Archive for August, 2007
When in Doubt, Get Evaluated
Sometimes parents just know when something is wrong with their child. Our “inner sense” kicks in, and we’re able to realize that something isn’t right when no one else is.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to apply to many of us who have children that are affected by the Autism Spectrum. My theory is that because our children were born this way (debatable, I know), their quirks are normal to our every day life. These are all things that I had said before the label of Autism came into our lives:
- “Sure my son is a little different, aren’t we all?”
- “Boys sometimes talk later than girls, that’s normal.”
- “He’s just shy, that’s why he sits in the corner at daycare.”
- “He loves his cars, he can just sit there and roll them back and forth all day.. he seems really interested in the spinning of the tires.”
- “It’s kind of weird that he’s so sensitive to the grass, I guess he just doesn’t want to get dirty.”
It wasn’t until someone put all of the signs together, and then explained to me that all of his “quirks” combined were enough for a strong diagnoses, that I finally realized that something was wrong. It rocked my world. My wife and I were in so much shock, that we literally cried for days. Having someone tell you that your child has a learning disability, and that he would struggle through his entire life, is not something any parent ever wants to hear.
After my son was diagnosed, a family member told me that they had a feeling that something was wrong with our son. She was too afraid to confront me about it, because she knew that she could have been wrong and was sure that we would likely become very defensive. I honestly don’t know how I would’ve reacted, but I’m sure that I would’ve been upset at the idea. I wish that she would’ve told me right away though. Her suggestion might have been enough for me to take our son to a specialist. Instead, we learned by mistake many months later.
Visit to the Neurologist
Krystal and I have been evaluating Colton’s progress, and going through everything that we’ve done thus far to help him. One of the evaluations that we hadn’t looked into was a visit to the Neurologist. It’s been a nagging issue for us, since Colton had what were diagnosed as “febrile seizures” when he was two. We have always questioned the diagnoses, because at the time of the first episode Colton did not have a fever of any kind (which is the definition of febrile). But, the doctors were insistent that this was a classic case of the very common seizures. So, we stopped there and focused on the future.
Well, last week we finally had an evaluation done by a neurologist at the Noran Neurological Clinic in Minneapolis. The doctor had one very important question for us: “What do you expect to get out of having me evaluate your son’s brain?”
- If we were looking for a problem to fix, he wanted to let us know that the chances were very slim.
- But, if we were interested in simply trying to find differences in how Colton’s brain processes information, with the purpose of helping us understand his difficulties, then he suggested we proceed with testing.
We actually went to this appointment not knowing what a Neurologist could tell us, so we were happy that he was going to schedule some tests that may help us pinpoint some differences in Colton’s brain. We scheduled appointments for both an EEG and an MRI.
The EEG was performed last Friday, and I just received a call that everything is normal. Great news! One test down, and one more to go! :)
Have any of you had these tests done for your children? I’d love to hear about your experiences, especially if the results helped you gain any insight into your children’s situation.
MTV True Life: I Have Autism
MTV has featured 3 young people who have continued their struggle with Autism through their teenage years. As a father of a 4-year-old, I can’t help but feel sad when I think about the struggles that my son will have to go through later in his life. It’s very hard to watch, but I am happy that the awareness is continuing to grow, and hope that this type of coverage will help other children realize why our kids act the way they do.
I really have no idea when this will air on TV, but you can see snippets of the shows on MTV.com, click here to check it out!