Solivagant At Heart

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit" - Aristotle A stereotypical trait seen in autism is obsession like interest in things. According to autism.org.uk, "The interest can: provide structure, order and predictability, and help people cope with the uncertainties of daily life; give someone a way to start conversations and feel more self-assured in social situations; help someone to relax and feel happy." What makes it an obsession and not a hobby is the intensity of interest.  Drew's first obsession was with the Netflix show Word Party. It was all he would watch when he was allowed to watch TV. If anything else was turned on he would have a meltdown/tantrum. Word Party lasted about a year and then it became Tayo The Little Bus.  Another almost obsession is with soccer balls. His favorite one comes in a pack of 3;  a football, a soccer ball, and a basketball. He has NO interest in the football or basketball. He spots soccer bal

A child's laughter could simply be one of the most beautiful sounds in the world"  -unknown I thought I would write about playgrounds today since we have had a couple of good experiences this week. This week, we visited the play area at Burger King and at a mall and Drew actually made a new friend at each place. But first let me give you a run down of how things normally go at a playground so you know why I was so happy.  Whenever Drew and I go to a playground, I usually have to convince him to use the playground equipment. Sometimes he likes the slide, but almost always he will do everything once and then it is off to wander around the outskirts as far as I will let him. I can't even count the numorous photos I have of him wandering away from the playground. When there are another kids there, I always encourage him to wave Hi and I tell the other kiddos his name. Things usually start out ok, but when other kids start talking too much at Drew, asking him questions h

A diagnosis is burden enough without being burdened by secrecy and shame. -Jane Pauley  Sometimes it’s hard to know what is typical of a 2 or 3 year old when it comes to behaviors. You always hear that you shouldn’t compare your child to any others, but then how do you know when there’s a problem? With this post I want to write about our day to day struggles. Are some of them going to be typical 3 year old behaviors, without a doubt, but just consider them on top of other behaviors and you can see why this mama is so tired sometimes.  Since we brought Drew home as a newborn, getting him to sleep has been horrendous! Once asleep, thankfully, he’d sleep all night and still does. It took many, many conversations with an OT and Special Instruction therapist and weeks and weeks of keeping a log of bed time routines to figure out the perfect combo. Before the therapists helped, it could take up to 3 hours to get Drew to sleep. And most of that 3 hours included crying and screaming. W

Of course you didn't see the red flags. You were using them as a blindfold.   -Erin Van Vuren Did we see red flags? Yes but always had a reason for it. Did our PCP see red flags, yes and referred us to different consults. Did early intervention therapists see red flags? Yes and were very open and honest about their observations.  Although we provided Drew the support he needed, red flags or not, I think acknowledging the red flags sooner would have made diagnosis day less overwhelming. .  Classic autism red flags are no big smiles, no eye contact, little/no babbling, no response to name, repetitive behaviors (flapping/rocking), and intense reactions to sounds/smells/tastes/textures/lights. Drew did not show any of those behaviors and still doesn't. They say hindsight is 100%  Looking at more extensive lists here are some of the red flags that we observed:  limited use of gestures like waving or pointing making odd sounds (motor boat noise) difficulty using eye con

Solivagant is defined as  a  solitary wanderer and although he will never walk this journey alone, Autism, by definition, makes communication and social interactions difficult.  November 4, 2019 was D-day, Diagnosis Day. But lets start 3 years, 4 months, and 10 days ago... June 26, 2016, Andrew Ezra was born by emergency c-section at 12:10am. He was 6lb 12oz and 20in. Drew was born 4 weeks early. We ended up staying in the hospital a week due to Jaundice. Once home, we had a happy, smiley baby! He had blonde hair and blue eyes and everyone thought he was adorable!  Now, while I was pregnant with Drew, I had gestational diabetes and had to go down to Pittsburgh to get a fetal echocardiogram, since there was a risk of heart defects with GD. Thankfully, Drew did not have any heart defects. After, I was approached to be a healthy control participant in a research study which looked at brain development and heart defects. It entailed a MRI in womb, a MRI at age 1, and a developmental