, for any interested parties (ok, I know there are 2 of you out there).
It became a bit tedious to blog, or post updates on facebook about Hal because, well, he stopped doing interesting things. Any parent compares his or her child to others, but as a pediatrician, I do this all *expletive?* day. It became difficult to see the 12 month or 15 month old, discuss development, and experience interactions with toddlers which were impossible with my own toddler.
Hal was tricky during the first year, but barely made his milestones on time. Not an easy smiler and rare laugher, played with most of the same toys and, at times, enjoyed hamming it up, but I found myself thinking he was a "strange duck" more and more. Played with trains for hours by himself, never picked up sign language or pointing, ran away without regard for my whereabouts. In professional terms- no joint attention, no cognitive or imaginary play, no initiation of communication.
And after losing the few words he had and not expressing any words from months 11-18, we decided something was up. Needless to say, I had no interest in chronicling simply how picky an eater Hal is, or how he walks really well, when he was clearly losing ground compared to the toddler friends singing songs, saying cute things, making animal noises. The good and bad part of having a mother and grandfather who are pediatricians and a grandmother who teaches special ed is that you go for speech therapy at 18 months instead of 2/2.5 years.
The speech therapist was very concerned and giving me "he's got autism" code. And it was a wake up call. He then had an occupational therapy evaluation and is currently doing both therapies, thanks to his Marmie who takes him to most sesssions. Hal is on the list for a full developmental eval with Dr. Evans which may happen in early April. After that visit, he might be given a diagnosis, or may wait for further testing.
We've spent several weeks grieving a bit- over the last several months I'd lost the initiative to even introduce new vegetables or sing new songs because it seemed unimportant when Hal couldn't say "mama" or "dada" even at 18 months.
The reason I write now is to talk about the progress he's made. Its AMAZING. After the evaluation, I (and Marmie!) read multiple practical language/autism spectrum books and they changed how we related with him, how we talked to him and played with him. They pushed us into his world and motivated us to work harder relating to him, forcing him to take turns, to find a way to communicate his needs. He also started going to therapy.
Mostly, however, I think he just grew and somehow divine intervention, Hal growing up, and maybe a little bit more attention in the right way have made a huge difference in only a few months. But really, I thank God, because I'm not sure why things have changed, and I hope the changes are lasting. It is as if we had an alien creature who communicated with his own kind (yes, one day I worried he was displaying early psychosis because of the babbling to nothing and complete ignoring real people) and only looked at me if he needed sustenance. And now he has decided to join our species and be a human toddler.
Hal has gone from ~0 words to 30+ in weeks. Every day brings new surprises- finally looking for me, asking for things he needs, initiating play. His obsession with letters and numbers continues, but now he yells the letters to please me, instead of just lining them up and looking at flashcards by himself for long periods of time. Parenting is a whole new experience with a child who wants to communicate, even when he can't and becomes frustrated. What fun! I see parents in my office with a loud, emotive child and think they are so spoiled by the attention! I feel so grateful for every little thing Hal does, and I know he is a whole world easier than a child with severe autism or PDD or physical disability. Those parents are incredible. I'm not sure he will end up with a diagnosis at this point, or if he will fall on the autism spectrum or PDD.
Anyway, just wanted to update on the blog- its been an interesting few months, especially the last few weeks!
